Bon Appétit made a number of important commitments to the Wesleyan community when we agreed to provide dining services to you. These included commitments about the quality of the food, about our flexibility in providing service that meets the varied needs of the community, about the environmental integrity of our operations, and about our relationship to our new employees, who are valued members of the Wesleyan community. We knew that meeting all of these commitments together would be challenging, but we always have believed that these challenges are consonant with our own organizational values of social responsibility. We expect to be held to our commitments, and we welcome comments and even criticisms because they help us understand where we can do better.
Thus far, your feedback about the quality of the food we provide has been positive. We certainly have faced challenges in providing it to you: finding our way around new kitchens and serveries; dealing with the inevitable glitches when new equipment is installed; training workers in food preparation and service routines that are entirely new; adapting operations to suit the facility and student demand, and learning—sometimes painfully—by our experiences. This has been a particularly challenging time for our workers. Many of them are doing very different jobs than they did under Aramark because the configuration of this new facility and the requirements of Bon Appétit’s culinary programs are so different. Many of our associates are working different hours and different days of the week than before. This stems from our Bon Appétit commitment to having trained and experienced employees serving our guests throughout the day and on weekends as well. We can assure you that we are working alongside our new employees to provide the training and support they need to succeed in their new roles. But providing good service is never easy.
In coming to Wesleyan, Bon Appétit agreed to offer employment to all former Aramark food service workers based on the same wage scale as the group negotiated through collective bargaining with Aramark. Because the Mocon and Davenport operations were being consolidated into a single new building, some of the other food services companies that bid on the Wesleyan contract intended to reduce the number of employee positions. Because our approach entails freshly prepared, cook-to-order meals, Bon Appétit actually increased the total number of workers, and thus of positions in the bargaining unit.
In addition to the wage rates, Bon Appétit offered and implemented, with the union’s concurrence, a benefits program that is as good, and in some cases better, than what the workers previously enjoyed. Union members who were at Wesleyan before Bon Appétit were actually given the opportunity to maintain their existing medical insurance carrier as opposed to converting to a new carrier.
Upon being awarded the food service contract, we immediately recognized our new employees’ union, and we are working with the representatives of that union in good faith. Our Wesleyan staff earns exceptional wages in comparison to the labor market for similar workers in Connecticut and in other college and university settings. Their medical benefits exceed those of any Wesleyan employee in that they require no personal monthly contribution – for either individual or family coverage.
As a result, the labor cost component of providing dining services to students at Wesleyan is higher than at most other colleges and universities. We have taken on these substantial costs because we believe doing so demonstrates our commitment to our employees, as well as to the values of the Wesleyan community. Wesleyan students demonstrate their own commitment to these values in their willingness to pay higher prices for their campus food purchases than they might at another institution.
Bon Appétit is committed to the terms of Wesleyan’s Code of Employment Standards for Service Contractors, which stipulates fair wages and access to benefits for our employees and those of any subcontractor we hire. We will ensure that AFC, with whom we have subcontracted to provide sushi, certifies that they are in compliance with this code.
I thank you for the opportunity to provide dining services to you, and I look forward to doing so in a manner that achieves the best possible results while advancing our community standards.
Sincerely,
Delmar Crim
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