Dear campus community,
Aramark, Salem State’s dining vendor, has informed the university that it is planning on terminating our contract as of July 17, 2020. Aramark was selected through a cross-campus process last year that brought many improvements to our dining experience. However, Aramark feels it is no longer feasible to continue this agreement.
Under the direction of Ben Szalewicz, associate vice president of capital planning and business affairs, the university will immediately issue a request for proposals and will convene a similar campus-wide review process, which will include students. The goal of this effort is to maintain some of the dining selections that our community has come to enjoy, such as the 24/7 all-you-care-to-eat option in the Marsh Dining Commons. Future dining options will be informed by the scenarios that are being developed by the financial strategic and operational planning working groups; this work, which is key to the university’s pandemic recovery efforts, was announced earlier this week. As always, decisions will be made with the goal of providing the best benefit to our students at a reasonable cost.
I wanted to immediately inform you of this news as our dining program is an important component of campus life and student satisfaction. I also want to assure you that during the summer months, there will be dining service on campus. This summer, that service will be limited not only because it’s summer but also because the coronavirus response has reduced the number of people living, studying and working on campus.
I will keep you updated as this search process continues to move forward.
Sincerely,
Karen House
Vice President for Finance and Facilities