A Look Inside the Food Service Industry
Students on countless campuses are working to get their schools and dining halls to match their values. Whether that means supporting local farmers or ensuring that cafeteria workers can honestly support their families, building a just food system is critical for our health, our economy and our communities.
But behind the buffet lines and café counters on college campuses across the world lurks a massive industry. You’ve heard the names: Sodexo, Aramark, Chartwells, Bon Appetit, Parkhurst... In order to be successful in our organizing efforts, we all need to have a solid understanding of how the industry works and how we might best impact it.
Well, now is your chance to learn the basics through a workshop curriculum developed jointly by UNITE HERE’s Stir It Up Campaign and the Real Food Challenge! You can download the curriculum here, and if you want, a helpful powerpoint to go with it.
This workshop covers a variety of topics, including a run-down of the major companies involved in outsourced food service, universities’ relationship to those companies and major problems in the industry ranging from worker rights to the organization of the food service supply chain.
The best part, though, explains why students are in the perfect position to change the entire food system, starting right on campus.
For example, did you know that in 2008 in the United States alone, campus food service was an $18 billion industry? Or that campus food service brings in 32% of the total annual revenue for all outsourced food service in the United States? That’s more than food service at stadiums, commercial office buildings, industrial plants, or any other industry segment! (You can download a handout with this information here!)
We think facts like these are powerful and that’s why we made the curriculum for you to use with your campus or community group.
We also know that if we are going to create the change we seek, we’ll need to keep building connections with each other. Real Food Challenge, a leading voice for students and youth seeking change in campus food service, and UNITE HERE, a labor union with thousands of members in the food service industry, collaborated to create this curriculum because we share the belief that a truly just food system not only creates food that sustains our bodies and communities but also jobs where workers are treated with dignity and respect.
If you want to get more involved in our campaigns, or if you have questions about using the workshop curriculum on your own, please contact us! You can reach David Schwartz from the Real Food Challenge at david [at] realfoodchallenge.org or Kyle Schafer from UNITE HERE at kschafer [at] unitehere.org. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!
Download the curriculum. Download the powerpoint.
