In 2010, Houghton College entered into a contract with Sodexo, naming them manager and operator of the college’s food services. Since then, Sodexo stands as a prominent part of the college, gradually gaining more responsibilities, such as janitorial services and, most recently, the operation of former Java 101.
Currently Sodexo and Houghton maintain two contracts, referred to separately as Food Services and Facilities. The Food Services contract began on June 1, 2010 and spans a seven-year period following that date. This contract covers an agreed-upon group of Houghton services involving food, comprised of the cafeteria, Big Al’s, Sandella’s, and the newly-added coffee shop.
Contrary to common belief, Houghton College still maintains ownership over each of these campus features, including the coffee shop. Tina Powers, Sodexo General Manager, said, “We are contracted to run any retail that [Houghton has] requested us to run; we manage it for them. There’s no ownership at all on our part.” She explained that the coffee shop was an important aspect of student life, and Sodexo and Houghton found it necessary to work together to sustain it.
This owner-manager relationship also applies to the second contract, Facilities, which covers the janitorial, maintenance, and grounds component of Houghton’s services. This contract began later than the Food Services contract.
Both the Food Services and Facilities contracts cover specific details concerning the college’s expectations for Sodexo, the service provider. For example, Robert Pool, Vice President for Student Life, said, the Food Services contract “specifies what the college owns, versus what Sodexo owns.”
“In general,” Pool said, “we own all physical property… all the permanent equipment (sinks, refrigerators, ovens), but bowls, utensils, inventory for all food, and food supplies – that’s purchased and operated by Sodexo.”
Along with these matters, the contracts also stipulate what Sodexo’s duties are within the specific services. The Food Services contract provides a definition of its services, reading, “Food Services shall include the following: Resident dining programs, retail sales, catering.” Such instructions dictated by the contracts aid in clarification and direct decisions such as how much Sodexo can charge per meal, how they maintain hours of operations, and what aspects of the college’s food services are managed by Sodexo.
Houghton and Sodexo work together to make changes, whether changing a part of the contract or simply rearranging the layout of the cafeteria. Pool described a recent layout change, saying, “Sodexo came to the college saying here’s what we would like to do… and we then give some feedback.”
Amendments are also made to the contracts each year to adjust, improve, or remove parts of the original documents. The college holds “expectation meetings” in which representatives from both Houghton and Sodexo discuss such adjustments in addition to the college’s expectations for the service provider.
Powers summarized one recent expectations meeting, saying the meeting’s focus was “just making sure that we’re meeting expectations, and what [Houghton’s] expectations are for the next six months or for the next year… right now they’re focused on us making sure that students have what they need.”