graphic from sodexousa.com

With a new name and new plans for campus dining, Sodexo Dining Services was chosen as the College’s dining service provider for a contract commencing on July 1, 2008, although the details of the final contract are still being negotiated, Karen Roth, director of Auxiliary Services, said.

“Five dining companies participated in the College’s Dining Services Request for Proposal process,” Roth said. “When the committee ultimately narrowed down the pool of candidates, we felt that Sodexo was best able to help (the College) achieve our dining program mission through their nutritional food offerings as well as their expanded educational, sustainable and social dining programs that are expected in the next dining contract.”

Once signed, the contract will be the second consecutive dining services contract awarded to Sodexo, whose current contract with the College is in its seventh year and ends on June 30, 2008. Toni Pusak, assistant director of Auxiliary Services, said that before Sodexo, Wood Food Services provided the College’s dining service program.

Wood Food Services, which was acquired by Sodexo shortly after its contract ended with the College, was the College’s dining service provider for approximately 16 years, Pusak said.

Details of the new dining service contract are currently being negotiated.

“The new dining contract (with Sodexo) will begin on July 1, 2008 and between now and that date, the next step in the process is finalizing details of the contract with the necessary parties,” Roth said.

Though the College’s dining service provider will remain the same into the next contract term, students can still expect noticeable changes to dining service when they return to the College in the fall.

“The new Dining Services contract provides for expanded dining concepts, hours of operation and menu choices designed to support a strong, exciting and vibrant future for the (College) dining program,” Roth said.

One change in place for next year is the addition of dinner meal equivalency to the dining program. “The new contract provides for a dinner meal equivalency period in the Travers/Wolfe dining center for Carte Blanche students between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.,” Roth said.

Sodexo Inc. is undergoing some corporate changes this year as well. The company recently changed its brand name from “Sodexho Alliance” to “Sodexo.” This change was announced in a January press release on the company’s Web site, sodexousa.com, which unveiled a new brand identity that also includes a new logo.

Sodexo is also the dining service provider for several other New Jersey public colleges and universities, including the Ramapo College of New Jersey, Rowan University and William Patterson University (WPU), though each dining service program is different.

“(Sodexo has) no two contracts that are identical,” John Higgins, general manager of Dining Services at the College, said. “A lot goes into a dining program, from the landscape of the campus (to) the number of locations on the campus (to) the facilities that are available to the dining services contractor.”

Higgins said though Rowan and the College are both state schools, Rowan has all of its food service locations contained within one building, while at the College, there are several locations. Meal plans are built around the accommodations of these buildings, such as their age, ventilation and refrigeration options.

Meanwhile Ramapo, which has had Sodexo as its dining service provider for 14 years, has two resident dining facilities, a retail food court, a “We Proudly Brew Starbucks” location and a convenience store, according to Jeff Dannhardt, general manager of Ramapo College Dining Services.

Dannhardt said Ramapo’s most popular meal plan is called “The Sensible 6,” which offers six meals per week at its two dining facilities and $450 in points per semester, though Ramapo offers one unlimited access plan called “The Ultimate” that is popular among freshmen.

At WPU, Sodexo has been with the university for 17 years, or more than five contract terms, Tony Cavotto, director of Hospitality Services at WPU, said via e-mail. “We have a strong working partnership with Sodexo and our relationship has been a great long-term benefit to our community.”

WPU offers 11 meal plans, including two for graduate students, all of which have a specified number of meals and an amount of cash for flexible spending on and off campus, Cavotto said. The dining locations on campus include a main cafeteria, food truck, coffeehouse, food court, convenience store and remote cafeteria, although the meals cannot be used at all locations. The school does not offer an unlimited access plan.

Student costs for next year’s meal plans will not be determined until the July Board of Trustees meeting.

Students at the College who have visited friends at other schools and dined on-campus on everything from Chick-Fil-A to Wendy’s may have wondered why the College doesn’t have its own retail fast-food location.

“There are pros and cons. Brand recognition is big in our industry,” Higgins said. “We certainly have considered that.”

For example, the College’s Library Café has a “We Proudly Brew Starbucks” vendor but is not a fully licensed Starbucks location. This allows the College to offer other services in the café, like smoothies, which are not a Starbucks-branded concept, Higgins said.

“If we were a licensed store, we wouldn’t be able to offer that,” Higgins said. “If you go with a branded concept, you serve what they have to offer. When you do not go with a branded concept, and you go with something that can be tweaked, you can make adjustments based on student input.”

Pusak added that the College continues to consider a branded concept. She said the College did try a Taco Bell Express on campus several years ago, but after the initial excitement wore off, students began requesting changes to what was offered at the location.

“The students were frustrated because they wanted it adapted to them. It was their dining program and their dining hall, so it just didn’t work,” Pusak said.

As the Spring semester winds down, Sodexo and Dining Services continue to test new concepts at the College. Last week, Sodexo began “Trayless Tuesdays,” in which trays will be removed from use at the campus dining locations for the remainder of the semester on Tuesdays.

“Sustainability has become a big part of campus life . not just here but throughout Sodexo’s accounts,” Higgins said.

“The idea is to heighten awareness from the students and reduce waste. It’s been piloted at another one of our accounts with a great deal of success,” he said.

Waste associated with trays includes how much food is being thrown out and the amount of water, chemicals and electricity used, Higgins said, adding that they have not yet discussed if the program will carry over to next year or expand.

“We’ll take this information and evaluate it and we’ll say, ‘The students loved it’ (or) ‘The students hated it,’” Higgins said. “We’ll move forward or we won’t move forward. It won’t be done specifically by Sodexo, but with the school and with the students.”