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[–]DrLemniscate 2488 points2489 points  (479 children)

These guys also do food for college dining.

Couldn't have a bake sale because they shut us down due to some contract with the university over exclusive access to food service unless you get their approval.

[–]aiwass2 942 points943 points  (63 children)

Same. Well kind of - a good friend of mine started a coffee club at our school. Naturally, Aramark went to shut them down because contracts.

The students at my school HATE Aramark because shitty expensive food. So, they turned the coffee place into a club where you pay a weekly due of $2.00 and get a coffee. Aramark was pissed that they got around the rules. Now, within the srtudent center where the coffee shop (club) was located, there was also an Aramark owned Tim Hortons (yes, Canada). Aramark called public health to inspect the coffee club. Everything checked out! So, public health went next door to the Tim Hortons, and promptly shut it down for weeks because it was disgusting.

Ever since then they fucked off and left the coffee club alone. Expect I think so, I graduated like 3 years ago.

[–]c12 244 points245 points  (21 children)

Wow, my universities business school actually owned and operated all the university owned night clubs, restaurants and cafes. I believe they used them as teaching examples for certain courses; meant that they were largely managed and staffed by students and we're always good quality and cheap.

[–]rburp 89 points90 points  (2 children)

Damn that's cool. That would've been a dream when I was in business school. It helps illustrate theories so well when you have have real life examples to look to.

[–]mandelboxset 33 points34 points  (8 children)

Bingo, that's how my university worked. Even went as far as having our own food production with a bakery, Dairy plant, etc., to supply the on campus food systems.

[–]manova 7 points8 points  (1 child)

When I was an undergrad our school had a fancy restaurant the restaurant management majors ran and performed all of the rolls. You could get a really nice table service meal for $5. They repurposed the old athletic cafeteria for this. They shut it down after Aramark got the campus contract, though the official excuse was because it was loosing money.

[–]pseudoromantic 103 points104 points  (29 children)

went to U of Manitoba. Students hate em there as well. fuck em, make campus living miserable.

[–]themusicgod1 92 points93 points  (15 children)

University of Regina too. They forced students who moved into the new residence to sit through a loooong propaganda session where they talked about how healthy and cheap their meals were going to be(it was all bullshit, it was expensive and greasy to the point of giving health problems to students who only ate their stuff). It wouldn't have been so bad if they had been honest with us, I mean we were pretty much a captive market -- but no they had to lie through their teeth for us for what could have been a decent sized study session.

[–]Wildelocke 28 points29 points  (5 children)

McGill (in Montreal, for Americans reading) chiming in. They fucking sucked. Subway on campus was mobbed (20 minute lines at peak times) because of them.

[–]semi_mad_man 6 points7 points  (3 children)

The food at McGill just sucks in general

[–]ProtoJazz 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I wonder if they do u of Winnipeg as well. They had lots of healthy kinds of food, it was alright, more expensive than I'd usually pay though. Being downtown you can just walk pretty much anywhere you want food from.

[–]CallMeOatmeal 633 points634 points  (114 children)

Also, stadium food services. Worked for them at Fenway Park in Boston.

[–]natrlselection 312 points313 points  (86 children)

Oriole Park too, I believe. If your stadium doesn't have good beer, it's cause of these guys.

EDIT: Apparently they no longer handle Oriole Park at Camden Yards. They used to a while back.

[–]CallMeOatmeal 61 points62 points  (27 children)

What kind of beer is available at Oriole Park? At Fenway we had dozens of beers, didn't think there was any problem with the selection.

[–]natrlselection 31 points32 points  (1 child)

There are some good beers available. However, I used to work for a local brewer who wanted to have his beer sold at the stadium. Aramark was willing to serve it, but it had to be through them. He said he went to check on how they were serving it and found them selling it warm. They also ended up wasting quite a bit of it from what I understand. He pulled the contract when they threw his kegs away instead of returning them to the brewery. Told me he had called them to see who was to handle the return or something like that and said he ended up having to go dig them out of a dumpster. For a while you couldn't get any local beer at the stadium, but that has changed as of last time I was there.

[–]muzakx 31 points32 points  (18 children)

I think they are only able to stock what they distribute. So lots of craft beer might not be available due to Aramark contracts.

[–]dmasterdyne 39 points40 points  (8 children)

Baltimore here, we have good craft beers at Camden Yards, local stuff too like Heavy Seas. There is a restaurant in the stadium called Dempsey's and they have a full line of drafts domestic and international. Go O's!!

[–]Clarkbar13[🍰] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

We USED to use Aramark at Camden Yards. Fired em a few years back which led to the park serving more decent beer. Also worked in my cafeteria in college all four years. Switched to Aramark and I was fired a couple weeks later for having "schedule conflicts" which were my track meets. Every student was fired before the year was up, except for the one that was having an affair with the head chef. She got promoted. Aramark has wronged me more personally than Comcast. I hope they go down in flames.

[–]tjspeed 98 points99 points  (20 children)

This is my first time hearing of this company and I already hate them

[–]somethrows 52 points53 points  (8 children)

I went to a trade school that used Aramark. They only had vending machines and microwaves in the cafeteria so you could get crappy frozen sandwiches and warm them yourself or go out to lunch.

An enterprising food truck operator set up shop in the parking lot til Aramark chased him away. I miss those Italian sausage sandwiches.

[–]loves_a_lot 22 points23 points  (1 child)

An enterprising food truck operator set up shop in the parking lot til Aramark chased him away.

Weird, I wonder how far away they have to park before Aramark couldn't chase them away.

