Half baked
With the Sodexo contract expiring, Xavier’s search for a food service provider has been narrowed down to three companies with less-than-sterling records.
Katie Rosenbaum
Campus News Editor
The quest for a food service provider at Xavier University has been narrowed to three companies that, in the past, have been cited for having poor food and service quality and questionable business ties.
Sodexo, Inc., formally Sodexho, currently is Xavier’s food service provider. Sodexo’s contract ends on May 30. On June 1, Sodexo, Chartwells Inc. or Aramark Corp. will be the food service provider at Xavier.
Sodexo previously owned stock in Corrections Corp. of America (CCA). CCA is the largest operator of private prisons and the fifth largest prison system in the United States.
In 2001, Sodexo broke ties with CCA because “the investment was no longer in line with our strategic objectives,” said Sodexo Marriott’s Vice President of Public Relations, Leslie Aun.
Not With Our Money, an organization protestings Sodexo’s involvement with private prisons, had an active chapter on Xavier’s campus in 2001, when a group of over 50 students rallied against Sodexo’s presence at Xavier University. These students demanded that Xavier terminate its contract with Sodexo based on Sodexo’s relationship with CCA. Sodexo ended up selling their stock in CCA on May 23, 2001, though Not With Our Money officials claim that Sodexo maintained ties to the private prison industry.
In response to Sodexo’s involvement with CCA, a company accused of violating the human rights of its prisoners, the Xavier Student Senate passed a resolution on Dec. 10, 2001 calling upon Xavier University to not renew its contract with Sodexo. Xavier, however, renewed its contract with Sodexo in 2003.
Sodexo is also the food service provider for the U.S. Department of Defense, having signed a 10 year, $23 billion contract in 2004 to provide food service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chartwells, another company that Xavier is considering, has had service problems at other schools. Resident Advisors at UNC Charlotte were served severely undercooked chicken at an event catered by Chartwells last year.
This chicken was served after different sized pieces of chicken were cooked together in a fryer. The larger pieces of chicken were under-cooked when they were removed from the fryer. Andrew Lipson, resident district manager of Chartwells’ higher education, said that because of this incident, meat would no longer be cooked together in mixed sizes.
An editorial published in the St. Louis University News on Mar. 7, 2008, says that “though Chartwells does, in fact, serve food, the price of this food, quality of service and current hours of operation are questionable. The products that Chartwells sells are neither consistently high-quality nor uniformly nutritious, and the service is, in some venues, sub-par.”
University of Louisville is also currently under contract with Chartwells. The administration and the Food Advisory Board, where both the university and Chartwells receive feedback from faculty, staff and students about campus food service, is currently looking at this contract and deciding if it should be renewed in August.
Students at the University of Louisville complain about a lack of variety and have proposed offering competing food service providers on the University of Louisville’s campus.
Duke University has hired two food service groups to compete for business on campus. The Compass Group, which owns Chartwells as well as the other food service provider, Bon Appétit, provides food on Duke’s campus. Chartwells is providing food for Duke’s West Campus while Bon Appétit serves the East Campus.
Duke hired the Compass group after the director of Duke Dining Services said that bringing Aramark, their previous provider, to campus was a mistake. The Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee gave Aramark three votes of no confidence during its tenure at Duke.
The Alliance for Quality Services, a coalition of more than two million working people, has raised concerns over Aramark. These concerns include legal issues, fiscal mismanagement, poor food and service quality, public health risks, issues with alcohol sales, mistreatment of workers, reports of discrimination and severed accounts.
Included among the allegations made against Aramark is a scandal involving the retirement of a Tennessee State University official. President James A. Hefner retired in 2004 after audits discovered that he had accepted Super Bowl tickets and other gifts that totaled $9,000 from Aramark officials.
Kenyon University terminated its contract with Aramark in 2005 after it issued an ultimatum to Aramark over problems “ranging from poor sanitation in the dining halls to poor service and unimaginative menus,” said Kenyon’s Chief Business Officer David McConnell. He said other complaints included double-billing and overcharging for events.
The Yale Daily News reports that “top Yale cooks have openly expressed disgust with the quality and variety of food” from Aramark.
Aramark also faces quality issues in elementary schools. Members of the Detroit Public School board raised questions over quality concerns. Dr. Carla Scott, a DPS board member, said Aramark served inedible food at a committee meeting. “On more than one occasion they served rotten chicken breast and fruits at a human resource meeting,” said Scott.
The Princeton Review rates the best and worst food services in the country. Four of the 10 worst schools used Sodexo as their provider, three of the schools used Chartwells and one school used Aramark.
Out of the 10 best schools, two schools use Sodexo, one uses Aramark and three of the schools use Bon Appétit.
Bon Appétit Managing Co. is one of the companies that submitted a bid to Xavier, but was not selected to participate.
Dr. Kathleen Simons, Associate Provost of Student Development, said, “Bon Appétit is known as a more upscale food service that uses the best ingredients, fresh food, progressive menuing, etc. However, they are very costly. Because of cost, we chose not to pursue them as a candidate.”
Meal plans at Seattle University—a Bon Appétit subscriber who Xavier uses as a benchmark in this process—are on average 33 percent cheaper than Xavier’s current Sodexo managed meal plans.
This year, the Olympic Club meal plan at Seattle University costs $1,350 for the 2007-2008 academic year. This allows students who eat most of their meals on campus to purchase about $17.50 in a la carte items per day.
For the 2008-2009 school year at Xavier, the Carte Blanche plan plus $75 in board points costs $2,085.
“We looked at the five year performance of all the companies and how many clients a vendor lost. More often than not, it is the local management and their leadership which is critical to the quality of the food service,” Simons said. “When we evaluate a company, we look at a number of variables: cost, innovation with food concepts, management accountability, sanitation procedures, treatment of employees, purchasing arrangements for food, experience with student dining, catering, concessions and retail.”
After the food selection committee reviews the proposal, Xavier is expected to select a food service provider this May.
Kathryn Rosenbaum
Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Peters
Ann Tassone
Darren LaCour
Senior News Editors
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Editor-in-Chief Nathan Sergio
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