in brief 2008-08-01

Compass Group's hospital maintenance services unit, Crothall Services Group, has acquired Medi-Dyn Inc., of Englewood, CO. The deal adds $45 million in annual revenue to Crothall's reported $900 million. Medi-Dyn operates at 50 facilities, while Crothall has service contracts at 600 hospitals.

Tim Cipriano, a prominent advocate of local sourcing, has been named director of director of food services for New Haven (CT) Public Schools. Cipriano, who maintains a popular website at www.localfooddude.com that promotes locally produced ingredients for school dining programs, will manage a newly self-operated department at New Haven that through last year had been outsourced to Aramark.

Aramark has acquired Gold Cup Service, a Tampa-based refreshment services provider to businesses that operates across Florida as well as in the Atlanta and Charlotte markets. Gold Cup has around 6,500 customers and realizes around $12 million in annual sales.

Norwalk (CT) Hospital has opened a renovated cafeteria, to be operated by Morrison Healthcare Food Services. The cafeteria includes a rotisserie, brick oven pizza, a pasta station, a deli, a soup and salad bar, dessert and ice cream/frozen yogurt stations and Morrison's recently introduced Weight Watchers program.

Aramark has been selected to manage dining services at the University of Toledo (OH). It replaces AVI Food Systems, which had held the contract for the previous five years. The deal is for three years, with three three-year renewals.

Virginia Tech has removed trays from its two all-you-care-to-eat dining halls, Schultz and D2. The move, piloted for one day back in April to gauge its impact, is becoming an increasingly common strategy to reduce food waste by keeping all-you-care-to-eat diners from overloading trays with more than they will eat.

Robert Lewandoski is joining Bayonne (NJ) Medical Center as the Director of Food and Nutrition. Lewandoski previously served as director of food and nutrition services at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

The Detroit School Board voted to extend its contract with Aramark Educational Services for six months past the June 30 expiration. Earlier, the board had voted to terminate the contract but concerns about not having any management of the $44 million department for the summer and fall forced the extension. Aramark has been managing Detroit Schools' foodservice program since 2001.

The Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League have expanded their contract with Sportservice to include management of the team's retail operations and to extend its concessions/suite catering deal to 2026.

Teams from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Harvard University and Delaware North Companies won gold medals at the World Chef Culinary Conference held June 20th on the UMass campus.

The Montana Chefs Association has named Tom Siegel, certified executive chef of University of Montana Dining Services, the Montana chef of the year for the second time.

The Oregon Department of Education has hired a farm-to-school coordinator to work with the state's Department of Agriculture to help schools buy locally grown produce and even start their own farms.

Ovations Food Services has been named the concessionaire of the new Goodyear Ballpark and Recreational Complex, the new spring training home of the Cleveland Indians in 2009 and also of the Cincinnati Reds in 2010.

FOR BREAKING NEW BRIEFS GO TO: http://www.food-management.com