Dining outsourcing follows study of dept.

Though the University's decision to outsource its Dining Services to the Menlo Park, Calif.-based Bon Appetit Management Co. may have been announced without warning, the events leading up to it were not so sudden -- making the move far from surprising. The University enlisted the help of Bon Appetit over a year ago for consultation on Dining-related issues, as well as operating future retail operations in the Perelman Quadrangle and the University's catering operations. According to University officials, the decision to outsource -- which will result in the termination of 20 Dining employees who can reapply for positions with Bon Appetit -- was a natural step in extending its contract with Bon Appetit as well as an outcome of a long-term University review of Dining Services begun in 1996. "This was really something that is part of the consultation process we engaged in a year ago," said Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta, adding that the decision was a "process of extending the contract [with Bon Appetit]." It also goes along with Executive Vice President John Fry's stated goal to use outsourcing as a way to improve services while cutting costs. Officials have stressed, though, that unlike in past outsourcing decisions, the motive here was purely to improve the quality of the food, not to save money. The move follows years of uncertainty about the possible outsourcing of Dining after Fry announced in June 1996 that the University would conduct an evaluation of the performance of Dining Services that may result in a decision to turn the department's management over to an outside firm. Earlier that month, Fry said that the University would consider everything -- including Dining -- for outsourcing opportunities at Penn. At the time, the announcement sparked concern among Dining Services employees, who feared that a move to outsource could affect their jobs. A nearly year-long evaluation -- conducted by independent food services consulting group Cornyn Fasano -- began in October 1996 and aimed to assess the state of all campus food services, including Dining Services, area restaurants and food truck vendors. The University also brought in two food service companies -- Bon Appetit and Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. -- in December 1997 to help determine whether Penn should outsource its campus food operations. But in March 1998, after consolidating all of its information and recommendations, the University announced that it would not outsource Dining Services, although several revisions to Penn's food service system were implemented. Last week's Dining announcement follows a string of similar -- and often controversial -- decisions in recent years. The University's sudden announcement in October 1997 to outsource University facilities management to Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. left many Penn facilities managers angry and many other Penn employees worried that a similar fate would befall their departments. The trend toward outsourcing is also apparent in other recent University moves -- including when Penn last year outsourced part of its benefits administration department to a national benefits management company and in the University's plans to outsource the Faculty Club to DoubleTree Hotels upon the facility's move to the Inn at Penn in Sansom Common.

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