A major campus organization was put on probation recently, and it was not a fraternity, sorority or selective house. In fact, it was not a student group at all. However, the group directly influences the daily lives of everyone at Duke--students, faculty and employees alike.
At its weekly legislative meeting, Duke Student Government voted to place Aramark Corp., a dining services management company responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Great Hall, Marketplace, Subway, Eddy's, Trinity Cafe and Chick-fil-A, on probation until February 2004, at which time a vote of confidence/no confidence will be held. Aramark, which has contracted with Duke since the summer of 2001, has failed to fully meet DSG, the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee and Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst's expectations in terms of food quality, sales and employee training and treatment. Unless Aramark shows marked improvement by Feb. 2004, the University should terminate its contract.
Foremost, the eateries managed by Aramark have been among the lowest-rated in recent campus surveys. Three Aramark eating locations, The Marketplace, the Great Hall and Trinity Cafe were rated in the bottom five. This is especially alarming given the fact that the University recently spent approximately $1 million on renovations to the Great Hall, in an effort to boost its popularity. Aramark is a professional dining services contractor, and as such, should reasonably be expected to translate an investment of that magnitude into an increased popularity level.
Further, Aramark has failed to meet expectations in terms of food sales across campus. Immediately following the re-opening of the Great Hall in August, sales rose by 20 percent, but have since dropped to about 7 to 8 percent over last year's margin. Wulforst is correct to expect a more consistent level of sales, and Aramark should have been able to sustain the eatery's initial success.
Finally, Aramark has not come through on its promises to increase employee training and treatment standards. Even before Aramark came to Duke, it had a reputation of poor management-employee relations. Some Duke employees have felt that Aramark does not give sufficient general training to allow for promotion within the corporation, or give them a skill base that will make them marketable in the greater job pool. Aramark has made some effort to create programs to enrich their employees' experience, but not enough has been done. Many employees remain dissatisfied.
DSG did the right thing in placing Aramark on probation. However, the organization's timing lacks foresight. DSG postponed the Spring 2003 confidence/no confidence vote to Fall 2003, and just postponed it to the Spring again. They should have realized in Spring 2003 that action against Aramark could not have been taken in this Fall, as terminating their contract with a no confidence vote would have left an unmanagable void in food services for the Spring 2004 semester. Had DSG taken action last spring, the University could have sent a clear message to Aramark that they were not meeting expectations, and given them time to correct the problem. Hopefully, the arrival of Regional Vice President Mark Nelson will put Aramark back on track. Regardless, without improvement, Aramark's days are numbered.
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