Penn finds Aramark hard to swallow

It seems like everyone’s talking about sustainability these days, and college campus dining halls are now part of that conversation. The University of Pennsylvania is all but eliminating service from its current food provider, Aramark, in favor of one that offers more organic, locally grown choices.

It seems like everyone’s talking about sustainability these days, and college campus dining halls are now part of that conversation. The University of Pennsylvania is all but eliminating service from its current food provider, Aramark, in favor of one that offers more organic, locally grown choices.

Listen:
[audio: 090520sbaramark.mp3]

Philadelphia-based Aramark will be replaced on most of the campus by Bon Appetit, a company that bills itself as a promoter and user of locally grown food.

Student Maura Goldstein is part of the campus group Farm Ecology, which pushed for more local and sustainable food choices. She says Aramark was largely unresponsive to calls for more locally grown food.

Goldstein: They were very tied to their contracts with corporations like Sysco and preferred to source all their food from Sysco, and that made it really difficult to try to buy from smaller farmers or local producers.

An Aramark spokesman says 185 campus jobs will be eliminated, but a spokesperson for Penn says those employees will mostly be rehired by Bon Appetit.