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Decision
In: Bon Appétit New Food Provider
by Nina Lalli
Bonjour. Your new dining service is Bon Appétit.
The College signed a letter of intent this week. Come fall, the Palo
Alto-based company will take over the former role of Sodexho Marriott
Services. This is the final decision after a long process involving
Residential Life and Services, students and faculty from the Housing
and Dining committee and members of Oberlin Student Cooperative Association.
Director of Residential Life and Services
Kim LaFond said, “We worked diligently to look into these companies.”
“It was quite lengthy and extensive and we had outside help as well,”
Vice President of Finance Andy Evans said of the process.
Finalists were narrowed down to Parkhurst, Bon Appétit and Chartwells.
Parkhurst was popular with students but Kim LaFond said he thought that
perhaps it was too small a company to meet the needs of the College.
“It’s a nice little company,” LaFond said, “but is it too little?”
“I think we chose a vendor that, to my mind, services venues like ours,”
Evans said. Evans said Bon Appétit is very successful with small liberal
arts colleges.
LaFond and Evans both said they expected the biggest immediate change
in food services to be the overall quality of the food. They expect
bigger changes to occur gradually as Bon Appétit gains a sense of the
many needs of the campus.
“The quality of food is really going to be up. That’s the biggest change
we’re gonna see,” LaFond said.
Evans said “It’s not gonna be like we suddenly turn the whole place
upside down. It will be a process.”
One additional change for the fall is the decision to change the acronym
CDS, Campus Dining Service to OFS, Oberlin Food Service.
LaFond mentioned the short-term goal of solving some logistical problems
such as the long lines at Dascomb over the course of next year. He hopes
to eventually change the meal plan to accommodate different students’
schedules. He used the example of “being able to use your meal plan
multiple times during a meal period,” he said. “We’re carefully looking
into that.”
Among the improvements students reported wanting to see from the new
company was more openness for students living off-campus to eat completely
off-board. LaFond said he hoped to accommodate students as fully as
possible in the future, but added that it is difficult to make such
decisions immediately. For now Bon Appétit is focused on attracting
students to the food they will offer.
“They recognize our concern that we have a requirement that off-campus
students eat on-campus and they’re looking for opportunities to change
that,” Evans said.
Students also expressed an interest in the utilization of local produce
in the future dining service. Evans said that question was raised with
each of the companies vying for the position, but all of them noted
the difficulty of making that happen. Each company cited the problem
of the school year missing the local growing season.
A local chef is being considered for the job of head chef by Bon Appétit,
allowing its management to take advantage of regional connections.
Evans said, “Bon Appétit suggested individuals that have an understanding
of this region, and who would try to access as much local produce as
possible.”
LaFond said he expects Bon Appétit to continue to seek student input
in the form of focus groups and surveys in the fall.
One of the specialties of Bon Appétit is its ability to provide a myriad
of vegan and vegetarian food options beyond the standards. The company
will plan menus in collaboration with the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca,
New York, which is known for its high-quality vegetarian dishes.
A memo from Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith is scheduled to go out
to the College community today. In the memo, Goldsmith said, “Its emphasis
on the use of fresh ingredients, and its collaboration with the Moosewood
Restaurant in Ithaca, NY in the preparation of menus, suggest that they
will have a special ability to meet needs of vegans and vegetarians,
who represent an unusually large percentage of students participating
in our dining program.”
For background information on this story, see page 7.
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