ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief
alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu
TCC campuses will receive new food options by mid-semester from the vendor ECI Management Group.
Since the sudden closure of the food service options across the district during the winter break, students have been wondering when a stable option will be available. According to chief operating officer Susan Alanis, the previous food vendor Genuine Foods left due to not submitting new terms to their contract that the company initially wanted to renegotiate. Genuine Foods did not return calls seeking comment on the situation.
“They came to us just before winter break and expressed a need to renegotiate their contract because they were having difficulty meeting the financial terms,” Alanis said. “So they didn’t have specific terms to propose, and part of the pressure on the situation was that they were supposed to take over for ECI at the TR Campus.”
Alanis said the district had to make a decision quickly to preserve the relationship with ECI and to consider what they could offer to the other campuses.
“They [Genuine Foods] basically didn’t negotiate any further revised contracts when we told him we were gonna continue with ECI at Trinity River to protect our trust,” Alanis said.
In the initial bidding process where Genuine Foods was selected, ECI had also put in an offer that the school is now in negotiations with taking over the other campuses’ food services.
“Sort of coffee shop grab and go,” she said. “They’re going to provide that at the other campuses. So we’ve reached an agreement with them. It won’t happen until probably spring break.”
Alanis said she believes that ECI will be a capable food vendor that she is excited about bringing across the district. In the meantime, though, students looking for on-campus food should look into the bookstores as well as the fresh vending available across the campus, she said.
“The Barnes and Noble bookstores all have a selection of grab-and-go stuff that we’ve asked them to ramp up quantities,” Alanis said.
Regarding the food services on campus, Alanis said the plan is to transition the campuses over spring break to the grab-and-go menu that ECI would provide.
NE student Samuel Peters said he isn’t too concerned about the food options but instead on how they will affect the gaming area in the cafeteria adjacent to the food service stand.
“I’m worried if a lesser-quality food place comes in, it’ll stink up the place, and I wouldn’t be able to use it anymore,” he said.
NE student Margarette Meyers said while she got the email that the food services were closing down, it didn’t settle in until she saw the gates in the NSTU building locked down outside the cafeteria.
“Even though I read the email, I guess it just didn’t hit me as quickly, and I was like ‘Oh, the gates are closed. Oh, goodness,’” Meyers said.
While she didn’t use the food services frequently, Meyers said she cares more about the convenience it brings to students who can’t leave campus for food. She also thinks the new food services would be a great way to give students jobs .
“I think it would be a great thing to have students work in the food service so that there can be more jobs,” she said. “You never know who has talent here, who can actually cook and things like that.”
Meyers said she would’ve preferred more sympathetic communication from administration about the closing of Genuine Foods’ stands instead of an email with a series of links that were hard to follow. But she is interested to see what options the new service will provide in the future.
“Maybe desserts,” she said. “That would be nice.”