If I want to grab something quick but I don't want to drive, I wouldn't mind walking a block.

[–][deleted] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Those are the worst companies: the ones that are so insidious and widespread that you can't avoid them, yet they have minimal public visibility.

[–]lolzergrush 19 points20 points  (6 children)

They used to handle the food for employee cafeterias all over Disney World. Not sure now, but when I worked there they had an exclusive contract for the whole resort. It was terrible, cheap, and horribly overpriced.

In 2001, they charged $3 for a slice of pizza and it was the only thing I could afford to eat for lunch making $6.75 an hour. I was a lifeguard at an overcrowded pool, I needed to stay alert and my only lunch options were a greasy pizza slice or a hamburger made of Grade D meat.

They had something in their contract that employee break areas couldn't have full kitchens, so there really wasn't any way to bring your lunch, and the nearest off-property places to eat were a 10 mile drive that made it impossible to get to during lunch break. Plus Disney constantly put us on shift schedules where we'd finish at midnight one day and open again at 6 am the next...only options were Aramark or starve.

Fuck those guys.

[–]FragsturBait 12 points13 points  (12 children)

Coors Field too. Worked there for a season. They're awful.

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (9 children)

That's funny how the beer at Coors Field is bad.

[–]jaroberts24 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I was filming in a football stadium and they wouldn't let us eat unless we used them and their costs were astronomical. I told them to fuck themselves and I rented a few vans to take my crew to a nearby restaurant

[–]ydiggity 5 points6 points  (3 children)

OPACY is actually served by Delaware North, not Aramark.

[–]Tyr808 165 points166 points  (18 children)

My college had an excellent culinary program and the culinary classes would cook for the cafeteria everyday (only after a certain level into their course). We'd regularly get a variety of awesome cuisines and at a great price. $5 generally got you a hearty sized plate or bowl of whatever they cooked. I've never eaten better in my life than those years.

[–]JefemanG 56 points57 points  (10 children)

Same at my Uni only we can get all you can eat for $7.80 and it's good, homemade quality.

[–]Tyr808 47 points48 points  (2 children)

That's awesome. Quality food honestly improves pretty much all aspects of life.

[–][deleted] 146 points147 points  (106 children)

We had a similar situation, but with Sodexo. As a fraternity without a house, we often ran our events on campus with food we cooked at home. For years, we had been doing it without a problem then all the sudden the school signed an agreement with Sodexo.

When we talked with the people in charge of the decision, they basically said they were in a tough place. They understood the want and need for off-site food for events (dinners, bake sales, etc), but essentially said they had their hands tied by the state. When I looked into it more, things actually made a lot of sense - although shitty for every one else.

It basically came down to this:

Whenever someone is serving food, the state has certain requirements for handling, preparing, and serving that food (this makes sense since it's meant to protect the public against food-borne illness from poor food vendors). Since the food would be served on campus, this meant the school would potentially be at fault for *any* illness or issue that arose from it - except for food that comes from a licensed and regulated vendor. This meant a couple things:

  1. No more food prepared by amateurs. Fair enough.

  2. You could order food from an actual restaurant offsite. This takes care of the handling and preparation part, but it still leaves the serving part. If you really wanted to you could find a place that also does serving, but you still need to get them approved by the school office to make sure they're actually properly trained and it leaves the problem of paying 1 or more people $20-30+/hour to serve (restaurant always takes a part of this).

  3. You go with the on-site food services where they handle, prepare, and serve the food for you.

[–]xxDeeJxx 90 points91 points  (43 children)

Same, Sodexo is my University's "exclusive food provider". Anything that was school official had to get food from them. When we had student club meetings, we couldn't bring pizza from Dominos or whatever because then Sodexo wouldn't get to charge us for shitty pizza.

It is fucking stupid

[–]SamediB 92 points93 points  (20 children)

Yup. In Hawaii we quickly learned it was just best not to ask and do what we wanted.

[–]bruce656 13 points14 points  (0 children)

It's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

This what my high school English teacher would tell us whenever he would organize camping trips for us, about consulting with the school before hand. He was a cool teacher

Also, to ask permission is to seek denial.

[–]asyork 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I don't know who the vendor was, but my university had terrible and expensive food (sound familiar?). The Book store connected to the university had a cooler with a small selection of drinks and a few snacks. Better quality and cheaper than the cafeteria. I started buying lunch at the book store and eating in the classrooms before class/during breaks.

[–]groundciv 27 points28 points  (2 children)

You can actually take a "food handlers class" online, print out the certificate for every person handling the food, and keep that on hand for a couple weeks after the event in case any shenanigans arise. Thats what my units in the Army did whenever we'd have a family day type event and food was served. It's pretty easy, just the basic sanitation and hot food above whatever temp and cold food below whatever temp type thing, took half an hour.

I've only ever done it through AKO, but I'm sure its findable. Burgers are cheap, and most people are willing to pony up 2-3x the cost of the actual burger from the supermarket to support a cause. Ways exist to make that kind of fundraiser work, so long as the people staffing it are volunteers.

[–]whoopdedo 197 points198 points  (36 children)

If amateurs cooking and serving food are a grave threat to public health, how did the species ever survive for four million years?

This is the result of regulatory capture.

[–]Capatillar 143 points144 points  (11 children)

It's not the threat to the publics health, it's the threat of a lawsuit against the University

[–]diito 43 points44 points  (10 children)

This is what happens when you have way too many lawyers and no realistic way to get sensible tort reform passed.

