By Joshua Knopp and Shirlett Warren
Subway sandwiches could be coming to all TCC campuses except for TR Campus if the board of trustees approves the contract.
A presentation about Subway is on the agenda for the board’s meeting April 19.
The Collegian file photo
“It [Subway] is coming, but we are in the negotiating stage,” said vice chancellor of finance Mark McClendon.
Because the contract is still in negotiation, McClendon said he could not go into further detail.
Sources within Educational Catering Inc., the current food service provider on all five campuses, confirmed that TR will retain ECI. Business services director Kimberly Lambert-Thomas said the contracts are being negotiated separately because Radio Shack’s corporate offices share the cafeteria.
ECI is in its second contract with TCC and has tended the college’s kitchens for seven years. Company president Frank Ricupati said that TCC comprises a quarter of the company’s 20 accounts and makes up about one-seventh of its business.
“I trust the people in the places that make this decision, specifically Mark McClendon and Kimberly Lambert-Thomas, are doing what’s right for the college,” Ricupati said. “As much as we want to keep serving, at a certain point we have to be professionals and trust they’re doing what’s right for the college.”
Ricupati said he didn’t know exactly how many people would be laid off, but that most would be transferred to ECI’s other contracts.
The college received three proposals for contracts to work the TR Campus cafeteria and six proposals for contracts to be preferred caterers, including one of each from ECI, whose contract expires May 31.
In addition, Lambert-Thomas said the catering contract would no longer be limited to one company, giving students and faculty more options for catering.
“Right now, our contract is that it’s exclusive. No matter who does something at TCC, you have to use ECI,” said Lambert-Thomas on catering. “We will have a list of caterers preferred, but you will have a choice.”
She said the number of caterers is not limited and each proposal would be approved of if food and prices were approved.
