Sodexho

Godslayer Jillian · 05-18-2009, 09:25 PM

It's a huge catering company. If you're in college in the United States, there's a chance these guys have a monopoly in the food they serve in your campus.

Many colleges have taken initiative (students, of course) to take Sodexho out of their campuses, and my org is going to try to do the same. In immediate terms, Sodexho's monopoly means the food is crappy, limited, not very nutritional, and expensive. There's also little to no vegetarian and vegan options.
In a wider context of local concern, Sodexho's monopoly does not allow local businesses to have an opportunity inside the second biggest source of revenue of the city.
And in an ever bigger context, Sodexho has stakes at the prison-industrial complex, and has a $12 billion contract with the Department of Defense that supports military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sodexho has also been accused of racism, and despite its human rights rhetoric in its web page, Sodexho supports companies like Coca Cola and Starbucks.

Almost no one in UTEP likes Sodexho, and if they knew Sodexho as a larger-than-UTEP company, most would demand administration to take it out.
We will begin to deal with the practical aspect of this campaign, such as making sure that those who are employed by Sodexho don't lose their jobs, and allowing the franchises to be purchased at no expense by UTEP and stuff like that.

But I do need some help from you guys. If you have any free time and such, help me find more data on Sodexho. I'm looking for undeniable facts that show Sodexho's real business affairs.

PortraitOfSanity · 05-18-2009, 09:48 PM

I think it's "Sodexo" now isn't it? Anyway, random story, I was in jail for a couple months a while ago, and Sodexo ran the food services there. They used prisoner laborers, paying them nothing. The meals were shit, and the paid food was overpriced. There was a half-assed boycott but nothing came out of it.

Hope to see you have better luck at your school.

Renatus · 05-19-2009, 06:08 AM

They currently cover my entire local school district with their services, frankly I pity any vegitarian or vegan that is forced to resort to hot lunch since even the salads have ham bits and or bacon bits in them. Even worse is they use iceburg lettuce, a lettuce that has extremely low nutritional value.

isobel black · 05-19-2009, 06:33 AM

Whoa, they also ran the cafeteria at my last workplace. A catering multinational, who'd have thought...

I don't know anything about their dodgy connections, but the food sure was shit.

Tam Li Hua · 05-19-2009, 06:50 AM

That explains why the food at my college was so nasty. >_<

I'm all for making these guys serve actual food instead of greasy food product.

Renatus · 05-19-2009, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

That explains why the food at my college was so nasty. >_<

I'm all for making these guys serve actual food instead of greasy food product.

They gave you greasy food product?! all we got was some greasy food byproduct.

Solumina · 05-19-2009, 11:53 AM

I guess I was lucky, our cafeteria food wasn't exactly great but it was palatable and we had both vegetarian and vegan options at every meal, in addition to a salad bar that used green leaf lettuce instead of iceburg.

Still Jack · 05-20-2009, 04:49 AM

Good luck with that. They run the canteen at my school. I've eaten at the canteen once, because it was free.

You could organize a barbeque lunch and sell the food at really competitive prices.

Renatus · 05-20-2009, 05:02 AM

My school district has really strict food policies due to an ecoli outbreak at one of the elementary schools years ago.

Beneath the Shadows · 05-20-2009, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

and despite its human rights rhetoric in its web page, Sodexho supports companies like Coca Cola and Starbucks.

Um... explain?

Godslayer Jillian · 05-20-2009, 02:46 PM

Do I really have to explain Coca Cola?
As for the Starbucks part, actually I didn't like that. Starbucks is relatively alright, although I do have a problem with their hesitation for increasing the amount of fair trade coffee they sell. Fair trade coffee must be bought at a minimum of $1.26 per pound, and when they sell their cups at about $3 they make an obscene amount of profit any way. And when they use the other argument that there's not enough fair trade coffee supply, only half of the coffee grown in fair trade farms and collectives can be sold in the fair trade market. The other half has to be sold in the 'free market' at a much cheaper price.
Not so bad compared to other companies, but it's kind of like that guy you know doesn't recycle and the only reason he gives you for that is "I don't know..."

Beneath the Shadows · 05-20-2009, 03:14 PM

Actually, I don't know the deal with Coke. I don't really pay all that much attention to companies that I don't normally purchase products from.

As for Starbucks, I don't buy anything from them because of their huge expansion and putting smaller coffee shops out of business. (I've known coffee shop owners or patronized cafes that went under because of Starbucks.) I thought you'd bring that up. I didn't know about the fair trade coffee thing.

Godslayer Jillian · 05-20-2009, 04:21 PM

I would have brought that up, but it's not actually about human rights while fair trade is. I generally don't buy from Starbucks but mainly because there's a coffee shop that's more into fair trade, and more college student friendly. Same prices though.