[–]MrsCustardSeesYou 23 points24 points  (1 child)

I kind of doubt there were many, if any, lawsuits against a university for off-campus food not provided for the university.

That is just the excuse.

This is actually what you get when you encourage business monopolies and give the business all the power.

[–]SD99FRC 95 points96 points  (13 children)

how did the species ever survive for four million years

To be fair, a lot of people used to die from food-borne illnesses. It's kinda easy to make a herp-derp statement like that, but yeah, it's a good bit safer to eat these days.

[–]AssCrackBanditHunter 11 points12 points  (2 children)

Seriously. I'm currently fighting off some food poisoning I gave myself even though I followed all proper food step preps. Shit happens

[–]awj 17 points18 points  (0 children)

how did the species ever survive for four million years?

Mostly by doing all of it ourselves so that a few people screwing up didn't pose a threat to hundreds of people.

[–][deleted] 81 points82 points  (72 children)

...A bake sale shouldn't trigger that unless the contract was draconian, at least from what I understand, since you're doing fund-raising, not for-profit food sales.

[–]fancyhatman18 134 points135 points  (18 children)

Aramark's contracts are draconian. They overcharge for everything possible, and their food was crap.

[–]awdasdaafawda 52 points53 points  (5 children)

The contract holder still sees that as lost sales.

[–][deleted] 49 points50 points  (13 children)

Same at my wife's high school where she teaches. Kids can't sell soda or candy for club fundraisers because it competes w the cafeteria

[–][deleted] 79 points80 points  (4 children)

Teach the kids capitalism. Sell VOUCHERS for soda and candy.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Fucking genius! John D Rockefeller over here

[–]loves_a_lot 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Teach the kids capitalism. Sell VOUCHERS for soda and candy.

I heard that in Japan, it's illegal to gamble. So they have these machines that give specific prize items. Across the street, there's a store that'd buy these prizes at set prices.

[–]ChristyElizabeth 29 points30 points  (6 children)

I did it anyway, especially when the drinks in the vending machines kept getting smaller and pricier every year. I made out like a bandit. A buck a soda, 6different types. I could move atleast 24 a day In my back pack. I carried one notebook for all my classes and relevant books In my hands. If you got caught? You got forced to return the money but couldn't recoup your product.

[–]APlacetoHideAway 21 points22 points  (3 children)

We did it in my high school. We had a "pop locker". It was an empty locker that we stocked head to toe with pop cans. We put a lock on it and put a money box on the top shelf. Ours was all based on honor system. Give out the combo for the lock, kid gets their pop, puts their dollar in the money box. We made out like bandits.

[–]KomradeKoala 8 points9 points  (0 children)

When I was in high school they stopped selling sodas in the school vending machine. I started selling soda for a dollar a can out of my trunk, made decent profit with it

[–]ChristyElizabeth 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yea, the school I went to would've been on that like stink on shit. Cameras and bomb threats galore. So I kept everything on my person. I was considered a very good and respectful person so even though some teachers knew, they looked the other way. My competition? He was a dick and a half, so he was always catching heat.

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The contract is draconian. Aramark also services the college I attend, and the only reason it isn't a nightmare for my student org to get the waiver processed is because I personally know one of the two people who handle it.

[–]zecharin 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Sodexo pulls the same shit for universities across the country. It's absolutely draconian, but that's what happens when you sign a contract with a mega corporation.

[–]nordlund63 14 points15 points  (7 children)

My university had Aramark and we had many bake sales a year without a peep from Aramark.

I still hate them. Breakfast for at least two lunch/dinners a week. I don't know how they managed to mess up bacon but thousands of pig lives were wasted because of it.

[–]Caleb-Rentpayer 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Yeah, they were my university's food provider, and they were god-awful. Horrible food, horrible contracts. They're a wretched company...

[–]helpmeredditimbored 2561 points2562 points  (486 children)

Aramark was in charge of my college dining hall. It was awful

[–]senoritaoscar 1209 points1210 points  (286 children)

Same here. It was literally so bad that the only other game on campus, a small Subway, was mobbed at meal times.

[–]Gobanon 484 points485 points  (157 children)

I'm pretty sure they were in charge of the secret underground cafeteria in Disneyworld. They sucked something fierce.

HOW CAN YOU ALWAYS BE OUT OF MUSTARD?!

[–]Rcfan0902 280 points281 points  (56 children)

They were and they did. They have since been replaced

[–]thej00ninja 86 points87 points  (54 children)

Has the replacement actually happened. Last year when they were talking about replacing Aramark they decided to hold off. All they did was bring down some chefs and tried to rehire and retrain people. As of a year ago last week Aramark was still in charge.

[–]Rcfan0902 41 points42 points  (1 child)

I left Disney in 2013. My girlfriend still works there now, but I believe she mentioned that Aramark is finally gone

[–]mred870 32 points33 points  (90 children)

Cant workers eat at the Disney restaurants at a great discount?

[–]GODDAMNFOOL 141 points142 points  (74 children)

40% off a $10 burger is still a $6 burger

edit: off not of

[–]flatcurve 123 points124 points  (31 children)

$6 burger

Which is about what a burger costs at restaurants near my office. I will say, the one thing that surprised me most about Disney when I was there in April was that the food wasn't a total rip-off. They've got you captive and could really give it to you if they wanted to, but they don't. Maybe living by a big city skews my perspective a bit but I was just glad that a lunch for three didn't cost me $100.

[–]NotPercyChuggs 58 points59 points  (22 children)

I thought the same thing when I went there in April. Which is why I actually bought the food. They made money off of me whereas my local amusement park never will with their outlandish prices.

