Students Fed Up With Sodexo
Greg Tomascheski, Staff Reporter
Gregory_Tomascheski@csumb.edu
May 8, 2008
Students at CSU Monterey Bay
(CSUMB) have recently voiced their
concerns about the campus food service
provider Sodexo. Just last year, in 2007,
CSUMB had the chance to contract a
new food service provider, but Sodexo
was awarded the contract yet again.
Sodexo, Aramark and Chartwells
all competed for the $3 million
contract with CSUMB.
One student group opposed to the
re-contracting of Sodexo was Fair Food
Action (FFA) at CSUMB, which was
organized by students in March 2005.
The group was started due to concerns
about the quality, nutritional value and
affordability of the food on campus, and
was intended to give students a stronger
voice regarding the decisions made by
the CSUMB foundation concerning
food service providers.
The FFA failed to gain steam, however,
and though many students gave the group
their support, Sodexo again was awarded
the contract in 2007.
The multinational corporation
Sodexo boasts that it provides ecofriendly
utensils, fair-trade coffee,
organic and vegan choices.
Marco Ayala is the supervisor at the
Dining Commons (DC) on campus.
Ayala said he has had his job for 13 years
and he is happy working for Sodexo. “I
feel they treat us well,” said Ayala, “and
we serve very good quality food.”
Many students are concerned
about the company’s ethics, though,
despite Sodexo being very successful
at projecting a positive image to the
student body with clever advertising
strategies, providing random late-night
events, and special prize give-a-ways.
Not all students are opposed to
Sodexo’s services on campus, but many
have recently complained that there are
not enough choices and the organic
foods are too pricey.
Every student on campus must
purchase a meal plan which can cost up
to $1,250 per year.
Though the DC offers a variety of
foods, Sodexo’s burgers, french fries
and pizza are among the most popular
meals for students simply because they
know what to expect with these entres.
The Otter Express (OE) offers some
healthier pre-made alternatives but they
are often expensive and make it harder
for students to budget their meal plans.
2007 was the last year that students had
a non-Sodexo dining area on campus.
Julia Ortega, a Visual and Public Art
freshman, plays on the softball team
at CSUMB and has an issue with the
campus’ dining services during breaks.
“When the school is on break
athletes are stuck on campus and there’s
nowhere to eat,” said Ortega. One of
Ortega’s teammates acknowledged that
she didn’t eat for an entire day over
break while she was on campus.
Taylor Lejins, Business freshman
lives on campus and eats
most of his meals at the
DC and the OE. Lejins
said the food options on
campus get old fast, and
that the freshness is at
times questionable. “The
pizza is always there, but
some of the food is pretty
nasty,” said Lejins.
A year ago Lejins
would have had a few
more options for oncampus
dining such as the Black
Box Cabaret (BBC), which offered
a variety of non-cafeteria style foods
for students and was beyond Sodexo’s
control. However the Foundation
of CSUMB decided to cut the food
budget for the BBC in 2007 because
of the deficit it was creating.
Several schools in the U.S. and
Canada have actually boycotted Sodexo
due to the company’s partnership with
the U.S. Military and its business
history with the nation’s prisons.
Turning Point of Central California
is a program for drug rehab and
people recently released from jail
or prison. Sodexho routinely hires
workers for the CSUMB campus
through this program.
“There’s nothing wrong with
[Sodexo’s] hiring as long as the
employees are trained and know how
to prepare healthy food,” said Alyson
Schmidt, Biology freshman. “Some
of the burritos are so greasy you have
to stop eating 2/3 of the way through
because the last 1/3 of the tortilla is just
filled with grease.”
Until the contract expires and there
is another chance at a new food
service provider, students will have to
settle for Sodexo.