How Many Colleges Use Sodexo Dining Services

The College of William and Mary's decision to award the dining services direction contract to Sodexo USA this spring represented not just a turnover in daily operations, but the first phase of a long-term initiative to reshape the dining experience on campus.

The Statement of Needs section of the College'due south Request for Proposal, dated Aug. 5, 2013, states, "The Charter of the Campus Dining Program is to grow, operate, and sustain a loftier quality responsible dining service that is recognized by students, alumni, guests, faculty, and staff as a world-form leader in college educational activity dining."

A recent increase in revenue has strengthened the College'south dining ambitions. The increase in revenue is the upshot of three factors: all students living on campus are now required to buy a meal plan, campus housing increased by 212 beds over the by financial year, and fewer repast plan options are offered with an increase in Dining Dollars for each plan. Sodexo'due south introduction every bit the school'south contractor came as dining revenue moved from $xiii,047,620 for the 2011 fiscal year to $14,654,841 for the 2013 fiscal year through May.

According to the Food Service Capital Projects spreadsheet obtained through a Freedom of Information Human activity (FOIA) request, the College projects spending $xi one thousand thousand in capital projects related to dining services over the side by side 10 years, with at least $5 million of that total coming from a straight investment past Sodexo. Equally part of its RFP, the Higher outlined a required $five million investment to be included in each candidate's proposal.

The investment section of the RFP read, in part, "Contractor will provide an investment in the College's Campus Dining Plan to fund capital improvements to the College's bounds of $5,000,000."

During the evaluation process, candidates' proposals were judged partially on their vision for how best to utilize the capital infusion into different dining projects. Sodexo'due south proposal contained the "general narrative that all proposed changes will include 'completely demolishing' each space and calculation all new everything."

"We would like to sit downwards with members of the dining commission to implement a renovation schedule that both complements the summer briefing schedule and creates a WOW for students returning in the fall," a January. 8 email from Sodexo representatives to the Dining Services Commission read.

Months of discussions between College administrators and company officials resulted in the development plan. At that place are some clear distinctions betwixt Sodexo's original proposal and the new options students have been adjusting to this semester. For instance, Chancellor's Chophouse, the total-service restaurant in the Commons, was originally slated to open in the Market place under the name "TJ's."

"Auxiliary Services and the Facilities Management teams worked closely with Sodexo to determine where to locate the concepts that they proposed in lodge to maximize the capital letter investment working inside facility limitations," Managing director of Auxiliary Services Cindy Glavas said in an email.

The Food Service Capital Projects project chosen for almost half of the majuscule funds ($5.3 million) to be expended past fiscal year 2015. According to the capital projects spreadsheet, for fiscal yr 2015, $1,550,000 of the total figure was allotted to the renovation of the Sadler Center retail dining options with roughly four fifths of that total going toward the "complete revision" of Gild 1. $950,000 was allotted to the Commons for "refresh lighting, millwork, and concepts," and $1,200,000 was given towards the "dining enhancement" of the Marketplace.

"The Capital Projects spreadsheet is merely a project and non a guarantee and is bailiwick to change to reverberate bachelor funding and facility needs," Glavas said. "We will update this as part of our budget submission in the jump."

Many of the changes listed on the spreadsheet are already apparent on campus, including the $270,534 reserved for the implementation of a food truck — the soonhoped-for-released "Wholly Habanero." Cosi's impending introduction into the Sadler Centre basement and Caf'venience's insertion into the Student Advocacy Heart in front of the Commons likely likewise fall under this commencement-year effigy.

The Sadler Centre's dining hall is not scheduled to receive any funds for renovation over the adjacent x years, according to the majuscule projects spreadsheet. The Sadler Middle received an $viii million renovation terminal summer.

"Bundle one" of the financial twelvemonth 2015 structure schedule specifies the use of $1,950,000 for the Marketplace and the Commons with a completion engagement of Aug. 8, 2014. Cosi's construction represents "Package 2" of the fiscal twelvemonth with a planned completion date of Dec. 12 and at a cost of $950,000.

"The College will accept invested close to $5 [million] in dining facilities with the completion of Cosi in Lodge One, which is slated to open up in January 2015," Glavas said.

The renovation of the Student X-Modify was originally slated to be completed March 15, 2015 according to the spreadsheet, although no structure is currently planned for the venue.

Students have speculated that I Tribe Identify might eventually offering an extra dining option for students since the College'southward acquisition of the former hotel last leap, and $1,200,000 is listed in the capital projects spreadsheet toward "the renovation [of a] possible renovation of kitchen and dining facility" of the building for fiscal year 2016. Withal, the caption also references that the edifice'southward facilities are "choice #one for catering." The eventual use of the Hospitality Business firm's former 815 Grill eating place infinite remains unclear.

"At that place are no preliminary plans for the dining facility in OTP," Glavas said. "The use of that space and availability of funds needed for renovations has not all the same been determined. The $1.2 [million] in the spreadsheet is an estimate of what we believe would be needed to renovate the kitchen space in OTP."