To-Go Box Mystery Solved
posted by Emily Newton | September 8, 2016 | In NewsAs of February 1, 2016, FSU has been “to-go” box free. According to an email sent to all students, faculty, and staff on January 29, 2016, FSU was “in violation of Cumberland County’s strict health code because we continue to provide to-go boxes…” and this was “not a university decision nor one enacted by Aramark, rather, it is our response to a county health code.”
The Voice set out to investigate and discovered that, contrary to the email, FSU has had no violations relating to to-go boxes, according to the Public Health Inspections website.
Additionally, according to Daniel Ortiz, Environmental Health Director, the Cumberland County Health Department has “no violations to prevent the to-go boxes”.
The true reason the to-go boxes disappeared? They were never a part of FSU’s contract with Aramark.
In an interview with The Voice on August 11, 2016, Chancellor Anderson explained that there was no formal contract established between FSU and Aramark; the to-go boxes were only available due to an unofficial agreement between certain FSU and Aramark staff members.
The problems were that the reusable, “go-green” to-go boxes were not being properly washed by students and Aramark wasn’t being paid enough money to cover the cost of extra food taken in to-go boxes. FSU either had to stop providing to-go boxes or start to charge more money for meal plans.
The decision was made to keep meal plan prices as low as possible by eliminating the to-go boxes and extending cafeteria hours to compensate for this transition.
When asked if he would consider re-implementing to-go boxes once the current Aramark contract expires, Chancellor Anderson maintained that keeping the cost of food as low as possible for students is his main priority and, therefore, does not want to look into a contract that includes to-go boxes in the future.
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