The Good, the Bad and the ARAMARK, pt. 1
Geoffrey Pursinger
Issue date: 5/14/09 Section: News
For the students at Pacific University, Aramark is… well, everything. Unless students have a job with money to spend Aramark - the universities food service provider, is the only option for breakfast, lunch, dinner and any other meal that students eat.
But for local restaurateurs like Maggie Pike, owner of Maggie's Buns on 21st Avenue, Aramark is… frankly, a royal pain.
"They kind of need a time out," said Pike. "They really don't play well with others."
Ask Forest Grove's economic development coordinator, Jeff King and he'll tell you a similar story.
"It's a bit of a sore spot," said King. "They're seen as this sort of monolithic wall that's just unscalable."
What King and Pike are referring to is the current contract that the food service corporation has with Pacific University, which allows the culinary giant exclusive rights to Pacific's Forest Grove and Hillsboro campuses, forbidding local businesses from selling their food on campus, or catering any of the university's events.
This means that when the Forest Grove Rotary Noon Club meets on Pacific's campus, as they do every Wednesday, a pot luck is out of the question.
When university departments bring in guest speakers, the school isn't able to hire the services of other catering companies, such as Maggie's Buns or Prime Time.
For Pacific University, the question of what's for lunch is always the same. Aramark.
Here's how the process works:
If an event is hosted on campus by the university, meaning either an academic department such as the English department, or an administrative department such as the Residence Hall Association, Aramark has the right to cater that event, and charge full price.
If students or faculty members wanted to host a private function, such as an end of the year class party, or sell food for a fundraiser, the food would not have to be provided by Aramark.
The contract does not stop students from ordering a pizza for private parties in the residence halls, or stop local businesses such as Domino's from delivering to campus. It does, however, mean that Aramark can stop local vendors from providing food for an event, or selling their food on campus.
"We try keep it as unconfusing as possible," said Ralph Vasey, Property & Auxiliary Service Director at Pacific, who serves as liaison between the food service provider and the university. "It depends on the event, but if it's a formal catered event, Aramark has the rights to it."
Because Pacific's older residence halls do not come equipped with individual kitchens for student use, which the newer buildings do, students that live in McCormick, Walter or Clark Halls must purchase a meal plan with the university, meaning that they prepay for a certain number of meals with the on-campus dining.
A meal plan at Pacific currently costs students $3,726 per year. Roughly $17.57 per day for every resident in the three buildings.
The exclusivity agreement is nothing new, Aramark has been the primary food service provider for the university since 1990, and local businesses have never liked the idea of not being allowed to cater Pacific events. But what has changed for Forest Grove are the current economic troubles that the city - and the country - are finding themselves in.
For Aramark the contract means constant business during the tough economic times, but for many local restaurateurs the exclusivity of the agreement makes it seem as if the university is unwilling to reach out to the community.
"We would love to have this town be a university town," said Pike. "And it makes it impossible when we're not allowed on campus. As a business I can totally see [Aramark's] point of view for not wanting the university to allow in other vendors, but you have to give just a little."
Pike said that not allowing other vendors onto Pacific's campus is stunting Forest Grove's growth.
"There's just so much potential for this town," she said. "And it's a shame not being able to tap into it."
Pike did say that Aramark's stance has, in many ways gotten better. Five years ago Pike wasn't even allowed to advertise her business on campus.
"It's water under the bridge now," said Pike. "But there was a time when they would tear down posters we put up on campus. They'd say 'We don't advertise on your campus, you can't advertise on ours.' I think a lot of that's gone away. They've definitely gotten better since then."
Local restaurants aren't the only ones frustrated by the universities policy of Aramark-only edibles.
"Frankly I think it's kinda silly," said one Pacific professor who teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences. "We didn't have anything like that at the other university I worked at." T
he professor, who asked not to be identified, said that no one ever told her the rules on what she was or was not allowed to do in regards to the contract.
"It was just sort of mentioned in passing when I was setting up an end of the year event," she said. "They just said 'you know you have to use Aramark, right?' You'd think that something that important would be in the faculty handbook."
The professor said that she has purposefully gone around Aramark when planning events at times, mainly because of cost issues.
"Our budget was stretched pretty thin, there wasn't a way that we could pay Aramark's prices," she said. "We had to come up with a different way [to have food at the event], so we decided to do a potluck, where everyone brought something different."
The potluck was in direct violation of the contract, but the professor said that it was the only way.
The professor said that no one has ever explained to her what exactly would happen if she were caught going around the policy and breaching the universities contract.
"They never went over any of that," she said.
Because no explanation was given about what events must, and must not be, catered by Aramark it makes it difficult to decide what events Aramark should be told about, the professor said.
"A lot of these are sort of gray areas," she said. "Like when the department will take students out to dinner or host events off campus, I don't know if those are covered by Aramark or not."
She did say that she plans to use Aramark at events in the future, and only goes around them when her budget makes it necessary.
