Like it or loathe it, it’s difficult for a lot of students to avoid campus food. And if you’ve ever eaten on campus, you’ve probably come across Aramark.

In its seven-year history with the University, Aramark has earned criticism and praise in serving students and treating employees.

The Philadelphia-based food and facilities management corporation has approximately 200,000 employees and operates in more than 18 countries around the world. Its annual worldwide sales reached $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2003. In addition to providing services to hospitals, resorts, stadiums and correctional facilities, Aramark serves more than 200 million meals to more than 350 higher-education institutions each year.

Under a 10-year agreement signed in 1998, Aramark has the right to operate almost all food-service venues on campus. This comprises six student residence dining halls, 19 retail outlets (including Starbucks and Bene Pizza) and three convenience stores. In addition, Aramark has the rights to nonbeverage vending operations and the limited rights to catering operations.

Before Aramark, the University operated dining services at a loss. In a 1997 statement to the Board of Regents Finance and Operations Committee, McKinley Boston, then-vice president for student development and athletics, projected the food-service program would lose approximately $1.6 million in the 1997-98 school year.

“The University believed that by doing an outsource situation that they could become more financially viable, or less financially in the hole,” said Leslie Bowman, University Dining Services Contract Administration director.

The University retains control over the dining services because of provisions in the contract, Bowman said. Decisions are made with the University’s permission and knowledge, similar to before the University signed the contract with Aramark, she said.

The University works in partnership with Aramark to reach agreements through negotiation on a wide variety of issues, including pricing and labor decisions.

She said that since Aramark took over the dining services, the University has gone from losing money to breaking even or making a very narrow margin of profit because of the commissions Aramark pays the University. Bowman said different business lines, such as residential, retail and vending, pay the University commissions between 5 percent and 20 percent.

For Aramark, the University contract is not extremely profitable, said Larry Weger, UDS director. In fact, the company lost money for the first four years, he said.

Bowman said current operating profit is estimated at 1 percent, and the biggest cost is labor.

The University has a minimum living wage of $12 for each full-time employee. Bowman said there are also benefits.

Weger said that despite challenges, Aramark has an incentive to stay with the University, because it is a large account compared with other U.S. university accounts, and a significant asset from a sales perspective.

Employee challenges

Gary Strafelda, a cook at Middlebrook Hall with almost 16 years of experience working with UDS, said he initially thought the University’s contract with Aramark would be a good thing.

“After seeing what’s happened over the last seven or eight years, I think it’s the biggest mistake they’ve ever made,” he said.

He said lower-level managers and employees are bullied and overworked – usually working 60 hours to 70 hours a week, though they’re told at first they’ll be working 50 hours a week.

“For the not-very-high wages that they pay, it’s just not worth it to them,” Strafelda said.

He said Aramark has appeared to use people until they get fed up and quit. Strafelda, who is a certified chef, said he believes new hires are not sufficiently qualified. The only requirement is a four-year college degree, he said.

Bowman said Aramark tries to address the issue of employee satisfaction on a daily basis.

“In every instance I can think of, we listen to their concerns and try to incorporate their concerns into solutions,” she said.

The concerns about Aramark are not limited to the University. In February 2002, the Progressive Student Alliance, in cooperation with United Campus WorkersñCommunications Workers of America, launched a campaign to end the University of Tennessee’s contract agreement with Aramark.

“They’re just a bad employer all around,” said Cameron Brooks, labor union organizer with the workers’ group.

“The quality of the food for students and staff has gone down, while their prices have skyrocketed,” Brooks said.

However, that’s the nature of a union, said Derek Welch, a former food service director at the Carlson School of Management, who left UDS on amicable terms after 14 months.

“It’s always a challenge to find a happy medium between union and management,” he said.

Welch said Aramark has worked well with union members. Long hours and hard work are the nature of the industry, he said.

“If anybody goes into food services not thinking that they’re going to work 50-plus hours, unsociable hours and weekends, then they shouldn’t really be in the business,” Welch said.

He said many problems arise from the logistics of serving such a large campus.

“It’s a huge responsibility,” he said.

At the end of the interview, Strafelda said he is “very afraid of retaliation” for speaking to The Minnesota Daily.

Kirke Northcutt, a cook at the Bistro West restaurant with more than 18 years of experience working with UDS, said he is unhappy with the job Aramark is doing compared with how it was before 1998. He said he is especially concerned about the quickening pace of managerial turnover.

He said that in the last six weeks, five people were either fired or quit. In the last year, 18 employees were either fired or quit.

Northcutt said he is unsure why this isn’t a bigger concern for Aramark.

Weger denied a problem in the company. He said nonmanagement turnover is low compared with many food-service companies.

On the management side, Weger said, there is no problem with turnover.

“It’s an extremely stable management team,” he said.

Sue Mauren, principal officer of the Teamsters Local 320, said the biggest change was the loss of community once Aramark took over.

“Food services, at that time, (were) run for the benefit for the University (of Minnesota) community,” she said. “We really felt that we contributed to making the University (of Minnesota) a better place for the students and the staff.”

She said the situation has changed since Aramark came to the University of Minnesota.

“The emphasis is strictly on cost savings and creating a profit for Aramark,” she said.

Mauren said she believes this has created many of the problems with the dining services today.

Changes in operation

Prices and hours change, leaving some students satisfied and others outraged.

One concern among students is hours of operation. Hours have expanded considerably, Bowman said, using Coffman Union and the St. Paul Student Center as examples. Some venues are running fewer hours, she said.

Weger said they do not get enough customers to justify keeping doors open longer.

“That’s what vending is for,” he said.

Another issue is pricing. Bowman said pricing strategies are no different since Aramark took over. She said prices typically increase 2 percent to 3 percent annually, but they try to stay “at or below the local pricing.”

Bowman said Aramark makes a broad variety of efforts to obtain student feedback about dining services. These include a biannual customer satisfaction survey, comment cards, focus groups and the UDS Student Advisory Committee.

The committee formed approximately four months ago and meets on a monthly basis to get general student feedback. It has representation from groups varying from the Minnesota Student Association to the student representatives to the Board of Regents. The number of students attending ranges widely from two to a dozen, Bowman said.