New food service at CSC to begin June 1

Chadron State this spring chose the Michigan-based company over four other bidders, one of which was its current provider, Chartwells. Professional Food Management, which merged into Chartwells, began serving CSC 10 years ago.

Ed Hoffman, vice president of administration, expects students to be supportive of the change and the additional choices it brings.

Students will be able to select from plans offering five, nine, 14 or 19 meals per week, or a block plan of 135 meals per semester. Each of the plans has $100 to $250 of discretionary spending to be used at the food service’s locations on campus.

“If a student decides she wants nachos or something else from the C-Store in the residence halls, she’ll be able to use those discretionary dollars for those purchases,” he said.

Previously, students chose plans of 5, 10, 15 or 20 meals per week on a “use-it-or-lose-it” basis. Hoffman said the improvements will come at a cost increase of just a little more than 1 percent for the students.

The new contract allows Chadron State to buy food as it’s needed, rather than making purchases on estimates from residence hall head counts. This, Hoffman said, will help give more flexibility in food offerings.

“If the students want a different food on the cafeteria’s salad bar, for example, we’ll be more able to make that change,” he said.

Hoffman noted that Creative Dining Services is a smaller company than Chartwells, and that Chadron State will be one of its largest accounts. The company has been serving another Nebraska State College System member, Peru State, for about three years.

“I’m pretty excited about their type of management system. We’re pretty sure that they’ll pay attention to what we need and want in a food service provider,” said Rob Stack, CSC’s dean of students who served on the selection committee. “Their method of running contracts allows us to be involved in more decisions.”

Hoffman said most of the current food service staff members have been offered a position with the new company. Tracy Shuck, who has been Chartwells’ food service director at Chadron State for the past five years, has accepted an offer to remain in that position with the new service.