Outsourcing of food & drink services!

The University of Groningen is going to outsource it’s food & drinks services!

During today’s University Council meeting, the future of the food & drinks services was discussed. The university has decided to outsource the food & drinks services but to keep the staff under contract with the UG. We are very happy with this decision because we think this is great opportunity to improve the assortment and because it significantly lowers the costs for the UG.

We took the opportunity to point out four criteria that we feel are necessary to make the UG cantines future-proof. We were very glad that the board of directors agreed with our criteria and promised to keep them in mind when defining the criteria of the tender.

Our criteria were:
1. Student should always be able to purchase the same quality products for equal or lower prices. We suggested to introduce products of different price ranges.
2. The assortment should be diverse, taking into account the preferences of students from different parts of the world and there should be enough vegetarian and vegan options. Also, allergy information should be displayed better.
3. Students should always be able to bring their own food to the cantines and outside lunchtime, should be allowed to work in the cantines.
4. The university should choose a sustainable partner. Sustainability in this context is not only to reduce the environmental footprint, but also a focus on healthy aging by offering healthy products.

It will be a while before students will notice the effects of this decision. In the meantime, we will keep a close eye on the developments and we will keep you updates about important developments!