Many local business continue to work with professors on the side, under the radar of the university and food service provider, but according to Rod Bednar the owner of Pizza Schmizza on Main Street, Aramark has recently started cracking down on university professors, and downtown businesses.
"We used to get students who would come over and order a few pizzas for their events," said Bednar. "But Aramark has really clamped down, they aren't allowed to do that anymore."
For Lois Hornberger, Pacific's director of Conferences Services, it's a matter of the business protecting its investment to the campus.
"Aramark is a business and they are out to turn a profit," said Hornberger who works with Aramark routinely in her position. "It's a touch situation. They are very protective, but I would invite you to look at what they give back to the community in return."
To Aramark's credit, they have accomplished some genuine good around the community, including purchasing more local products - roughly 80 percent of Aramark's food now comes from local or regional businesses.
Aramark joined the Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce, in January and has worked to bring their catering service to the rest of the community, catering various Chamber of Commerce and Noon Rotary Club functions throughout the year.
Aramark has brought in local businesses in the past to work alongside them. Tsunami Sushi, was added in September in the university dining center. While Aramark's contract with Pacific gives them exclusive reign over Pacific's dining services, outside vendors are able to come onto campus with permission from Aramark.
"Tsunami Sushi is contracted to us, just as we are contracted to the university," said Bethany Bigelow, director of Dining Services for Aramark. "They sell their sushi in our dining area and give us a commission on their sales, just as we give a piece of our commission to Pacific."
Bigelow said that there are internal talks going on to bring in more local businesses such as Pizza Schmizza or Maggie's Buns into the university in a similar capacity, but noted that these things can take a long time to put together.
"You have to make sure that everything is right on your end before you can approach them with the idea," said Bigelow.
Pacific's food service provider is also ranked as one of the most sustainable branches of the Aramark Corporation, a global business with branches in 19 countries around the world, according to their website.
Aramark's size allows it certain amenities in town that other businesses might not be able to handle.
"There are certain things that happen in town, such as the Corn Roast, that local businesses wouldn't be able to do," said Lance Kissler, Director of Marketing for Pacific University. "It's too big, and they couldn't handle the scale, or get food at the price that Aramark can."
But no matter how it' spun, area eateries see the food service provider's exclusivity agreement as a hinderance to the local economy. What it boils down to, Pike said, is an issue of fairness.
"We are a huge supporter of Pacific, and we donate stuff to them all the time," said Pike. "It's just frustrating when it doesn't go both ways."
But for local restaurateurs like Maggie Pike, owner of Maggie's Buns on 21st Avenue, Aramark is… frankly, a royal pain.
"They kind of need a time out," said Pike. "They really don't play well with others."
Ask Forest Grove's economic development coordinator, Jeff King and he'll tell you a similar story.
"It's a bit of a sore spot," said King. "They're seen as this sort of monolithic wall that's just unscalable."
What King and Pike are referring to is the current contract that the food service corporation has with Pacific University, which allows the culinary giant exclusive rights to Pacific's Forest Grove and Hillsboro campuses, forbidding local businesses from selling their food on campus, or catering any of the university's events.
This means that when the Forest Grove Rotary Noon Club meets on Pacific's campus, as they do every Wednesday, a pot luck is out of the question.
When university departments bring in guest speakers, the school isn't able to hire the services of other catering companies, such as Maggie's Buns or Prime Time.
For Pacific University, the question of what's for lunch is always the same. Aramark.
Here's how the process works:
If an event is hosted on campus by the university, meaning either an academic department such as the English department, or an administrative department such as the Residence Hall Association, Aramark has the right to cater that event, and charge full price.
If students or faculty members wanted to host a private function, such as an end of the year class party, or sell food for a fundraiser, the food would not have to be provided by Aramark.
The contract does not stop students from ordering a pizza for private parties in the residence halls, or stop local businesses such as Domino's from delivering to campus. It does, however, mean that Aramark can stop local vendors from providing food for an event, or selling their food on campus.
"We try keep it as unconfusing as possible," said Ralph Vasey, Property & Auxiliary Service Director at Pacific, who serves as liaison between the food service provider and the university. "It depends on the event, but if it's a formal catered event, Aramark has the rights to it."
Because Pacific's older residence halls do not come equipped with individual kitchens for student use, which the newer buildings do, students that live in McCormick, Walter or Clark Halls must purchase a meal plan with the university, meaning that they prepay for a certain number of meals with the on-campus dining.
A meal plan at Pacific currently costs students $3,726 per year. Roughly $17.57 per day for every resident in the three buildings.
The exclusivity agreement is nothing new, Aramark has been the primary food service provider for the university since 1990, and local businesses have never liked the idea of not being allowed to cater Pacific events. But what has changed for Forest Grove are the current economic troubles that the city - and the country - are finding themselves in.
For Aramark the contract means constant business during the tough economic times, but for many local restaurateurs the exclusivity of the agreement makes it seem as if the university is unwilling to reach out to the community.