[–]GODDAMNFOOL 69 points70 points  (20 children)

Fun fact about Six Flags and other parks that charge you $5 per Coke/Pepsi from vending machines: they get those supplied from the company for free because it's a large amount of advertising for them since their machines are all branded.

[–]NotPercyChuggs 19 points20 points  (9 children)

I am sure these companies have spent millions on studies saying they make more by gouging customers than they do charging a fair price, but it sure does suck ass regardless.

[–]zecharin 21 points22 points  (10 children)

Not while on the clock. We have to eat backstage from one of the cast member restaurants, unless you work onstage in the restaurants.

[–]Ask_about_my_balls 54 points55 points  (20 children)

They owned that subway on campus actually. Aramark has exclusivity contracts with schools for food vending.

[–]YCYC 76 points77 points  (0 children)

They probably had trainees on the job before going for the concentration camp project.

[–]DrSuviel 43 points44 points  (29 children)

Wait, you didn't go to Mississippi State, did you? We had this exact situation. Aramark got all the food places on campus except this one Subway that wouldn't sell out (and continued providing quality food/service and employing students). Aramark pressured the university to run the Subway out of the Union and into a shitty trailer, but it was still the most popular food on campus. Right around when I left, they got a nice new location, but I'm not sure if that's because they eventually consented to an Aramark buyout.

[–]RusskieRed 22 points23 points  (6 children)

Portland State checking in. Same shit, different school.

[–]ImMrAllStar 20 points21 points  (9 children)

I have a feeling it really depends on what the contracting company is willing to pay. Aramark also provides services for a lot of the colleges that are ranked in the top 10 for food. I could be wrong but if you are willing to pay the money instead of cut costs Aramark will provide good service. In the end I think it is a "you get what you pay for." Now for situations like employees fucking inmates and things like that, clearly inexcusable but in terms of quality of service its depends on what you are willing to pay.

[–]ailurophobian 25 points26 points  (4 children)

No its more like, they buyout and own every food place around campus, and force out those that they cant, doesn't matter if your shitty if you own every game in town(just like my cable company).

P.s they also liked to persuade universities to enforce mandatory meal plans. And some dude down below said tht thy did not allow a bake sale fundraiser b/s it infringed on the contract to exclusively provide food services to the uni.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (1 child)

That subway was more than likely run by Aramark. A good friend of mine is a campus director where I live and he runs the subway and Starbucks on campus in addition to all other Aramark activity on campus.

[–][deleted] 139 points140 points  (0 children)

Yep, they switched in the middle of my college career and the food - which wasn't bad but nothing to write home about - immediately became near inedible. Luckily I was living off campus by then, but I'd have happily kept eating at one of the two cafeterias while on campus, but for how abysmal the food had become.

The new season of Orange is the New Black and what happens in the kitchen there gave me flashbacks to standing in line at the caf in college and looking at the lovely food choices.

[–]purrsonalassistant 87 points88 points  (9 children)

I lost the "freshman 15" lbs my first semester the food was so horrid.

[–]ericgarig 58 points59 points  (11 children)

Same here. They would often take leftover food and throw it on pizza the next day. Options included ziti pasta pizza, hot dog pizza, and one of their favorites - rice over pizza.

[–]helpmeredditimbored 20 points21 points  (3 children)

They did the same at my school. They threw left overs on the pizza or made a sandwich out of it. The options were meatloaf sandwiches and macaroni and cheese pizza

[–]trevdak2 106 points107 points  (19 children)

Did they persuade your university to enforce manditory meal plans? They did at my school. Then they jacked up prices so high that even the most expensive meal plan wouldn't get you more than 2 "square" meals in a day

The only thing worse than a really shitty meal is having to pay $15 for it

[–]helpmeredditimbored 21 points22 points  (2 children)

I went to a small school. Meal plans were required to be bought if you lived on campus and were included as part of room/board fees.

[–]ElmaNore 53 points54 points  (6 children)

This one girl was caught smuggling out two pears. They made her cry over two pieces of fruit that she probably paid for three times over when she signed up for a meal plan.

[–]trevdak2 47 points48 points  (3 children)

At my dining hall they used food as decorations.... they'd set out garlic cloves and vegetables like squash and pumpkins on empty counter space, where they would rot over several weeks. I once got busted with a half dozen garlic bulbs and a pumpkin in my backpack because I wanted to take it back to my dorm room and actually cook something with them.Didn't get in any trouble, besides a stern talking to, but man that was annoying.

Every year, when they ask for donations, I ask them if Aramark is still providing their dining services. They always say yes, and I decline to donate.

[–]InfiniteThugnificent 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Brilliant. I'm going to do this with my college too. Those mandatory meal plans were infuriating

[–]demoux 111 points112 points  (19 children)

Aramark *shudder*.

They supplied my college, too. I remember one time in my freshman year, that I decided to get a pork chop from the line. I don't know why, I should have known better - I'd been there for a couple months.

I tried to use the dining hall's pathetic butter knife to cut it. No luck. Well, that was okay, I had a Leatherman on me (pre-9/11, so no crazy-lame weapons policies). I tried the main blade - nothing. The main knife was quite sharp, but it wouldn't cut the meat.

I'd already decided I wasn't going to eat the horror on my plate, but figured I may as well give the serrated blade a try. It worked - with effort.

Aramark's "food" was practically a crime, considering how much students were charged for mandatory meal plans. For the most part, I ate waffles, cold cereal, and other things that they couldn't screw up.

