The University is set to decide this spring whether or not the contract for campus dining services will be put up for bid. The decision will be based on a plan created by the Dining Services Advisory Committee that has been in the working for the past two years.

“There have been a lot of students who have put a lot of hard work into this,” said Manny Cunard, director of auxiliary operations and campus services and co-chair of the Dining Advisory Committee. “This [plan] will redefine dining services on campus and create a new concept of dining. Once we’ve defined it, we will look [to see] who can do it best.”

There are three options for the decision this spring, according to Cunard. Either Aramark will be chosen and the contract will not go out for bid at all, the University will bid the program out and bring a new company in next fall, or a new company will be hired but not be brought in until 2007, leaving the school with Aramark until that time.

Some concerns expressed by the Dining Services committee in the past have been a lack of communication with Aramark, according to Zelda Ferguson ’06. Ferguson is a WSA member and the co-chair of the Dining Advisory Committee along with Cunard. The committee meets once every two weeks and includes Ferguson, three other students from the WSA, Aramark representatives like Senior Food Service Director Bridgett Stapleton, union representatives and auxiliary service members.

“In our first Dining Committee meeting, Aramark talked a lot about how sensitive they’ve been to student needs in the past, but when we brought up a few new changes…we were kind of stonewalled,” Ferguson said. “If students express concerns [to Aramark], changes are generally slow to be implemented. Students also want flexible dining plans; they want to have something available 24 hours per day or as close to that as possible, and I think freshmen are not pleased with the meal plan as it is.”

According to Cunard, there would most likely be four main competitors for the contract if it is put up in the spring. Aside from Aramark, they would include Sodexho USA and two companies owned by the Compass Group, Champwells and Bon Appetit.

“Of course we’ve had a long history with Aramark; [it] is a very strong company with very good organization,” Cunard said. “They will be a major player, and we might decide to not put the contract up at all.”

On a more local level, the owners and founders of WesWings and Red and Black Café, Edward Thorndike Jr. ’89 and Karen Kaffen-Polascik ’89, also expressed interest in taking over dining services for the entire campus.

“WesWings and Red and Black already account for a pretty significant portion of the dining,” Thorndike said. “If the opportunity presents itself where the whole master contract would go up for bid, then we would be interested in taking [it], but at this point there are no definitive plans.”

Potential competitor Sodexho, part of the Sodexho Alliance, offers campus, school, and corporate dining services nationwide and provides services for hundreds of state and private universities like Dartmouth and Johns Hopkins in addition to businesses like Cisco Systems, Nokia, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett Packard, Sony, and Wal-Mart.

The Compass Group, on the other hand, is the world’s largest provider of managed dining services and offers services in over 90 countries. It owns both Bon Appetit Management Company, the onsite restaurant company based in California, and Chartwells, which operates the food service programs in 30 percent of all contracted universities nationwide. Bon Appetit provides services for schools including Oberlin College and Northwestern University and has received press for its socially responsible practices, including a commitment to using cage-free shell eggs. Chartwells recently implemented “Terra Vé,” which claims to be the industry’s first and most extensive vegetarian and vegan menu program.

Thorndike and Polascik started WesWings in the basement of 156 High Street in 1993. They expanded to the Red and Black Café in 2002 after the bookstore was purchased by the University. The idea of more local rather than corporate control of food services appeals to some students, who said they prefer to change to a service with which they are familiar.

“The food at WesWings and Red and Black is really good,” said Cece Seiter ’07. “As long as they had more than just fries for the whole campus, I think it could be awesome.”

Although the Dining Services committee will have a large influence, the decision will ultimately be made by senior Administration, including Peter Patton, vice president and secretary of the University, who will choose other administrative members to aid in the decision.