"We would love to have this town be a university town," said Pike. "And it makes it impossible when we're not allowed on campus. As a business I can totally see [Aramark's] point of view for not wanting the university to allow in other vendors, but you have to give just a little."
Pike said that not allowing other vendors onto Pacific's campus is stunting Forest Grove's growth.
"There's just so much potential for this town," she said. "And it's a shame not being able to tap into it."
Pike did say that Aramark's stance has, in many ways gotten better. Five years ago Pike wasn't even allowed to advertise her business on campus.
"It's water under the bridge now," said Pike. "But there was a time when they would tear down posters we put up on campus. They'd say 'We don't advertise on your campus, you can't advertise on ours.' I think a lot of that's gone away. They've definitely gotten better since then."
Local restaurants aren't the only ones frustrated by the universities policy of Aramark-only edibles.
"Frankly I think it's kinda silly," said one Pacific professor who teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences. "We didn't have anything like that at the other university I worked at." T
he professor, who asked not to be identified, said that no one ever told her the rules on what she was or was not allowed to do in regards to the contract.
"It was just sort of mentioned in passing when I was setting up an end of the year event," she said. "They just said 'you know you have to use Aramark, right?' You'd think that something that important would be in the faculty handbook."
The professor said that she has purposefully gone around Aramark when planning events at times, mainly because of cost issues.
"Our budget was stretched pretty thin, there wasn't a way that we could pay Aramark's prices," she said. "We had to come up with a different way [to have food at the event], so we decided to do a potluck, where everyone brought something different."
The potluck was in direct violation of the contract, but the professor said that it was the only way.
The professor said that no one has ever explained to her what exactly would happen if she were caught going around the policy and breaching the universities contract.
"They never went over any of that," she said.
Because no explanation was given about what events must, and must not be, catered by Aramark it makes it difficult to decide what events Aramark should be told about, the professor said.
"A lot of these are sort of gray areas," she said. "Like when the department will take students out to dinner or host events off campus, I don't know if those are covered by Aramark or not."
She did say that she plans to use Aramark at events in the future, and only goes around them when her budget makes it necessary.
Many local business continue to work with professors on the side, under the radar of the university and food service provider, but according to Rod Bednar the owner of Pizza Schmizza on Main Street, Aramark has recently started cracking down on university professors, and downtown businesses.
"We used to get students who would come over and order a few pizzas for their events," said Bednar. "But Aramark has really clamped down, they aren't allowed to do that anymore."
For Lois Hornberger, Pacific's director of Conferences Services, it's a matter of the business protecting its investment to the campus.
"Aramark is a business and they are out to turn a profit," said Hornberger who works with Aramark routinely in her position. "It's a touch situation. They are very protective, but I would invite you to look at what they give back to the community in return."
To Aramark's credit, they have accomplished some genuine good around the community, including purchasing more local products - roughly 80 percent of Aramark's food now comes from local or regional businesses.
Aramark joined the Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce, in January and has worked to bring their catering service to the rest of the community, catering various Chamber of Commerce and Noon Rotary Club functions throughout the year.
Aramark has brought in local businesses in the past to work alongside them. Tsunami Sushi, was added in September in the university dining center. While Aramark's contract with Pacific gives them exclusive reign over Pacific's dining services, outside vendors are able to come onto campus with permission from Aramark.
"Tsunami Sushi is contracted to us, just as we are contracted to the university," said Bethany Bigelow, director of Dining Services for Aramark. "They sell their sushi in our dining area and give us a commission on their sales, just as we give a piece of our commission to Pacific."
Bigelow said that there are internal talks going on to bring in more local businesses such as Pizza Schmizza or Maggie's Buns into the university in a similar capacity, but noted that these things can take a long time to put together.
"You have to make sure that everything is right on your end before you can approach them with the idea," said Bigelow.
Pacific's food service provider is also ranked as one of the most sustainable branches of the Aramark Corporation, a global business with branches in 19 countries around the world, according to their website.
Aramark's size allows it certain amenities in town that other businesses might not be able to handle.
"There are certain things that happen in town, such as the Corn Roast, that local businesses wouldn't be able to do," said Lance Kissler, Director of Marketing for Pacific University. "It's too big, and they couldn't handle the scale, or get food at the price that Aramark can."
But no matter how it' spun, area eateries see the food service provider's exclusivity agreement as a hinderance to the local economy. What it boils down to, Pike said, is an issue of fairness.
"We are a huge supporter of Pacific, and we donate stuff to them all the time," said Pike. "It's just frustrating when it doesn't go both ways."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jack Figueroa
posted 10/16/09 @ 1:55 PM PST
This holds true all over the country. How can a monopoly like this be allowed by law?
Why is Microsoft, Google and so many others be accused and legally charged with Antitrust lawsuits, yet giants like Aramark get away with this at every level?
As an entrepreneur and as a private citizen I just want a fare chance to compete based on quality of product and service, price discounts, etc. (Continued…)
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