If you’re hungry for more on-campus food choices at Pierce College, don’t expect any until at least fall, 2015.
The Library / Learning Center opened in April 2013, but didn’t see a single vendor in its cafeteria for 11 months. Lovebirds Café opened for business in March 2014, and has been the cafeteria’s sole occupant since.
The majority of the cafeteria has been walled off, and unused, for more than a year-and-a-half. It will be at least another nine months before that changes, according to Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez.
“Our goal is to have this outlined this academic year, and begin the enhanced services next academic year [fall 2015],” Rodriguez said. “That’s for all colleges.”
Even though the cafeteria is filled with culinary equipment, LACCD has not made contact with any potential vendors to fill the space, Rodriguez said.
“We’re not even that far,” Rodriguez said. “I have not spoken to anyone.”
There were rumors that Aramark was in the running to be a single-vendor solution, district-wide. But LACCD Board of Trustees President Scott Svonkin said otherwise.
“That’s not true,” Svonkin said. “It is misinformation provided by somebody that doesn’t understand the process.”
The single-vendor approach, no matter who the vendor is, might not turn out to be the best fit for the LACCD’s nine colleges, Rodriguez said.
“We’re assessing the needs of each of the colleges, what the current capabilities are, whether they have culinary programs, what’s the proximity of food services, what’s currently here and what contracts we have with the current food service providers,” Rodriguez said.
The colleges with culinary arts programs will not be affected by whatever food-based decision the district makes, Svonkin said.
“Those programs are not going to be touched,” Svonkin said. “What we are going to do is make sure that the rest of the campuses, and those campuses, have options.”
Pierce, and the other LACCD colleges, used to have cafeterias. But the Board of Trustees eliminated them because they were losing money, according to Svonkin.
“The problem was, they did what they often do in large organizations,” Svonkin said. “They eliminated it without a plan. I’ve been trying for three years to get us to agree to a plan.”
But Pierce is not eager to sign up for new food vendors at the expense of students, said Associate Vice President Larry Kraus.
“We’ll test the waters, see if we can make it work, and see if it’s not a financial burden,” Kraus said. “I don’t want to spend money that could be used in the classroom.”
