UH System changes food service provider

UPDATE 7/10/2017: This article has been updated to reflect the new opening date for the Patio Cafe. 

The entire UH System has terminated its contract with Aramark and has chosen Chartwells as the new food service provider.

Former University of Houston SGA President Shane Smith has been advocating for a lower meal price since he was a freshman. Smith started his process by presenting the high meal prices to the Food Service Advisory Committee.

He followed up with his plan during his junior year as chair of the Food Service Advisory Committee by requesting information on whether or not the meal plan was beneficial to students. The gathered information showed that students without a meal plan paid less than students with a meal plan.

The university decided that students needed better quality food to entice students to pay for meal plans. This decision led to the UH System terminating its contract with Aramark.

Even though Smith’s executive term ended in April, he has continued to be involved with the transition process.

Smith said the process began with a request for proposals from new food providers. The food service companies competed against each other to be a part of the UH System.

“The financial return for students in the new contract will be in the value created by increased quality,” Smith said. “For example, while the last contract with Aramark didn’t include many specific quality requirements, the new contract includes detailed requirements for meal variety, funding for secret shopper programs, etc.”

UH created a committee to review the proposals, attend presentations, interview personnel and score each company. The individuals were chosen to represent the campus, constituencies, students, faculty and staff in the selection of the new food service provider.

“Chartwells was unanimously selected by that committee,” Smith said.  “They did many things well but, ultimately, we were convinced that they were the most committed to improving food quality of our system and had the right people, plan and resources to do it.”

While the exact details for what Chartwells will bring to UHCL are not made available, an email was sent out to the UHCL community about a temporary closure at the Patio Café.

The email stated that beginning June 26 through July 17 the Patio Café will be closed for the transition of the university’s food service provider.

The current Patio Café associates have been offered employment with Chartwells, but there are currently open job listings for more UH System employees on websites such as Indeed and Careerarc. Some of the listings ask for 100 new employees.

“Chartwells completed a week of on-boarding at main campus and Victoria last week and hired over 300 current food service associates,” said Nick Mendez, UH System Resident district manager. “Chartwells’ outreach effort is to add more associates with the goal of improving overall speed and quality of service. Most of the recruiting effort is focused on main campus but also Downtown and Clear Lake.”

During the temporary closure, the Patio Café will offer complimentary Starbucks coffee and pastries from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the café entrance.

The Patio Cafe sent the UHCL community an email June 6 stating, “The Patio Café closure will be extended and will reopen on July 17^th. During this closure the Waffle Bus food truck will be on campus to provide lunch service Monday through Thursday from 11:00 AM through 2:00 PM (July 6 and again July 10-13). In addition complimentary Starbucks coffee and pastries will be offered from 7:30 AM through 10:30 AM at the Patio Café entrance.”

The Patio Cafe notified the UHCL community that it will reopen July 17.

Also published on Medium.