5 Cents - York University cafeteria scrip

York University's Food Services department issued this cafeteria scrip in the late 1980s as a prepaid token system, allowing students to purchase meal credits in bulk — a common cost-control measure at Canadian universities before magnetic card systems displaced paper entirely. BA International, the Ottawa-based security printer with roots going back to the 1866 founding of the British American Bank Note Company, was an odd choice for something this mundane; the firm held contracts for Bank of Canada notes and government securities. That they printed cafeteria chits at all suggests they actively courted institutional small-run work to fill press capacity.