Chartwells manages half of SUB food vendors after Abstract takeover

Chartwells now manages half of the Student Union Building’s food vendors, after taking over the Abstract Café, the building’s last student-run vendor.

Chartwells also manages Burrito Loco and the Market, a convenience store that opened its doors last year. The other three food vendors — Tim Hortons, Booster Juice and Bento Sushi — are all franchises.

The Dalhousie Student Union transferred management duties of the Abstract to Chartwells after its first year of operations in April, citing a projected $100,000 deficit in the union’s operating budget for 2025-26. 

Chartwells, owned by Compass Group, is a national organization that provides dining services to post-secondary institutions and student unions. They have been the DSU’s food service provider since 2012 and provide food for the University of King’s College dining hall. 

Previously, the Abstract and the Market mainly employed students. Chartwells began a new hiring process over the summer for every position at both locations.

Previous employees were given a right of first refusal, meaning they could choose to keep their job after going through the hiring process again, but some say Chartwells didn’t honour that right.

Related: Chartwells taking over Abstract Café this fall, DSU blames $100K deficit

Anjali Seshadri, DSU president, spoke with Abstract employees in April before her term began on May 1, to help inform them about the space’s transition from union management to Chartwells.

One of the people she spoke with was Liv Brennan, a second-year student in Dalhousie University’s master of information program who was the Abstract’s staff and bookings co-ordinator and floor supervisor last year.

Charvi Gambhir, then assistant food service manager for Compass Group, contacted Brennan in late April to arrange an informal meeting as part of the organization’s standard hiring process. Just over two hours before the scheduled meeting, Gambhir emailed Brennan asking to reschedule to the next week. 

“Things have changed now and we are quite busy,” said Gambhir in the email, just five minutes after confirming the location for the meeting that day. “Do you mind if we reschedule this meeting to next week please?  I will keep you posted on the day that is available in my calendar and get back to you all.”

Brennan never received a follow-up email. 

Neither Gambhir — who left the position in May according to her LinkedIn — nor Kim Fiander, Compass Group’s food service director, responded to multiple requests for comment before publication. 

“It definitely was disheartening,” says Brennan. “I did care about the Abstract very much, and I was working to help make it a great spot.” 

Brennan was logged into the Abstract’s email and Instagram account after her contract with the café had ended, and she felt there was an “expectation” to keep answering inquiries. Over the summer, she let the DSU know she was logging out. 

The Abstract’s Instagram account has not posted since reopening at the beginning of the fall semester, and the DSU’s website has not uploaded the café’s fall menu or operating hours. 

Seshadri says that while there are open positions at Chartwells locations on campus, there “hasn’t been many” students submitting applications. 

“Chartwells is always looking for students to sign up for their jobs,” she says.

Last year, the Abstract’s menu mainly consisted of products obtained from local distributors. Seshadri says Chartwells will now be using their own distributors, which supply goods for its operations across the country.

Seshadri could not confirm the current list of distributors before publication.

Brennan says a shift to cheaper vendors was one of her main worries when she learned of Chartwells’ takeover of the café. 

The DSU explicitly requested that the café’s prices remain affordable, but did not give input on specific food items and has no actual power to affect Chartwells’ decisions. 

“It’s important to have lower-priced items, around the $10 to $15 range,” she says. “Students can always reach out to us if there are particular items they’d like to see.” 

Brennan finds the shift away from student-led vendors in the SUB concerning.

“It makes me not want to utilize the SUB at all … I don’t plan on going in there.”

Seshadri understands why students may have concerns with a third-party organization taking over the space. She says the union will continue to be consulted on any changes to food items or pricing, though still won’t be able to change them.

“Our relationship with Chartwells is quite collaborative,” she says. “The student union gives feedback on what exactly [changes] look like for students when they go into effect.”