Introducing the New Food Enterprise (NFE): A Catalyst for Transformative Campuses

March, 2024

Planting Seeds of Success: Cultivating the New Food Enterprise (NFE)

The New Food Enterprise (NFE) is the working name for a new innovative, community-driven solution to replace the multinational corporation that currently runs the cafeterias at the SGW and Loyola campuses.

By the Concordia Food Coalition Team

The NFE is a collaborative effort between the Concordia Food Coalition (CFC) and Diversity Food Services, with plenty of support from the Concordia Student Union (CSU), SEIZE and some campus food groups.

After decades of pushing the Concordia institution to divest from exploitative, profit-driven multinational corporations in favour of a model driven by and for the Concordia community, we have resolved to do it ourselves. We are creating the NFE to bring the principles of environmental sustainability, social justice, cultural inclusivity and community-embedded economic democracy to the Concordia cafeterias at Loyola and SGW campuses. The NFE will be a social enterprise, jointly owned and operated by the key stakeholders of the very services the organization provides - in other words, transparency and accountability to students will be baked right in.

Serving Change: The Importance of Developing the NFE

The global food system is not socially, environmentally and economically sustainable, and the pressure is on to drastically change the way we do things in order to stop climate change. Universities and other institutions play a pivotal role in developing more ecologically sustainable, equitable and just foodscapes because they procure and serve a lot of food to concentrated, local populations.

But rather than implementing foodservice models that address global food crises, most Canadian post-secondary institutions outsource food services entirely. Administrators hire large multinational corporations that exacerbate these issues. At Concordia, the “profit-loss” model is used wherein the University gives certain spaces and facilities (cafeterias, retail outlets) to an external company, in exchange for a commission off whatever those companies sell. Companies like Aramark, Chartwells-Compass, and Sodexo[1] (referred to as “the big three”) find these contracts attractive because they gain exclusive rights to consumers like residence students (who must buy meal plans), so they have guaranteed sales no matter what.

Critics have long raised substantial concerns about Aramark, Chartwells-Compass, and Sodexo. The big three maximize profits by externalizing environmental and social costs, exploiting labour, and purchasing inexpensive food with significant environmental footprints. They have a documented history of employment discrimination, false claims, wage issues, labour relations problems, employment screening concerns, privacy breaches, and workplace health and safety abuses[2]. 

We’re building the NFE to narrow the margin between the unsustainable status quo and viable alternatives to sustainable campus food service delivery for institutions. The community-embedded model (gleaned from Diversity Food Services) has shown that collaborative efforts between administrators, faculty, students, and neighbouring communities can sustainably improve university food systems. 

A Taste of Transformation: A Fruitful Analysis of the NFE's Journey

Over the past three decades, Concordia University's students, faculty, and broader community have developed a robust network of campus-community food organizations that practice food production, processing, distribution, and waste management. In the same timeframe, groups such as the People’s Potato, the Concordia Student Union, and the CFC have lobbied and tried to negotiate with the university administration to self-operate food services on campus, hire a social enterprise or develop a new cooperative/non-profit to run the campus foodservices, because services offered by the big three have historically been subpar both in quality and sustainability metrics. This kind of student pressure and pioneering has thus far led Concordia to begin making significant commitments to environmental and social sustainability - including developing the Sustainability Action Plan and pledging to divest from fossil fuels. 

Despite all this progress and commitment, Concordia renewed it’s contract with Aramark in 2022; a four-year contract with the possibility of a 2-year extension. As a result of our negotiations, we did make some gains though; Concordia administrators agreed to explore the idea of co-developing or allowing a new social economy enterprise to bid on the next food service contract. 

Over the past two years, the CFC, CSU, and Diversity Food Services have been working behind the scenes to research and test the financial and logistical feasibility of the project, and consult Concordia administrators to ensure the NFE meets all the criteria for the next food service contract.

On February 15th, 2024, we presented the six-year financial plan to the Concordia administration in hopes of collaborating as close partners to establish the NFE. While we were hopeful, we were not unrealistic - years of negotiation about Concordia’s foodservices has taught us that administrators have a heavy skepticism about the viability and reliability of Concordia campus-community food organizations – despite some being in operation for over thirty years. Narratives of “risk aversion” and “lack of demonstrable experience or proof of concept” are often used to shut down new proposals. 

We hope that current administrators recognize the potential benefits of embracing calculated risks for sustainable outcomes. Through meticulous planning and financial forecasting, the NFE has the potential not only to be viable but to flourish and to become a true leader in high quality, sustainable foodservices, like Diversity Food Services has done.

Feeding the Future: Uniting Students as the Chefs of Change

Students are the main drivers of social change and have the power to make the NFE a reality. Concordia has a rich history of student activism that has pioneered all the meaningful progress toward sustainable, accessible, edible food on campus. To do so, students must make their voices heard and remain unified in their demands.

You can learn more about the campus-community food system and your power to change it at our Building Food Revolutions seminar with SEIZE on March 14th at 6pm in the Hall building(room 544). You can get involved by coming to our Dinner and Docs Night on April 10th at the MultiFaith at the Multifaith Spirituality Centre to discuss issues with Aramark and how we can successfully incubate the NFE.

There will also be many other opportunities to get involved in the future!

Follow the CFC NFE webpage for more updates on how to get involved or lean more about the NFE.

References

Bohunicky, M., Desmarais, A. A., & Entz, M. (2019). Self-Operated vs. Corporate Contract: A Study of Food Procurement at Two Universities in Manitoba. Canadian Food Studies, 6(1), 43-74.

Chevrier, E. (2022) Building Food Sovereign Campuses: A Case Study of the Campus-Community Food Groups at Concordia University. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis. 

Government of Western Australia. (2021, November 1). Melaleuca prison returns to public sector management. Retrieved from Government of Western Australia: https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2020/04/Melaleuca-prison- returns-to-public-sector-management.aspx 

Martin, S. J., & Andrée, P. (2012). The "Buy Local" Challenge to Institutional Foodservice Corporations in Historical Context. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, an Community Development, 2(3), 161-175.