For the first time since the university was founded in 1965, USF St. Petersburg will have a dining hall.
The university signed a five-year, once-renewable contract with food service giant Sodexo in April, and has been making the pitch to incoming and returning students and their parents over the summer.
The most controversial aspect of the new dining service is students living on campus, regardless of year, are required to participate.
“It shouldn’t be mandatory, especially when we have our own kitchens,” said Kimberly Sanchez, a freshman pre-med student living in RHO. Students need to learn to be self-sufficient in college, she said.
Having a kitchen in RHO was a primary reason she chose to live there instead of in the new building. “I won’t use [the meal plan] every day,” she said.
Ultimately he says the gold plan will be a money saver when compared to the cost of groceries.
Prior to the announcement of the service, the availability of on-campus dining was parents’ most common concern during freshmen orientations, said Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Julie Wong. The requirement to purchase a meal plan might be controversial at first, she said, but due to the relatively small size of the campus and resident population, some concessions had to be made.
Those deal sweeteners have rankled some parents, according to orientation leaders who assisted with the parent orientation sessions.
Several orientation leaders told The Crow’s Nest that parents were upset about mandatory participation in the meal plan, especially when combined with mandatory (with exceptions) on-campus living for first year students.
“People do not feel it is fair to be charged the full price while living in Residence Hall One,” said orientation leader and Student Government President Mark Lombardi-Nelson. RHO is unique among campus living options as it includes shared kitchen space.
The primary goal of the negotiations with Sodexo was to keep prices as low as possible, Wong said. As a result, the meals plans are slightly less expensive than similar plans offered at USF Tampa, but with fewer flexible spending dollars, fewer meal plan options and the requirement that all campus residents purchase a meal plan.
In Tampa, participation in the meal plan is only mandatory for first-year students.
During an orientation attended by reporters from The Crow’s Nest, parents took the information in stride. One asked if gluten-free meals were available. Louis Duran, the manager for Sodexo who will be running the dining service, said gluten-free foods will be plentiful, including a daily salad bar, among other items.
Tom Scherberger, the school’s director of communications, clarified the situation when asked if students with special dietary needs would be stuck with rabbit food three times a day. No, he said, students can submit a letter from a physician and accommodations for special meals can be made at no extra cost.
Two plans are available for students living on campus. One option, the “gold” plan, provides 21 meals per week and $100 in flexible spending dollars for $1,600 per semester, plus tax. The “green” plan comes with 110 total meals per semester for $1,000, with $50 in flexible spending dollars the university is calling “Shark Bites”.
Shark Bites accounts will be linked with student IDs and used like a debit card at a Sodexo-managed Red Mango frozen yogurt franchise in the University Student Center or for a la carte options like premade sandwiches, salads and wraps available from “The Reef,” the name of the cafeteria. Shark Bites dollars will also be sold at a slight discount and balances will transfer from the fall to spring semester.
Summer plan prices have not been determined, but will be lower, Scherberger said, to account for fewer serving days and multiple summer sessions.
The meal plans are available for non-resident students, but Sodexo, the food service company operating the dining hall, expects such sales to be rare. Faculty, commuter students and other guests can purchase meals at the retail rates of $6.50 for breakfast, $7.50 for lunch and $8.50 for dinner, less expensive than the per-meal price on the green plan, which amounts to $9.09 per meal (excluding Shark Bites).
In his dining halls, the utilization rate is about 75 percent, said Duran, the Sodexo manager. This is achieved by focusing on sourcing local produce through Sodexo’s established distribution network; food events, for example, a contest where students compete for the title of best chef; and theme nights focusing on cultural cuisines, late night dining to facilitate pre-exam cramming or the environment and sustainability.
The university ceded the ability to contract outside caterers for special events. For the length of the five-year, once renewable contract, Sodexo has the right of first refusal to cater all campus events, including those hosted by Student Government, clubs and organizations. A “shoestring” catering menu will keep costs low for student organizations.
During the exploratory stages of the purchasing process, USFSP estimated the value of all campus catering at $60,000 per year. Sodexo expects to sell $100,000 of catering services per year, according to its proposal.
Sodexo may allow special events not specifically mentioned in the contract, like the food truck rally hosted earlier in the summer. “I welcome competition,” Duran said. He wants to have a good relationship with the established local restaurants, he added.
Sodexo’s catering exclusivity came as a surprise for several local restaurant owners who said university leaders had promised the campus would remain open for outside caterers.
Lombardi-Nelson, as student president, said he is exploring options regarding any student organization’s obligation to the catering clause. Solely working with Sodexo to cater student events could hurt the bottom line, as clubs and organizations will no longer be able to receive free or greatly discounted food for events from third parties.
As a mea culpa, the university has offered The Campus Grind and The Tavern an opportunity to participate in the Bulls Bucks program, but the numbers have yet to be finalized. At the moment, both restaurants said the price and expected participation do not justify the initial investment. Bulls Bucks, a USF-system wide program, will be usable in the dining hall, but Shark Bites will not work in place of Bulls Bucks.
The new dining service will create job opportunities for students, with a target of 25 percent of employees drawn from the student population. This is spelled out in the contract, but if the target is not reached, it is not considered a breach of the contract. Ultimately, it will be up to Duran, he said, and that number could be anywhere from 15 percent to 35 percent.
“Sodexo expects that students will actually make up more than 25 percent of their employee base,” Scherberger wrote in an email. “USFSP is interested in this as well so we will monitor their progress.”
A job fair is planned for the end of July or the beginning of August. Information will be available through the university’s typical communications channels or through the dining service’s Facebook page.
