District searches for new cafeteria vendor
by Connie Yu, Managing Editor

    Three months after the last vendor for TCC cafeteria services went bankrupt causing the college's four cafeterias to close this summer, college officials are in the final stage of selecting a vendor for this fall.
    District officials narrowed the list down from seven early last week.
    Ten representatives, consisting of students, staff and faculty members from the four TCC campuses, joined the administration officials Friday to interview the four finalists.
    Based on the committee's input, several college officials, led by Rudy Gonzales, vice chancellor for financial services, plan to make their final decision this week and submit it to the Board of Trustees for an approval at the Thursday board meeting.
     "It's certainly a priority," Richard Inman, director of business services, said. "We had just opened the proposals last week, and we are already in the process of selecting the final vendor."
    But college officials say they also want to take time to select the vendor that will meet the needs of the TCC community. "It has to be [a company] that's going to attract and to do a lot of advertising," Inman said.
    College officials said they were stunned when Weber's Catering, the college's vendor for five years, filed for bankruptcy in the last week of the spring semester and could no longer provide the college's cafeteria services.
    "The fact that our previous vendor went under was definitely not a pleasant experience," Inman said. "But the timing of it was probably a lot better than to have it happened in the middle of the semester."
     Since then, food service on campus has been reduced to offering frozen food packages, such as Hot Pockets, Chili Dogs and Lunchables, at the campus bookstores.
     Officials say the loss of Weber's Catering may be beneficial for the college to improve its cafeteria services.
     "It provides us with an opportunity to stand back and evaluate on all the possibilities to operate the facility," Inman said.
     The college received several student complaints about Weber's Catering for its lack of food presentation and advertisement, Gonzales said.
     "The food didn't look appetizing at all," he said. "And, of course, I didn't see a lot of students eating at the cafeteria."
    The four finalists-Custom Food Group, Collegiate Cafe, John M. Carter's Place and Educational Catering, Inc.-will be judged on customer service, ability to offer a variety of food with good quality and reasonable prices.
     The college will also focus on the companies' financial stability and innovative marketing plans to attract the TCC community, according to the TCC food services proposal request.
     Kathy Woodruff, DFW director of the Educational Catering, Inc., said the company thrives in inventive marketing and food variety.
     "We are always looking for new ideas," she said. "We try to make things a little bit more fun and different from the regular cafeterias."
    The Houston-based company has been in the Metroplex for six years and currently serves in seven private schools, including Nolan Catholic High School and St. Andrew's Elementary School.
     Having provided cafeteria services at the Dallas Community College District for about four years, the Collegiate Cafe, an affiliate of Jolly Chef, has experience serving the college community, Cheryl Allgood, the company's director of special services, said.
     "We are very aware that this is a financial venture for the college system," she said. "We know what the strategy and the ability to satisfy the students' needs are."
     The 55-year-old Dallas-based company also specializes in cafeteria services for large industrial companies, such as Southwestern Bell and MITA.
     John M. Carter's Place and Custom Food Group could not be reached as of press time.
     Though officials offer no timetable for the reopening of the cafeterias, some speculate that the cafeteria services may be resumed as early as late September.
     "It will be in a fresh new look," Inman said. "Hopefully we will be getting somebody with great services and variety (of food choices)."