Alternative Food Systems

The market for this will be, of course, the Evergreen student body. With approximately 3,600 undergraduates, we need a food supply system that can keep up with the demand of a few thousand hungry college students. While a meal plan is not mandatory for all of them, it is essential for students living in the kitchenless residence halls. Even outside of meal plans, places like Einstein Bros. Bagels and the POD Market get a lot of business from students using standard payment methods, so there’s plenty of places to focus on.

Current alternatives

The existing food system superstructure on campus is monopolized by the Aramark corporation. This represents the sole source of competition for any means of food access and distribution. The Eggplant Collective is a student run organization managed by S&A funds and in some regards could be considered a source of competition as it does take in money that may otherwise be funneled into the meal plan based dining systems throughout the Evergreen campus. The campus bookstore is also a self sustaining operation that does not fall under the Aramark umbrella.
Aramark’s hegemony gives them an advantage; their activity on campus is subsidized by their ethically questionable contracts in private prisons across the west coast. The magnitude of their infrastructure allows them to facilitate large scale transactions with entities like Sysco. However, Aramark is also making strides to localize its food sources, seeking to improve its public image. This represents a form of competition in and of itself as Aramark attempts to tap into the available local agricultural community, a community we also seek to cooperate with as we present alternatives.

 

 

Our advantages

First and foremost, our solution wouldn’t have the ethical dilemmas of financially supporting a prison contractor. That should speak for itself. Beyond that, a new contract could avoid the lock-in that Aramark has imposed on any catering or credit/debit card transactions. Without those lock-in clauses, any organization could take credit cards on campus without having to pay a tithe to Aramark, and club meetings could advertise having food without being forced to cater through Aramark.

Problem Worth Solving

Evergreen’s ongoing business association with the food vendor Aramark is in direct contradiction to the values that this institution claims to have. Evergreen’s mission statement proclaims its support to local and global commitment to social justice, diversity, environmental stewardship and service in the public interest. Aramark contributes to the ongoing privatization of the prison system and immigrant detention centers in the United States.

It is our responsibility to dissect the epistemic infrastructures that fundamentally transform what this institution truly stands for. Additionally, student accessibility to food on campus is constrained by the presence of Aramark because of meal plan requirements and the lack of affordable alternatives. Evergreen cannot purport to be an academic community if students are unable to feed themselves properly. It is in this interest that we aim to explore ethically and fiscally feasible options for Evergreen’s food system.

Our solution

Aramark is in conflict with the ideals of the Evergreen State College. This is why the objective of our group will be to increase the ethical accountability and fiscal responsibility of the college. To do this, we will facilitate the integration of a new food systems. This will include providing the college detailed information on different paths that are available to ranging from alternative vendors that more closely align with Evergreen to it’s own self operating food system.