5 things: Aramark CEO announces retirement

Each Friday Food Management compiles a list that highlights five things you probably missed in the onsite foodservice news that week and why you should care about them.

Here’s your list for the week of August 26:

1. Aramark CEO announces retirement

Aramark Chairman/President/CEO Eric Foss has announced his retirement, with Lead Independent Director Stephen Sadove taking over as non-executive chairman of the company’s board of directors while Foss remains in an advisory capacity until Oct. 2, 2019. The company’s board has established an Office of the Chairman consisting of consist of Sadove, CFO Stephen Bramlage, Executive VP of Human Resources Lynn McKee and Senior VP/General Counsel Lauren Harrington that will oversee Aramark’s day-to-day operations and engage with the board on a regular basis until a successor to Foss is named. The board has also commenced a search for a successor to Foss.

Read more: Aramark Chairman, President & CEO Eric Foss to Retire

2. Prof doesn’t want lambs led to slaughter for campus dining use

Like many colleges, Antioch College in Ohio is trying to incorporate more locally produced ingredients into its campus dining, which in Antioch’s case includes fruits, vegetables and animals raised on its own campus farm. That ran into a controversy recently when Dr. David Nibert, a sociology professor at nearby Wittenberg University, happened to notice some of the farm’s lambs while strolling near the Antioch campus and was horrified to discover that they were destined for the campus kitchens.

The farm not only supplies the campus dining program but also serves as an educational resource where Antioch students can also get practical experience in sustainable and ecologically appropriate agriculture. But Nibert was having none of it, at least as far as the lambs were concerned. He offered to pay for the animals but was rebuffed by Antioch President Tom Manley, so he took to public campaigning that eventually led to a cease-and-desist order, but he hasn’t backed off and is now getting support from some students, faculty, alumni and various animal rights organizations.

Read more: Vegan Professor at War With College to Save 9 Baby Lambs From Slaughter

3. School caf worker charged with stealing $160,000

A former employee of the Moorpark USD in California is facing a dozen felony charges after being arrested in May for allegedly stealing more than $160,000 from the district’s school lunch funds. Retha Mae Drummond was arraigned in Ventura County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, which include five counts of grand theft and seven counts of misappropriation of public funds. She remains free on a $20,000 bond.

The felony charges allege that Drummond “routinely” stole a portion of the cash paid by students for school lunches while she was in charge of purchasing food and drinks for school lunches and helping process money collected for lunch sales.

Read more: Cafeteria worker pleads not guilty

4. Hospital debuts vegan vending machine

Lion’s Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, British Columbia, has rolled out a vending machine (nicknamed the “mending machine”) that offers 100% organic, gluten-free, plant-based items from local firm The Green Moustache Organic Café. Selections include Buddha bowls, superfood salads, raw pad Thai, veggie wraps and desserts such as lemon cheesecake, chocolate brownies and caramel date squares, all made fresh and delivered daily.

“It has been a lifelong dream of mine to get Green Moustache food into hospitals—for healthcare workers and patients,” observed Green Moustache founder/CEO Nicolette Richer. Last year, Green Moustache debuted its first vending machine inside a sports center and aims to place the machines in additional communities across Canada.

Read more: Vancouver Hospital Now Has a Vegan Vending Machine

5. Elior consolidates senior nutrition/community meal units

Elior North America has announced that it will combine its three regional senior nutrition and community meals divisions—Valley, Bateman Community Living and Lindley—into a single entity called TRIO Community Meals that will provide custom meal solutions to support programs that serve older Americans and other underserved populations. Elior’s community meals programs, which include home-delivered, frozen and congregate offerings, already serve nearly two million meals per week.

Read more: Elior North America Launches TRIO Community Meals to Boost Collective Impact Among Underserved Populations

Bonus: 7 menu possibilities between Sodexo and Impossible

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]