Chartwells:One More Year

By Andrew Fraley

With the University’s beverage contract up at the end of the semester, and the food service contract set to end at the end of this year, Stony Brook was looking at some major changes. Recently, however, the food service contract has been extended by a year, to June 2009.

Chartwell’s is the current food service provider on campus, and has been for the past ten years. Chartwell’s is a subsidiary of Compass Group, a multinational corporation based in the UK, and controls every cafeteria on the west campus except for Jasmine’s in the Wang Center. The contract, which was supposed to expire at the end of this year, by the end of June, has been extended by a year to allow the Bid Selection Committee more time to do a thorough analysis of a potential change to the meal plan on campus.

The change in the meal plan involves a possible new system of unlimited access, with an initial card swipe in the beginning. This proposed system is similar to the brunches at Kelly and Benedict Dining Halls on the weekend, in that a set beginning price would allow meal plan users all-you-can-eat while they were in the cafeteria. The year extension was given so that the Bid Selection Committee, comprised of members of the Faculty Student Association (FSA), administration, student government and faculty, could determine the feasibility of this new system at each cafeteria. For example, the SAC will remain the full a la carte selection that it currently is due to the large number of faculty and commuter student traffic, but cafeterias like The Union Commons and Kelly Dining Hall could be converted to the new system with changes and renovations. The Bid Selection Committee has also discussed renovating Kelly Dining Hall, to accommodate for more seating and other necessary changes.

The new deadline for the bid, which will be determined later, will fall in the range of Novermber to early December. Expected bidders include Sodexho, ARAMARK, Lackmann and Chartwell’s again.