Recently in Food Services Category

 Source: wtvq.com (KY)  01/21/2010

One Kentucky State Representative has introduced a bill to improve the quality and quantity of the food at all of the state's prison, but critics say it's costly and unnecessary. This was the scene last August when inmates rioted at Northpoint Prison near Danville. State Rep. Brent Yonts believes one of the main causes for this uprising was food.

Right now, a private company, Aramark, provides the inmates meals, so he is proposing a bill that would put the state back in control.

Source:  By Jeffrey Anderson THE WASHINGTON TIMES, January 26, 2010

A company that serves meals to 2½ million schoolchildren daily in more than 500 districts nationwide, with multimillion-dollar contracts in both Washington and Chicago, has a history of marginal quality and food-safety scares amid concerns over the nutritional content of its school menus, according to school and company records.

Chartwells-Thompson School Dining Services, a subsidiary of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Compass Group, owner of Burger King, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, is one of North America's largest school cafeteria operators -- its contracts with the Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2009 totaling more than $289 million and a D.C. operation that could net the firm as much as $140 million from 2008 to 2013.

Source: By Stephenie Steitzer, The Courier-Journal (KY), November 6, 2009

 

A Northpoint Training Center corrections officer testified Friday that inmates rioted at the prison in August because they weren't being fed enough and the food they did receive was of poor quality.

... The department has said it is satisfied with the quality of food provided to inmates by Aramark Services, a private food service company in Pennsylvania.

..... Hughes was among about 25 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees who appeared at Friday's hearing. AFSCME officials are pushing the state to improve safety measures for corrections officers. Hughes and Yonts testified that food portions are often small and that about 20 percent of the inmates can't afford to buy food from the inmate canteen to supplement what they get in the cafeteria.

Source: Mona Sonnenshein and Carol Sherman, Modern Healthcare, April 20, 2009 - 5:59 am EDT

 

In October 2006, the chief operating officer for the University of California at San Diego Medical Center wanted to evaluate the medical center's outsourced food and nutrition services for both quality and financial improvements. A consultant, who had worked successfully with this senior administrator before, was hired to evaluate the facility's current operation, including the ability of the department to meet current and future needs of the medical center and assess the possibilities for cost containment and service modification through changes in the department.

..... Through the transition to in-house management, approximately $1.6 million was saved from the annual operating budget, and services were improved after a seamless transition.

Source:By Jennifer Myers, Lowell Sun (MA), 04/18/2009

 

Parents dropping their kids off at the Morey Elementary School yesterday morning were warned that after April vacation the students will be eating "re-heated frozen food... rather than fresh food cooked or prepared in our own school kitchen."  The fliers, distributed by Michael Sheehan, former president of the union representing the district's custodians and cafeteria workers, reference a pilot food-service program being started at the school on April 27

....... The current food-service program is not self-funding, running an annual operational loss of $775,000, mostly due to the $671,000 in benefits paid out to the district's 115 full- and part-time cafeteria workers. .....The company delivers the frozen meals compartmentalized. For instance, one container may include spaghetti and meatballs ready to warm and serve, while another is filled with mixed vegetables.

Source:BY DIANE C. BEAUDOIN, Leominster CHAMPION (MA),March 20, 2009

 

 ..... Jennifer Taralli, a kitchen helper at Samoset Middle School, and Darlene Spenser, baker at three city schools, have expressed deep concern about the possibility of loosing their jobs within the schools.

..... According to Taralli, the school meals are reimbursed by the state and those funds go into a revolving account, which in turn is used to purchase the food for the meals.  "This account has not been in the red since 1989, we are not loosing any money. This is the only department of the school that does not cost the city any money at all," she said. In total, the staff of cafeteria ladies is at 51, with 28 of those receiving health insurance through the city plan. The cafeteria staffers are also members the AFSCME, Local 93 union.

..... The cafeteria ladies expressed doubt that a private company would deliver the same quality and care to the breakfast and lunch menus.

Source:By BRIAN IANIERI, Press of Atlantic City (NJ),Wednesday, March 25, 2009

 

The kitchen in the Crest Haven Nursing Home is staffed by county employees afraid they will lose their jobs to outsourcing.  The concern spread to other areas of government - including housekeeping, facilities and services - as the county, which passed its budget in March without layoffs, is already studying cost-cutting measures for next year. ...... Joe Gariffo is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3596, which represents more than half of the county's employees.

Source: UNITE HERE & SEIU Stir It Up, Fri, 01/30/2009 - 12:36

 .......  Stir It Up it is a website dedicated to helping students across the country take a stand and demand that their campus food service reflects the values of the students on campus. Too often administrators who oversee campus food service make decisions without any real input from the student body. Food service at college campuses and across the industry needs to change, and if that change is going to take place, it's going to be because of student activism and involvement.

Source: By Lucy Komisar, In  These Times, March 2009


....... Sodexo, founded in France in the '60s to do maritime catering, now has more than 30,500 operating sites and 355,000 employees in 80 countries. It reported revenues last year of $20.4 billion, and profits of more than $1 billion. It ranks second in food services worldwide, after U.K.-based Compass Group.

The rebate system, endemic to the industry, works like this: A food management company like Sodexo signs contracts to run a client's cafeteria. The company buys supplies from vendors such as Coke, Kellogg's or Tyson. Then, chosen vendors send the management company rebates based on a percentage of sales.

Tom MacDermott, a New Hampshire industry consultant who negotiates for clients with Sodexo and others, says kickbacks date back half a century.

Source: Retriever Weekly at the University of Maryland, Tuesday September 30, 2008

At the end of last year the hoopla surrounding the new food contract made Chartwells sound like the second coming of Christ. However, when Chartwells took over during the summer, complaints started to surface about the price and quality of food. When students returned to school the cries grew louder; as meal plans became more limiting and out-of-pocket expenses started creeping higher, the complaints increased.

..... The revamp of the dining hall will also be interesting as the price of entry has increased but the quality of the food is still the same as it was in Sodexho days. Even the layout is still essentially unchanged. The entrance was moved but the flow of traffic is still convoluted and confusing.