Meriwether Godsey Awarded Dining Services Contract Beginning in August 2008

Guilford College has awarded Meriwether Godsey a multi-year contract for dining services beginning in August 2008.  After wide consultations in our community, President Kent Chabotar decided to re-bid the dining services contract.  Guilford re-bids contracted services periodically to ensure the best services at the best prices.  The dining services bid was led by Jon Varnell, associate vice president of operations and facilities, and a 16-member advisory committee that included the involvement of six students appointed by the Community Senate.  

Meriwether Godsey will succeed Sodexho, which has held the dining services contract at Guilford since 1988.  Sodexho management and employees were informed of the change Monday, March 31.  The management transition will take place over the next several months and be in full effect by the beginning of the fall semester in August.

Meriwether Godsey is a Lynchburg, Va.-based company with more than 30 years of dining program experience in North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the District of Columbia.  Included among its accounts is Sidwell Friends School, a PK-12, co-educational Quaker day school in Washington, D.C. 

 “I became aware of the importance of a quality dining experience to student satisfaction and retention when I oversaw dining services at Bowdoin College for a decade,” said President Chabotar.  “Bowdoin has been either No. 1 or No. 2 in the The Princeton Review’s list for best campus food for years.  We have not had the same success at Guilford.”

President Chabotar stated that he believes the transition between vendors will be smooth.  While the college’s contract with Sodexho does not permit the new vendor to hire the current management team for at least a year, other dining services staff members will be given the opportunity to be interviewed and hired by Meriwether Godsey.

“The Sodexho management and workers have been valued members of our community” Chabotar added, noting that Guilford was one of the few colleges nationally to extend tuition benefits to dining services employees.  “We are encouraged that Meriwether Godsey has a proven track record of hiring employees from the previous vendor who show the capacity to learn new ways of preparing and presenting food.”

“The college is excited about this new partnership and recognizes that everyone has a stake in making dining services a success,” Varnell said.  “Meriwether Godsey has a set of performance standards that will be reviewed quarterly, and Meriwether Godsey management will visit campus on a regularly scheduled basis.  Performance standards include financial accountability, commitments to sustainability and sanitation and effective marketing and feedback mechanisms.”

Varnell noted that the change in dining services vendors would have no impact on board pricing in 2008-09 beyond the 5% increase in room and board rates approved by the Board of Trustees in February outside of the bid process.  The college will work with Meriwether Godsey to increase food choices while keeping board costs competitive with other peer institutions.  Future board rate increases will depend on foods and services desired.

Varnell also stated that $1.5 million in campus dining facilities improvements are part of the agreement, and that planning will begin immediately on long-term Founders Hall dining options.   Minor changes will occur this summer, mainly to the grill area in the basement, and major work is anticipated in 2009.

The Dining Services Advisory Committee followed a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in order to ensure that all bidders addressed the same issues—food service rates, interviewing current employees, facilities improvement, sustainability and continuing to provide high-quality, affordable food service to the college.  The RFP process began in October of 2007 and food service management firms, including Sodexho, submitted proposals in response to the RFP in January 2008.   

A community electronic survey was conducted from December through early January, with 464 responses including 370 from traditional-aged students.  "Food quality" and "taste of food" ranked as the most important priorities.  Respondents also expressed concern for dining services staff to be paid a living wage.  Providing many food options, keeping the current employees, having a commitment to environmental sustainability, and having low-fat food options also ranked more important than keeping the meal plan at its current price.

There were three finalists in the process—Meriwether Godsey, Sodexho and Bon Appetit.  Members of the committee made on-site visits to accounts served by the finalists.  In February, representatives of the finalists made presentations in community meetings on campus.  In late March, the committee presented its consensus recommendation to President Chabotar.  Negotiations with Meriwether Godsey resulted in the parties reaching a 10-year contractual agreement. 

“I have been involved with school dining services for nearly 50 years.  Meriwether Godsey is the absolute best with which I have ever worked.  Not only is the food absolutely healthy … but it is also delicious,” said Bruce Stewart ’60, head of Sidwell Friends School and a former administrator at Guilford, is quoted in Meriwether Godsey’s literature.

Based on its evaluation of three vendor finalists, the committee recommended Meriwether Godsey based on:

  • The overall “fit” with Guilford.
  • The company’s ability to develop a customized Guilford food brand identity.
  • The company’s transparency with detailed financial information from the beginning of the bid process.
  • Evidence that a quality management culture applies throughout the company.
  • Evidence of time, attention and detail dedicated to Guilford.
  • The company’s commitment to a living wage.
  • The company’s proven commitment to local and organic sustainable purchases.
  • A management profile that is 68% female and 29% non-white and hourly staff at 68% female and 39% non-white.
  • It is a women-owned enterprise.

Members of the Dining Services Advisory Committee were:

Students:  Brennan Aberle ’08, Maia Buess ’11, Menemsha Milnor ’09, Liz Reilley ’08, Jabari Sellars ’10, Katie Yow ’08

Parent:  Anne Brady

Faculty:  Alvin Gibson

Staff:  Helen Rice

Alumni Relations: Jerry Harrelson ’72

Dean of Students: Aaron Fetrow

Finance and Administration:  Jerry Boothby

Enrollment Services:  Randy Doss ’82

Assistant to the President:  Jeff Favolise

Operations and Facilities: Jon Varnell

Staff to the committee:  Kim Goodman, Ian Michie

Consultant to the committee: Mary Lou Kennedy (director of Bowdoin Dining Services)