Ben Wedge, Opinions Contributor
On December 1st, the DSU Council will be voting on the future of our food services agreement, and may cede control to the University. What we will be exchanging is an exclusive setup run by students with an exclusive setup controlled by university administrators. The debate over this is reaching a fever- pitch, as it rightly should. Here’s my two cents.
As a councilor on the DSU Council, I have a say in what we will get. At the end of the day, the University’s and Student Union Executive’s claim that the University requires full control of the SUB’s food services in order to renovate the building is ludicrous. The Request For Proposals (RFP) can clearly state the level of service requested and the areas that the contract would cover. For example, the food provider could service the residence-style cafeteria proposed for the SUB, but not the Grawood or the area currently referred to as “The Market.” The RFP process would be open to Aramark, Sodexho, Chartwells, and anyone else who may be large enough to bid on the food contract.
If we overhaul the SUB, why don’t we build it like a mall food court, comprising a number of independently-leasable kiosks complete with a kitchen? We could rent these out on multi-year terms, and allow a variety of businesses to set up shop. Maybe Creperie Mobile, the food provider for the Grad House, will rent one of them. Maybe we’ll rent one to groups like the Loaded Ladle, the proposed new local, vegan soup kitchen cooperative.
What about the money? The DSU currently pulls in about $300,000 per year from our exclusivity deals with Sodexho and Pepsi. If we were to reconfigure our space like a mall food court, we could simply charge rent to the providers, bringing in a similar amount of revenue. Rent would be based on comparisons with similar markets, as it should be in any business environment. We would run the risk of lowering our revenues, but so long as it turns a profit, isn’t our commitment to student desires more important?
As Jason Loxton, a UBC graduate currently studying at Dal rightly pointed out in last week’s Gazette, the most popular options on campus are the Dawgfather and Tim Horton’s, because they’re quicker and cheaper than the Sodexho and Aramark services (the three Tim’s locations on campus are run by Sodexho and Aramark, depending on location). We can compete with the quality and cost of any university food court in Canada. The DSU could choose to run all the food kiosks ourselves, setting up a pizzeria, sushi bar, salad bar, whatever, or contract them out individually to interested businesses. We could choose to only rent to businesses that are local & organic, that’s really up to us, so long as the RFP has these requirements clearly laid out.
The plan for the University to swap crap for crap is insulting to students, and will continue to keep choice out of our grasp. We want tasty, healthy, cheap food. This can be provided by corporations, or small local businesses— but so long as we retain the current format and exclusivity arrangements, we will never have that luxury. The monopoly on food service means that
Sodexho and Aramark have no incentive to change their service until we issue a new RFP. Students have nowhere to turn, so when we can’t bring food from home, we must buy from them. Introducing competition means that the students will choose each day which company best reflects their needs and desires.
I’m in favour of expanding the SUB and reconfiguring the food services area, but not the raw deal the University is proposing. I support expanding the SUB, providing a lounge for commuters and more meeting space for students, and have no problems sliding a Uni- versity-run residence cafeteria into one corner. However, to me, the choice is simple: I will be voting to keep control of our food services in our own hands.
Ben Wedge is a Senate Representative for the Dalhousie Student Union
Recent Comments