Several new Booster Juice locations, expanded and additional Starbucks and Tim Horton’s outlets, and maybe even a Subway franchise will all be vying for your student buck in the coming year-on campus.
“Our objective is to bring back the campus population to eat,” said Michael Oschefski, the executive vice-president and general manager of Aramark Canada Services. His company was selected by the university last month to provide food services on St. George campus for a period of 10 years, starting Aug. 1.
Aramark will run all the major food outlets in university buildings, with the exception of Hart House and University College. Already, the company is planning a series of food service improvements, Oschefski said. The bulk of these will come on-stream during the company’s first two years on campus.
At New College, Aramark’s “fresh deli” and “produce market” concepts will be introduced, along with some new tables and seats, colourful wall coverings, and livelier colour schemes.
“It’s going to be more exciting, more fun for everybody,” Oschefski commented.
Coffee outlets in the Medical Sciences Building will also be grow. “In year one there’s going to be an expansion of the Tim Horton’s into an atrium out front,” said Oschefski. “We’re going to put a new Starbucks inside, and we’re going to completely re-do the seating area.” At Robarts, a “Miso concept” will be added. The Starbucks there will be expanded.
In campus cafeterias, Aramark will replace styrofoam dishes with biodegradable ones, and is examining ways to source certain produce locally. Cafeteria seating areas will feature new 32-inch LCD screens, which will be displaying news and university information, as well as “promoting products,” as Oschefski put it.
While noting that campus food staff will grow to about 240, Oschefski declined to comment on Aramark’s ongoing dealings with the union that represents U of T’s food service employees, who work for outgoing food provider Sodexho.
“There’s just a couple of things in the collective agreement we have to deal with. Remember, it’s not our collective agreement-it’s another company’s collective agreement,” he pointed out. “So we have to iron out a couple of details in it, and we’ll be away to the races.”
Food service workers at a June 14 meeting by Unite Here, however, took a less flexible view on the matter. Frank Piserchia, union representative for Unite Here, strongly asserted that “we cannot trust Aramark, or any employer in that matter, until they commit themselves, in a written statement to accept the collective agreement as negotiated by Sodexho and Unite Here. University of Toronto is responsible for upholding the fundamental rights of its workers.”
At the meeting, Unite Here members formally drafted a letter to Aramark and U of T Vice-Presidents pressing them on this point. The meeting ended with a march to Simcoe Hall to hand-deliver the letter to U of T’s administration.
Aramark recognized Unite Here’s union at a town hall meeting last month. Oschefski said Aramark is meeting with Unite Here on Wednesday to attempt to discuss the collective agreement.
