Registered student organization leaders attended the President’s Summit on Aug. 28, which featured presentations on funding, catering and the resources available to student organizations.
At the summit, Drake Dining Catering Director Brett Lindman informed organization leaders about the new restrictions regarding catering outside food. According to Lindman, Sodexo has a contract with Drake that requires orders over $60 to be provided through Sodexo.
“One of the purposes for this policy is for Sodexo to ensure that all foods meet safety standards, even when outside food is catered in,” Lindman said in an email to The Times-Delphic.
Lindman clarified in an email to the TD that this policy enforcement is not new, just a realignment of the waiver process for catering outside food. Sodexo will continue to support waivers for outside food.
“From the way I understand it, they essentially tightened the rules on outside food,” said Rachel Kaiser, president of the Middle East Peace and Prosperity Alliance (MEPPA). “They told us it was because someone, and they didn’t tell us who, someone hired an outside food company who had lost their food license more than once. They were concerned about that, so they tightened the rules on us to where you really can’t use any outside food companies for that specific hot, ready-made food that has that food risk.”
Lindman said that the realignment of the waiver process was done to support student organizations and make sure all outside food complies with food safety regulations.
“Before arranging outside catering, please consult with Sodexo,” Lindman said in the email. “This will help us understand the scope of your event and work with outside caterers to ensure compliance with our food safety regulations.”
Cultural foods
Leaders of multicultural student organizations were concerned about how these policy changes would affect their ability to have cultural foods at events.
“Sodexo is great for a lot of things, but for more particular ethnic foods, there are way less options for us,” Kaiser said. “In the past, we just ordered a bunch of their pita chips and essentially brought our own dips and things for it, because that was a way to get more authentic and better quality of that sort of food, rather than relying on Sodexo.”
MEPPA’s budget has not allowed them to cater full meals that would be restricted by Sodexo’s policy in the past, but local restaurant Mo’z Mediterranean Grill has donated some food to the organization.
“If we ever had the money, if we ever had the reason to do a large event like that, we would love to do that [locally],” Kaiser said. “It’s a family-owned West Des Moines business, and we no longer have that option.”
According to Lindman, Sodexo plans to continue supporting diverse caterers.
“We will continue to work with local businesses that provide culturally specific catering, including kosher and halal food, and support these caterers on campus,” Lindman said in an email to the TD. “To get started, we ask the student organization to please meet with Associate Dean of Students Lynne Cornelius. Lynne [Cornelius] will assist you in identifying your catering needs and help facilitate your discussions with Sodexo to request a waiver.”
Coalition of Black Students President Ty Walls asked Lindman at the summit if CBS would still be able to cater from local Black-owned businesses for the club’s annual Black on Black Formal Banquet. Lindman said food for the banquet would need to be ordered through Sodexo.
“I talked to Brett [Lindman] afterwards about it, and we’re trying to compromise what Sodexo can do and what outside vendors could do for us,” Walls said. “I don’t want to ever step on anybody’s toes or feel like Sodexo can’t do it. It’s just more we’d been doing it this way for so long, it’s gonna be hard to incorporate everybody’s needs, especially for our type of banquet. We’re still trying to find a balance.”
A solution Lindman gave to Walls at the event was to send Sodexo recipes for cultural foods or teach the staff how to make the foods. Esmerelda Munoz Castaneda, the president of La Fuerza Latina, does not believe this compromise is sufficient. According to Munoz Castaneda, the food would taste different because their culture is so ingrained in their food.
The International Students Association hosts an International Night each year to celebrate food, clothing and culture from around the world. According to ISA President Amelia Burnell, a highlight of I-Night is a dinner of international food for more than 500 attendees. In the past, ISA has used outside catering for I-Night, and Burnell is concerned about Sodexo’s ability to provide the cultural food the event needs.
“Having the cooks maybe see something for the first time is something that’s slightly worrying, trusting them completely to make something that they’ve never made before,” Burnell said. “Having the option of doing outside vendors is nice because you know that’s what they specialize in — that’s what they’re really, really good at.”