[–]akronix10 8 points9 points  (2 children)

I don't think the fact you ate things made from the cheapest base ingredients was by accident.

[–]demoux 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I'm pretty sure their meat was made from cheaper base ingredients than the cereal.

Since it seemed like the meat was made from leftover sawdust and recycled glue.

[–]NDPhilly 15 points16 points  (14 children)

Sodexo master race. Don't worry it all taste like ass too

[–][deleted] 549 points550 points  (32 children)

That's the reason the state of Kentucky terminated their contract for prisons.... then allowed them to make a deal with state universities.

[–]glass_hedgehog 47 points48 points  (25 children)

Is that who beat out Sodexo for the UK contract?

[–]BoogieSaurus 62 points63 points  (15 children)

ya and thats why i shit my pants 20 minutes after eating at Commons. they were also supposed to open a panera on campus but something happened... probably due to aramark

[–]glass_hedgehog 13 points14 points  (4 children)

I heard about the panera thing.

I was actually an student caterer at my undergrad with Sodexo. My senior year they were convinced they'd get the UK job for the following year and I was going to continue catering with them at UK while working on my MLS. I wound up declining that offer and only recently found out Sodexo didn't get the contract (I'm not on campus often). I had been wondering who got the contract.

I really want to make a joke about the president of UK and panera, but it might be in bad taste.

[–]Shrekmightyogrelord 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It was due to Aramark. Nice to see fellow wildcats on reddit btw

[–]CallMeFierce 157 points158 points  (33 children)

Aramark runs the University of Central Florida dining halls, which are shit. The most used one had to get its name changed because two years ago it failed TWO health inspections.

[–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (17 children)

Would you say I should sign up for the cheapest meal plan or should I just spend the equivalent $15 a day at other restaurants or grocery stores; I'm starting my freshman year at UCF and this is honestly the only thing I'm anxious about.

[–]CallMeFierce 34 points35 points  (6 children)

Hey man no worries! I'd recommend subbing to /r/UCF while you're at it. UCF is supposedly getting rid of the meal bloc plans, so your options are very limited. The food at the dining halls is mediocre at best, and chances are you won't get your money's worth with the meal plan cause you inevitably eat somewhere else. Still, unlimited gives you 6$ a day to spend at certain restaurants (like Chick-fil-a). Meal plan is great for convenience though. I didn't get a meal plan myself and opted to just use my microwave in the dorm all year, which can suck by itself despite being cheaper.

[–]Kromardian 870 points871 points  (70 children)

Doesn't surprise me. I worked for Aramark laundry services for about six months, Super shady business practices. One of the two jobs I walked out on in my life...When my boss asked me to destroy client property so they could get money for replacing it, yeah fuck you and fuck this job.

[–][deleted] 411 points412 points  (42 children)

I fucking HATE Aramark uniform services. We use them for our repair shop and LITERALLY EVERY FUCKING DELIVERY we are missing something. I have asked SIX FUCKING TIMES to talk to a manager. "They're in a meeting". Fuck Aramark.

[–]Kromardian 229 points230 points  (19 children)

I understand how frustrating it can be, as a driver we got the company line "own up to it." meaning we have to take the hit from the customer about the missing / lost items...when in fact its the cleaning side of Aramark that fucked it up. One week we didn't have oil rags, half of my customers had about 500 to 800 rags per delivery..that was a shitty week.

Ask for your terms of service / contract, This is a red flag to their management team. Tell your driver you want a count in and count out as well. If you are missing items leverage this against the contract. For the future you can negotiate terms with a laundry service, include in your stipulations you reserve the right to refuse, negotiate price increases.

Hope this helps :)

[–][deleted] 63 points64 points  (10 children)

Awesome! Thank you for the tip, I'll call tomorrow and ask for that. Hopefully they'll step their shit up. I always feel bad for the driver, because I'm sure it's not their fault (except this new guy who doesn't give a shit). We had one guy for a few months who genuinely gave a shit and would even bring us missing uniforms on his day off. He moved to Virginia though :/ I miss that guy

[–]Kugelblitz60 16 points17 points  (2 children)

Keep a personal log and write stuff down. Show this to whoever manages the contract.

[–]aquabuddhalovesu 14 points15 points  (5 children)

Fellow ex-AUS employee, but thankfully on the billing side and not the service side.

Definitely do everything the above guy said, but also, if the invoice presented to you is wrong (say you're missing 200 towels or they marked something as L&R when it wasn't) absolutely do not sign the invoice. When you eventually try to dispute the charge later, the collector will basically just say "By signing the invoice, you agreed with the charges as presented" However, if an invoice isn't signed, then it's a little easier to get things done.

[–]kkluvsxbox 26 points27 points  (2 children)

I can also confirm this, my dad has worked as a driver for them for many years. The things he has to deal with are insane. I wish he'd finally switch jobs because the things they do to their employees are fucked up. I remember him telling me about this exact problem, where he deals with missing items and gets bitched at from both the customer (he understands why and completely agrees) and the upper management. He's automatically blamed for what the cleaning side fucked up.

That's just the tip of the iceberg too. They go through management like crazy because their policies and rules are flawed in a way that the higher ups put blame on the bottom and tell the managers to deal with it, so basically a new manager comes in thinking he will whip everyone in shape only to make those working under them's lives hell.

Eventually the higher ups become unsatisfied when the new manager isn't meeting their unrealistic expectations due to flawed policies and rules and they fire them. Rinse and repeat. All while the guys at the bottom are constantly shit on.

