First Right of Refusal

First Right of Refusal Policy & Reasoning

Effective October 15, 2022 (Catering contracts in place prior to October 15, 2022 will be honored)

Catering operations are a core component of an exclusive on-campus food and beverage program and essential to its overall viability. With the opening of the Campus Way Café and the addition of an executive chef, catering manager, and catering supervisor, catering revenues allow Sodexo to take advantage of economies of scale in food-buy, and more broadly allocate labor costs to drive down the prices of both catering costs and meal plans for students. Based on data provided by Sodexo, the estimated impact on student meal plans is significant; without this revenue, meal plan prices would need to increase by approximately $1.50/day or $352/meal plan for the year. Other advantages include:

The opportunity for greater collaboration and control over the quality of service provided
Additional employment opportunities for �� students
Food safety management on campus
Synergy between the catering, housing, and conference and event planning programs
Shortened delivery time
The ability to build a dependable and robust catering program that can fill a broader campus need including service for small hospitality events that may otherwise be cost prohibitive
Ability to respond to on-site service needs related to the event
Mitigation of risk from 3^rd party providers entering campus
The ability to scale Sodexo’s staff to support a broader range of concessions activities including service at athletic events
The ability to scale with a growing campus

It is also worth noting that Sodexo’s catering revenues directly impact the �� Corporation’s participation in profit-share, driving additional funds for reinvestment in the dining program. As a non-profit auxiliary organization serving ��, 100% of the �� Corporation’s profits are used for the benefit of ��.

Exceptions

Yes, there are exceptions to this policy. Notably, small events with catering orders under $250 are exempt. In addition, exemptions may be granted by the �� Corporation on a case-by-case basis based on the interests and needs of requestor. Picking food up from off campus is not considered catering. The intent is to make good faith efforts to drive incremental business to the on-campus dining program to keep the dollars on campus and promote programmatic growth. The Corporation will continue to contract with off-campus caterers to supplement the Sodexo offering and ensure our campus’ needs are met.

Why Sodexo?

Sodexo has been the exclusive on-campus food service concessionaire since 2012. At that time the �� entered a 20-year exclusive contract that will expire in 2032. A key component of the 2012 agreement was an investment made by Sodexo of one million dollars to fund the design and construction of the USU retail dining facility. At the time, Sodexo was the only qualified respondent to a formal request for proposals. Over the past 10 years, Sodexo has continued to demonstrate a strong commitment to partner with �� by being responsive to campus needs despite enduring sustained financial deficits year-over-year for the past several years.

Common Practice

�� is not the only campus with a policy like this for catering. This is common practice at universities nationwide including in the CSU system, where 14 other campuses have a Right of First Refusal for on-campus catering.