Mayada Alwan, ISA’s I-Night chair, saw the limitations of Sodexo’s ability to provide multicultural food last year as an officer for Drake’s Muslim Student Association. MSA placed their food order through Sodexo, and Sodexo outsourced the food items it couldn’t provide. However, MSA did not receive some of the food items they requested for the event, one of the reasons being that Sodexo assumed two food items with similar names were the same.
“They just didn’t have the cultural background to fill in some blanks, so [there] was a lot of miscommunication,” Alwan said.
One way Alwan hopes to limit miscommunication for I-Night 2024 is by involving students in the making of their cultural food.
“I’m trying to reach out to a lot of people here on campus that, maybe they can share the recipe, or they can help us cook, help us with the making of the food,” Alwan said. “Involving the actual students is going to be an important part this year too, because I can Google ‘empanada recipe,’ but it won’t be the same as having a Chilean student come and help out with the preparation.”
Burnell and Alwan emphasized that they believe Lindman and Sodexo want to work with ISA to make I-Night a success.
“[Lindman] really does value I-Night and being able to cater multicultural and ethnic food at different Drake events,” Alwan said. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem if they really can’t make a dish or they need extra help. I don’t think he would pose an issue of getting outside vendors or asking students to give out recipes or help with the cooking of the food. So that’s not a concern that I have.”
Kosher and halal
According to Hillel President Sydney Dvorak, Hillel is not affected by these changes as Sodexo cannot provide kosher food. The organization caters from Maccabee’s Kosher Deli for its events and is allowed to continue doing so.
“There’s a lot of restrictions and a lot of extra steps that you have to take that the catering team just isn’t able to do,” Dvorak said. “It just doesn’t affect Hillel the way it affects other organizations, which is great for us, but it absolutely sucks for some of the other organizations.”
While Drake Dining does not have a kosher kitchen, Lindman added that his department can provide halal food.
Dvorak acknowledges that the outside catering restrictions are narrow but advises organizations that are looking at catering outside food to contact Lindman or Director of Student Life Isaac Newsome.
“[Lindman’s] also the sort of person where if you go and you talk to him, and you talk to Isaac, and you do it well in advance, there’s a good chance you’ll get the outside food,” Dvorak said. “The whole student office, they are there to help you.”
Lindman’s goal with the waiver realignment is to strengthen partnerships with student organizations and vendors to help ensure successful events.
“We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to working together to make your events great,” Lindman said in an email to the TD.
Catering and allergies
Some students with allergies and food sensitivities have concerns about Sodexo’s ability to provide allergy-friendly catering.
In addition to catering, Sodexo also provides food in the Hubbell Dining Hall. According to a notice posted in Hubbell, “While procedures are taken in Hubbell to stop the use of restricted allergens, we cannot guarantee products from vendors and suppliers do not pose a risk for cross contact. We cannot totally eliminate the chance and risk of cross-contact in our facility.”
Zach Melahoures, president of Drake’s Habitat for Humanity, shared concerns about friends with allergies to gluten and meat.
“[Lindman] did his best to say that these [foods] are safe, but I didn’t see any evidence of that.”
Junior Anna Sturgis, president of the Visual Arts Association at Drake, has food sensitivities that prevented her from eating at Hubbell when she had a meal plan. According to Sturgis, Hubbell was unable to accommodate her dietary restrictions and did not provide complete ingredient lists to help her avoid foods she cannot eat. Due to this experience, Sturgis is cautious about catering food from Sodexo for VAAD events.
“How can I trust the people that run [the dining hall] to run this and trust that they won’t make me sick?” Sturgis said. “Every [meal from Hubbell] I’ve had has made me sick, and this is the first time that the club has funding to get catering.”
Lindman affirmed Drake Dining’s ability to cater for students with allergies.
“My department deals with allergies on a daily basis,” Lindman said in an email to the TD.
Mack Swenson and Dashae Engler contributed reporting to this story.