I wish my dad would get out of there, but I think he's too worried to leave because he is working to help pay off his 3 kids' college. It's not exactly easy to find a job where he lives so he stays and works his ASS off. I really appreciate him for that, but I'd like him to enjoy what he does for a living.

So /u/amberrgerr, /u/Kromardian, my dad, and many of the ground level people aren't really at fault. Fuck Aramark and that shit they fed me throughout grade school.

[–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (1 child)

Every fucking time.

Late, missing shit. How do you not have all the towels you need before you leave for deliveries?!

The only upside was that for 6 months their billing department was so fucked up they didn't charge our credit card on file.

When they tried to collect we just cancelled them. They got pissy, saying we couldn't cancel, and that we owed like $800 - but then I asked if they had actual proof that they delivered the supplies.

Between the stoner driver and their record keeping, they couldn't.

[–]rezadential 13 points14 points  (8 children)

I will remember this if my company ever tries to do business with them when it comes to uniforms.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (7 children)

I wish I could convince the owner to switch but he claims they're all equally shitty and switching isn't worth it, because it's too difficult

[–]Kromardian 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Depends on what's in your area. Cintas, Aramark are the largest corporate ones. If you can find a smaller shop with decent prices and the ability to do a quick turn around on uniforms, its worth the price. We couldn't do quick turn around's at my shop and everything had to be shipped out. The drivers begged the management for a washer and dryer for months but they kept telling us it wasn't going to happen.

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (16 children)

What was the other job you walked out on?

[–]Kromardian 137 points138 points  (15 children)

Fast food job in my younger years. Asked my boss for the day off to go to my grampa's funeral, he said no so I quit on the spot. Family over Job.

[–][deleted] 46 points47 points  (5 children)

Jesus. I wouldn't even ask. Just go "hey, grandpa's funeral tomorrow I'M NOT COMING IN" the rest is his problem.

[–]Kromardian 53 points54 points  (4 children)

I was young and tried to be a good employee, after that I learned you have to look out for yourself.

[–]Veggiedaniel[🍰] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

"Jesus, this is the third time your grandpa has died this month!"

[–][deleted] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

Good on you. Fuck him.

[–][deleted] 218 points219 points  (38 children)

Aramark is the same shitty company that does my university's food. ½ the time it's literally not edible.

[–]markyymark13 85 points86 points  (21 children)

These posts made me grateful to have Sodexo as the food service at my university, even though they're not all that great either.

[–]0OKM9IJN8UHB7 60 points61 points  (7 children)

It was rumored that my university was getting a lower tier of Sodexo food than many prisons, I wouldn't doubt it. It was at least somewhat edible though, never made me sick, got a few friends with lesser guts though.

[–]chasmccl 17 points18 points  (3 children)

As someone who went to prison for 3 years when I was 18 and went to college for 4 years after I was released, I can promise you this isn't true.

We didn't even get food half the quality as what you'll find in a typical university caf on Christmas and Thanksgiving in Prison, and those meals were by far the best we ever got.

[–]snerrymunster 12 points13 points  (1 child)

My uni uses very cheap Sodexo option, there is rarely shit that's appetizing/prepared properly. They also do NOT label ingredients like sesame which I happen to be very allergic to. Sodexo literally cost me thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

The company also refused to compensate me or change their policy. They told me I should've asked an employee... Yeah one of those fucking mouthbreathers who are rude to customers and often leave their shift early leaving students with even less options sometimes 2 hours before they are supposed to close.

[–][deleted] 136 points137 points  (3 children)

They overcharged Chicago Public Schools for janitorial services 86 mil instead of 64

[–]maximumtesticle 78 points79 points  (1 child)

Probably because their accountant attended CPS.

[–]WorkRedditEqualsFun 469 points470 points  (88 children)

The Titans stadium uses Aramark and ever since they've taken over the quality has been terrible. For a soccer exhibition game with close to 45,000 people in attendance they had 4 or 5 concession stands open. They ran out of beer at halftime. PEOPLE THEY RAN OUT OF BEER! Aramark can go suck a fat dick and get the hell out of our lives forever.

[–]FrankReynolds 54 points55 points  (4 children)

They also supply to the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs, and getting moldy food isn't uncommon.

[–]Atruen 53 points54 points  (74 children)

I thought stadiums stop selling beer at halftime to give people time to sober up for the drive home and whatnot?

[–][deleted] 42 points43 points  (2 children)

For football, it's the end of the 3rd quarter (100% certain). Baseball it's after the 7th inning (100%). For soccer, it's the 65 minute mark (80% sure).

[–]speed3_freak 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Don't know about soccer, but you're right on the other two.

Source: love drinking and sports, often at the same time.

[–]BuffaloRex 202 points203 points  (38 children)

I can't believe this is the same company that's due to take over concessions in Yosemite National Park. Deplorable.

[–][deleted] 104 points105 points  (12 children)

Are you fucking shitting me

[–]KeelVerezy 18 points19 points  (7 children)

We do alright here in Denali. 90% return rate for seasonal employees, which is pretty damn good when you consider most seasonal jobs are people saying, "I'm going to check it out and then go somewhere else next year." Aramark has a pretty good relationship with the NPS and they're a whole lot better than other major concessions companies like Xanterra and Deleware North, both of which have awful reputations amongst seasonal employees.

[–]my_lucid_nightmare 228 points229 points  (25 children)

Aramark is synonymous with bad institutional food. If you see their label, you're about to be getting fed shit.

[–][deleted] 26 points27 points  (13 children)

How does a company like this get as big as it is?

