After a long selection process over Saint Louis University’s food service provider, and a lackluster tenure with previous vendor Chartwells, SLU eventually signed Aramark to a five-year contract.
Aramark’s pitch to SLU included a greater offering of local, organic, and sustainable food options; new, popular dining franchises; extended operational hours; and improved meal plans, with more options for students.
For the University, Aramark’s pitch was enough; for students, the reception has been mostly positive.
As well as detailing the ways Aramark has shown its merit to the University community, the Editorial Board would also like to expound the difficulties Aramark has had since its contract began this summer.
The first thing that the editorial board, as well as the larger student body, has enjoyed is the multitude of options that Aramark offers. Extended dining hours shows a flexibility and sensitivity to the schedules of college students. New meal plans allow for double swipes (unlike Chartwells’ policy), and don’t have a weekly quota but an allotted amount for the entire semester. While such a plan will ultimately require students to use basic budgeting and math skills (we believe in you), we’re nonetheless pleased.
Lastly, Aramark has provided a premium plan for athletes and anyone else wanting to pay a large fee to have almost unfettered access to SLU’s dining halls. Last year, this editorial board spoke about college athletes simply not getting enough food to sustain their diets, and it’s good to see Aramark providing this service to athletes at SLU.
In other ways, however, there are fewer options with Aramark than with Chartwells. The most noticeable, is the dearth of fully operational dining locations due to construction. Starbucks opened this week, and St. Louis Bread Co. is set to follow shortly, but the ‘Billiken Lair’ at Fusz doesn’t seem close to being finished, with deadlines moving back later and later into the fall semester. What makes the situation worse, based on what Aramark stated last spring, is that all of these places were to be ready on time. Throughout the summer, however, the ‘Billiken Lair’ sat, waiting for construction to move in, an event that did not begin until August. It’s a bit odd that the company would say everything was to be ready, only to move so slowly to accomplish such a task.
Another way Aramark has shown less versatility than its predecessor is by removing the only solely vegetarian and vegan eatery on campus and replacing it with a Starbucks. (There is one literally a block away!)
Not only did Terre Vé serve a niche within the SLU community, but the eatery also served as an introduction for many SLU students who had not intentionally eaten a vegetarian meal before. Such an environment is now lost. We’re additionally skeptical that, despite their assurances, Aramark will fully replace meatless options to adequately serve SLU’s vegetarians.
Our last concern is one regarding customer service. Aramark took an excessive period of time to launch their SLU-specificwebsite. Chartwells had one that served multiple purposes: customer relations, opportunities to meet the Chartwells team at SLU, and provide notices regarding specials or other events. We feel Chartwells’ website was an effective PR strategy that Aramark would do well to replicate.
So far, Aramark has effectively served SLU as its food provider. Einstein Bros, Panda Express, and Starbucks have proven to be incredibly popular, showing that big names do sell. Nonetheless, we are disappointed in a number of aspects that we hope Aramark, and fellow Billikens, will take heed.
