Inside Iowa State
December 10, 1999
Study on merger of campus food services continues
by Anne Krapfl
Work continues on Iowa State's plan to merge two
key food service providers on campus, the residence department's
dining/catering service and the Memorial Union's food operations. Last
summer President Martin Jischke accepted the recommendation of vice
presidents Tom Hill (student affairs) and Warren Madden (business and
finance) to merge the two. Jischke asked them to come up with a plan by June
for how to accomplish the merger.
A merged food service is intended to respond to several needs expressed by students, employees and visitors at Iowa State:
- Desire for better quality and varieties of food, flexibility in hours
and more campus locations (especially on the north side).
- Among residence hall students, desire for meal "portability" (i.e.,
their food contracts would be honored at multiple campus food locations).
- Desire for more "presentation" style food preparation and fewer
cafeteria lines.
- Better efficiency and higher quality by coordinating such duplicated services as bakeries and catering.
Madden said he and Hill have assembled a campus advisory group and also are working with the two consulting groups involved in the initial campus food study in 1997, Thomas Ricca Associates and the Cornyn Fasano Group. They have met with employee groups from the Memorial Union and residence food services to answer questions and solicit ideas.
"A majority of the people agree consolidation is the right decision," Madden said. "The concerns are about what the right management structure is for Iowa State."
Madden said they still are studying two models for the reorganization:
- Contract with a major food service company (examples are ARAMARK or
Marriott) to provide the service
at Iowa State. At other schools that have selected this option, food service
employees typically have
the option to remain university employees or become employees
of the contracting company,
Madden said.
- Conduct a national search to hire a director and create the new unit internally.
In the meantime, the consultants will present their recommendations for the merger, probably sometime in January. Madden said those recommendations will be shared publicly and members of the campus community will be asked to comment. Following that process, Madden and Hill will prepare their recommendation for Jischke.
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