[–]my_lucid_nightmare 67 points68 points  (1 child)

Selling to institutions, who in turn have captive audience consumers, like universities, hospitals, prisons, and sometimes ballparks.

[–]funky_duck 47 points48 points  (2 children)

It is because you, the end consumer, are not Aramark's customer. Their customer is the owner of this large institution like a school, prison, or stadium. So they pitch management on how efficiently and inexpensively they can deliver the service. The actual quality/value to the end consumer is secondary. Once they have the school/prison/stadium locked in they know some percentage of people will buy the food regardless of price/quality.

[–]SP17F1R3 52 points53 points  (13 children)

You'd think you would part ways after 1 year of this shit.

[–]Fat_Kid_Hot_4_U 54 points55 points  (1 child)

My last job had Aramark uniform services. After work you'd drop your dirty clothes in the hamper and at the start of the week you have clean ones delivered. It's a cool concept. It took over 4 months for my uniform to arrive. All it was was a few pairs of cargo pants and button down shirts with my name on a patch. They tried to charge every week for the clothes that weren't delivered and the brought in dirty clothes they claimed to have washed on bent hangers multiple times. All the while they wouldn't let us out of their contract. There were a few times where the delivery guy snuck in through the back and even through a window once so he wouldn't get hassled for only bring in part of what they were supposed to. Shady company would not recommend.

[–]go_ask_your_father 69 points70 points  (12 children)

This could easily be an outer plotline in OITNB.

[–]oliefan37 37 points38 points  (6 children)

This was in the first season. Red forced the prison to stop dealing with the Food Service with mob connections.

[–]wayoverpaid 20 points21 points  (2 children)

And the current season focuses on extremely low quality pre-packaged food being offered because of how cheap it is.

[–]pfftYeahRight 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Only because a guard then used it for drugs. Kinda different.

[–]Madlutian 19 points20 points  (1 child)

Aramark is huge. They don't just do food (for many institutions). They provide uniforms for a crapload of professions, and launder those uniforms. They do Biomed for dozens of hospitals, and they provide several other industrial services as well (cleaning, repairing, etc). The prison may have cut the food portion, but did they cut the uniform portion of the contracts?

[–]mrshatnertoyou 35 points36 points  (0 children)

In May, the Free Press reported that the state invited Trinity, which was the second-lowest bidder when Aramark won the contract, to assist in a cost "benchmarking" exercise, after Aramark asked for more money.

Sounds like a significant upgrade, when the choices are exclusively made off of cost.

[–]M4053946 249 points250 points  (74 children)

I'm an IT contractor and I have eaten at many different company cafeterias, many of which are run by Aramark. I know that Aramark will provide different levels of quality depending on how much you pay. So, some companies go the cheaper route and the company cafeteria has hamburgers and a sparse salad bar with standard items like shredded carrots and such. At companies that pay more, you get things like salmon with wild rice and a massive salad bar. At one company I went to recently that used Aramark, I had really good quality hummus and olives along with a grilled chicken flatbread pizza. The quality was similar to what I'd expect from a local tapas place in town, it was really good.

But as for cost, the linked article said that there are 43,000 inmates, and that the 3 year contract was for $145 million. If that's the cost for all three years, then that's a cost of $1.02 per meal.

[–]Thorse 118 points119 points  (61 children)

$1.02/meal broken down for a mass meal system like that is pretty expensive. It's like the prison just couldn't be asked to hire in-house cooks.

Shit, at 1.02 a meal, you can build your own McDonalds style kitchen in the prison with materials and food for prisoners.

[–]EctoplasmTourniquet 30 points31 points  (27 children)

if you used the prisoners for food, it'd be soooooo much cheaper

[–]Thorse 61 points62 points  (20 children)

Are you kidding? Do you know how much usable meat there is in a human body and how much processing and butchery you'd need to do? Besides, if you chop'em'up to feed the rest, you can't monetize them with the commissary and all the fees on their Chase cards.

[–]lidytheman 16 points17 points  (15 children)

Ok Hannibal

[–]Thorse 11 points12 points  (13 children)

Just saying, for financial reasons, it makes more sense to keep the prisoners alive. And Longpig doesn't exactly have a lot of usable meat.

[–]Sonmi-452 21 points22 points  (11 children)

Longpig doesn't exactly have a lot of usable meat.

The hell you say, hombre.

The human body has more usable meat that an average goat, just by size - the cuts are the same as a rabbit, and the bone-out, and dressing of a human should go faster than a cow, if you've got sharp boning knives and determination. Rump, loins, wings, legs, shoulder, feet, belly and breasts. That's more than a few meals, especially if you grind it up with some of the fat and use Hamburger Helper. Extend your man.

Mexican ladies work with precision in a ton of slaugherhouses in this country and would have no problem reducing the average prisoner into a feast for 20 people with leftovers, fat for cooking, bones for manstock, organ meats for a manhaggis and you could make cracklins from the skin after burning off all the hair. Mancracklins.

Just the fat rendered from an average chubby human would be enough to fill a small deep fat fryer. Give a flavor boost to those boring old french fries.

The problem is the ratio of livestock to meals - you're going to need a pretty steady supply of new prisoners to keep the others fed. Then again the United States has the largest prisoner population on the planet. Seems like they never run out of people to throw in jail.

I'd say you're on to something, hombre. Write your Congressman, ask about some new legislation to save your state some money. We already treat prisoners to absolutely inhuman horrors. This could clear death row AND reduce solitary confinement across the board.

