Aramark Will No Longer Be NYU’s Dining Provider

The long-standing food provider will most likely be replaced by Compass Group after July.

By Maggie Meskhi and Téa Kvetenadze

Aramark, NYU’s food service provider of more than 35 years, will have its contract terminated in July, according to a new report. The news, first reported by Washington Square News, comes after a lengthy campaign by student activists opposed to Aramark’s ties with private prisons and its history of inadequate service, as well as a scandal caused by a racially insensitive Black History Month menu in Downstein last year. Compass Group, the only remaining food supplier option, will likely be the replacement.

Owen Moore, Assistant Vice President of Campus Services, declined to comment on the news, and university spokesman John Beckman did not respond to a request for comment.

The transition may mean changes not only to meal plans but also the job statuses of current NYU Dining employees who are employed by Aramark. Amanda Lawson, an organizer with the Incarceration to Education Coalition (IEC) and a prison reform activist, tweeted her concerns in response to the news, saying students must fight to ensure workers of color from Aramark are kept on.

NYU sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to four potential dining service candidates last November and received responses from Aramark and Compass Group after two other contenders dropped out before the deadline. The proposals were reviewed by the university-assembled panel of students, faculty, and administrators who in turn provided their feedback to a smaller Recommendations Committee. The Committee then made its recommendation to the decision-makers, President Andrew Hamilton, Provost Katherine Elizabeth Fleming, and Executive Vice President Martin Dorph.

Aramark has come under fire multiple times in recent years from student activist groups protesting its involvement in private prisons. Other controversies included the insensitive meal choices at Weinstein Dining Hall during Black History Month and Lipton Hall’s poor health inspection grade that resulted in the firing of the Hall manager. An occupation of Bobst and Kimmel led by the IEC last year ended after the group reached an agreement with the administration.

Contract negotiation is scheduled to last from March until June 1.