As for Coke, there's just so many things wrong with it, but the main one that pisses me off is that they dealt with a right wing paramilitary group in Colombia that shot union members specifically working in Coca Cola.

Beneath the Shadows · 05-20-2009, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

I would have brought that up, but it's not actually about human rights while fair trade is.

True enough.

Quote:

I generally don't buy from Starbucks but mainly because there's a coffee shop that's more into fair trade, and more college student friendly. Same prices though.

I myself simply prefer privately owned small cafes. The coffee is better (Starbucks is way too bitter) and the settings are usually nicer.

Quote:

As for Coke, there's just so many things wrong with it, but the main one that pisses me off is that they dealt with a right wing paramilitary group in Colombia that shot union members specifically working in Coca Cola.

Really? I didn't know that. Usually my only dealings with anything Coke is collecting Coke Points that people give me in the hopes that I can get something cool. But even that's going the way of the buffalo. (They had a telescope that I wanted since I go camping in the mountains a lot. No more.)

LaBelleDameSansMerci · 05-21-2009, 08:02 PM

Ugh. Sodexo ran the cafeteria and pretty much ALL food outlets on campus (except a couple student-run coffee/tea places), so they're in Canada too. I generally agree with your opinion of them, Jillian. I could eat about 2 square inches of their pizza before I was so disgusted that my throat wouldn't swallow anymore, and I didn't take much better to the rest of their food.
And half the time, they served food that was either entirely potato and overcooked peas and that disgusting pressed vomit-like meatloaf of theirs, OR had olives on it. I had so many peanut butter sandwiches there because I was completely turned off by most of their food.
The worst thing about it was that if one was on main campus residence, one was required to have a meal plan. I ate their shit for 3 years because I was in too poor a mental state to live on my own (moved off campus in 4th year, though. Yay!). Part of it was probably the food. I felt like shit (and more than just from being horribly depressed) most of the time.
Even the food that was done by other companies (pizza pizza, for example) on campus was sub-par for that company. I had to dump a shitload of garlic on the pizza pizza pizza to be able to eat it, and even then could only eat half a slice. Any grilled cheese sandwich always managed to be soggy and completely not tasting of cheese. Sometimes their bird tasted undercooked.
I know several people who claimed they could use the food as a laxative if they wanted to.

That and their meals are supposedly worth 12.25 or something, but for skinny people like me, it's not worth it. I don't eat much even when I'm having spectacular Indian food, and I certainly could NOT eat 12.25 worth of food.
They tacked on a 100$ charge to the cost of the meal plan to cover "stolen goods." I got a couple of mugs and some cutlery and a plate or two out of that... since I'd paid for them anyway...

I hate Sodexo. Coke had a monopoly on campus too.
You have my full support for any anti-sodexo action you take, Jillian.

Edit: I forgot to mention that their yellow jello consistently tasted like noodle, and I encountered a batch of orange jello that was solid enough to be able to bounce the pointy end of a fork off of it, with no damage to the jello.

HumanePain · 05-22-2009, 03:43 PM

I'm glad I read this thread, it reminded me of Starbuck's greed: when 9/11 happened the firefighters went into a local Starbucks across from the collapsed ruin of the Trade Center towers, covered in soot after trying to rescue people, putting out fires and just having a miserable time in the heat, smoke and dust. What happened next can be verified on Snopes.com so this isn't just hearsay:

They asked for water (they had run out of their water supplies) and the Starbucks manager said "$1 a bottle". Yep, with the firefighters protecting his crappy Starbucks from spreading fire, he charged them, and they had to pay.

When outrage immediately cornered them about it afterward, you know what the owner did? He reimbursed them $200 for his profit. That's all.

He should have given them cases for free. Bastard.

Beneath the Shadows · 05-22-2009, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumanePain

I'm glad I read this thread, it reminded me of Starbuck's greed: when 9/11 happened the firefighters went into a local Starbucks across from the collapsed ruin of the Trade Center towers, covered in soot after trying to rescue people, putting out fires and just having a miserable time in the heat, smoke and dust. What happened next can be verified on Snopes.com so this isn't just hearsay:

They asked for water (they had run out of their water supplies) and the Starbucks manager said "$1 a bottle". Yep, with the firefighters protecting his crappy Starbucks from spreading fire, he charged them, and they had to pay.

When outrage immediately cornered them about it afterward, you know what the owner did? He reimbursed them $200 for his profit. That's all.

He should have given them cases for free. Bastard.

That's crazy. Yet another reason for me to stay away from Starbucks. As if I needed another. Even McDonald's wouldn't do that. At least, the one I worked at back in the day. While I was working there, one of the old mills caught fire. The manager didn't even wait for the firefighters to show up, he called up the fire department and offered them free food for everyone who needs it, including any civilians that had been forced to evacuate their homes.

Of course, that may have just been the manager, and not standard McDonald's policy... but still.