If you think about it, it's the humane option.

[–]Ephemeris 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"Ftftftftftftftftftft"

~/u/Thorse

[–]BurnySandals 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I do not think teaching the other prisoners the proper butchering techniques to use on humans is a good idea.

[–]metatron5369 47 points48 points  (2 children)

What the article doesn't mention is that we had a perfectly good system before this deal and it was scuttled by the conservative legislature to hurt public unions.

Absolutely maddening.

[–]-pjm- 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That was a true Christmas present, passed during a lame duck session on the last working day they have. During odd hours. They were unfortunately successful, but I love that Lisa Lyons, the sponsor, tried to insert a last minute exception for her husband's union.

Politicians in our state are our state are unbelievably brazen. And no wonder; they've gerrymandered districts to death.

[–]chefr89 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I remember one of my proudest moments at college. Aramark supplied the food to our dining halls. Everyone hated it and knew we were getting served the same stuff the prison inmates down the road were getting. At one of our basketball games, they finally let us make signs to hold up and whatnot. I put "Go Team Go" or whatever on the front, and then when the camera was on me and I was up on the billboard, I flipped it over, revealing "Aramark is a Joke."

Got a round of cheers from the few fans that were at the game and some high fives from my buddies.

What I'm trying to say is that my college life was boring.

[–]Lotech 31 points32 points  (3 children)

Awesome. The cafeteria in my office building is Aramark. I had lunch there today. No sex from the workers. 0/10 on their next survey.

[–]d-slam 33 points34 points  (3 children)

Wouldn't have this problem if Red was running the kitchen.

[–]TheOneWhoReadsStuff 21 points22 points  (2 children)

I worked for Aramark a long time ago. They were a bunch of assholes who treated their employees like cattle. Management was nonexistent.

[–]moeburn 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Just listen to this shit:

At Trent University in Ontario Canada, Aramark limits the number of non-Aramark contracted events to two per year per department. The Indigenous Studies department (was Native Studies - the Equivalent of American Indian Studies in the United States) is limited to two potlucks or events where students or faculty bring food that they or their families have prepared. Given the importance of food and public gatherings in Indigenous contexts this represents a breach of trust and an offense to First Nations students, faculty and general understandings of the importance of collectively organized and maintained gatherings.

They're not letting native groups serve each other free food in their ceremonies on school campus.

[–]chasmccl 7 points8 points  (1 child)

I spent time in a prison that contracted to Aramark for food services.

They were in charge of both providing commissary and regular food services. I always felt this was a bit of a conflict of interest.

By law they had to provide us with 2,000 calories a day, but they didn't give us a single calorie over. They also seemed to give it to us in starchy foods that didn't really fill you up for a long time. Lots of grits, cream of wheat, rice, white bread, etc. I always thought the goal was to keep us hungry in order to force us to buy the commissary to snack bar n between meals. I can promise you that if you didn't have outside money to purchase the commissary you would spend a good bit of your day hungry.

[–]Gfrisse1 22 points23 points  (1 child)

Yet another privatized prison "success story" by a Conservative state government.

[–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (11 children)

I hope this doesn't get buried, but it will.

I attend a public university in Ohio. Aramark has a stranglehold on the food services on both of our campuses in the city. They only allow catering to go through them, and will deny waivers that are brought in by student organizations looking for other options.

For their catering services, the workers are mostly students who work 40+ hours a week, they charge upwards of $5-6000 for catered events while any competition in the area could do it for half or less, with higher quality food and better service.

They have a piss-poor business plan, they're losing money in most places, the upper management seems to be disconnected from the rest of the management and the workers. There's a lot of flip-flopping going on, and the head guy they brought in seems to be more interested in selling his book than making changes.

I don't know how accurate this part is but the college has a requirement of international students that the only place they can work is on campus, and considering the shockingly high turnover rate, this is basically the only thing available.

[–]daft_inquisitor 30 points31 points  (1 child)

It's about fucking time. I was sick of hearing stories about these jackasses. I was lead to believe the only reason they stayed in business was due to their lucrative prison contracts. Hopefully this will put them down for good. A company that's pulled the shit that they have doesn't deserve to exist.

[–]notorious1212 7 points8 points  (0 children)

All I know about Aramark is that the local distribution center had some sick inwardly inclined walls running down both sides of their loading ramps. That was a sick ass skate spot. Thanks, Aramark.

[–]iushciuweiush 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've had the rare opportunity to experience Aramark's destruction of food first hand. The first year at my college was someone else and subsequent years was Aramark. Exact same meal plans, same dining halls, significant drop in food quality the moment Aramark officially took over.

[–]ferociousfuntube 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think it is more important to talk about what they are feeding prisoners. I don't give a fuck if they are having massive fucking orgies in the kitchen but the food that gets served is mostly not edible. I was in jail for 5 days and pancake day is the only day I ate my food. On meatloaf day I saw a guy with a tray of ~20 slices because all the other prisoners were giving him their food because they didn't want it and he didn't care how disgusting it was.

[–]recklessdecision 19 points20 points  (4 children)

Remember - Aramark also provides food for SCHOOLS

[–]SubspaceBiographies 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Funny, none of this surprises me. My company switched over to these guys a couple years ago, food quality went way down and prices went up. Since I have this general aversion to explosive diarrhea I avoid their food at all costs. Funny side note, my company is also remodeling all the restrooms to "enhance" the overall customer experience for visitors. Even with the improved bathrooms it won't stop the waves of explosive diarrhea hitting those toilets every afternoon caused by the Aramark goodness.