THE LATEST STAGE in Malcolm ‘Slasher’ Grant’s plan to regenerate UCL happened without fanfare at the start of term. The opening of the new ‘was once a canteen, is now a railway station concourse’ inside the Lower Refectory means that uninformed students can file past the wide and diverse range of lunch choices on offer, all provided by the same company… Scolarest. We can all stare in awe at such favourites as Upper Crust and Mamma Leone’s ,both of which provide full-price cuisine at student-quality levels. Add a Traditional Cornish Pasty Outlet and a departure board and Grant might as well have told students to go and have lunch at Euston Station.
Not unlike a mainline rail station, the prices in the new Refectory are ridiculous; Scolarest are content to charge you 70p for a packet of Quavers and 50p for a bar of chocolate. At a UCLU shop, the same combination will set you back only 80p – ten weeks of dining in the refectory every day and that’s an extra £20, all pure profits for those in charge of the place.
UN Scandal
So just who are Scolarest? The company is part of the Compass Group, one of the biggest catering companies known to man, so large in fact that they made a net profit of £12,704 million in 2005 (9% due to Scolarest alone). Some of that staggering profit was the result of several backhanders for UN offi cials in order to ensure the Compass Group won its bids for the UN’s lucrative supply contracts. It wasn’t without a hitch though; Eurest Support Services (the head of the Compass hydra involved) failed to deliver 13,000 litres of milk as well as supplying frozen food that had, er… defrosted to UN peacekeepers in the Republic of Burundi. Clearly this didn’t worry the Compass Group, who quickly slipped a bung to the right official, ensuring the UN wasn’t aware of the whole mess.
Mutton = lamb
Thankfully they were found out, and heads rolled. But despite being burnt by their attempts to screw over Africa, the Compass Group now has a new target: us. Students and pupils of all ages across the entire country are having their food provided by Scolarest. In 2005 Camden Council announced it had encountered ‘significant problems’ with ‘no prospect of significant improvement’ whilst using Scolarest as a school meal provider. Problems included offering mutton advertised as lamb and the use of insipid processed and preserved foods. The popularity of the food became clear when orders for school meals rocketed – just after Camden gave Scolarest the boot.
So why was the Refectory outsourced to Scolarest? A meeting of the UCL Finance Committee in June last year suggested that a refurbishment of the area would lead to better service and that College should have some input on food ranges and prices. Estates and Facilities confirmed this is the case and that the process of reviewing prices is ongoing. UCL don’t appear to have been battling for affordable prices for students, but why would they when they are set to receive a royalty from Scolarest, based on the catering company’s turnover?
Sodhexho the previous managers of the Refectory, proved a source of woe for College when they created a £50,000 deficit annually for the past seven years. When new arrangements looked set to bring in a net income of £62,000 instead, it becomes clear why UCL wanted to hand the whole Refectory to an outside contractor. College quickly ascertained that neither they nor the Union could do the job; so who to choose? The shortlist was eventually whittled down to two names, ‘the preferred bidder’ Scolarest and Sodexho. Scolarest it was then.
Scolarest were also chosen because they had apparently been doing a good job at City University. College didn’t do their research properly; just a couple of weeks before UCL chose Scolarest, City’s Properties & Facilities ‘quick fix’ group revealed that the catering there was ‘too expensive [and] of average quality with small portions.’ So much for Scolarest being the saviour of the Refectory then.
But even if the old arrangement was costing UCL too much, surely a complete refurbishment of the refectory wouldn’t exactly come cheap? In return for a seven year contract, Scolarest agreed to pay for £0.75 million towards the refurbishment. UCL on the other hand paid £1.5 million. College felt that this was enough to ensure the company provided a quality service in order to recoup their investment. With a captive market (thanks to the ending of hot food provision at the Union, for a minor investment Scolarest are now free to hike up prices and watch the profits roll in.
Lukewarm baguettes
Camden may have seen off Scolarest, but they only had to move a short way south to find punters so blissfully unaware that they are content to put up with lukewarm baguettes and tepid coffee. Meanwhile, Pro-Provost Alan Lord does not see fit to reply to enquiries as to what UCL stand to gain from inviting Scolarest, and Scolarest itself has so far failed to reveal its catering policies under the Freedom of Information Act – just what do they plan to hide from us humble students? The time to protest against the refurbishment and perversion of our Refectory is long past, but there’s always the option of voting with our feet.