Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Foodservice Contract topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves one-year renewal with Whitsons for school meals; members ask for food-quality feedback
Summary
The school committee approved a one-year amendment to the Whitsons food-service contract (year 3 of 5), with staff describing annual CPI-based renewals; members asked for surveys on food waste and catering use and questioned management and administrative fee line items.
The Fall River School Committee voted June 23 to approve a one-year renewal amendment for Whitsons, the district’s food-service management company. The renewal continues the five-year agreement structure and applies the annual CPI adjustments specified in the contract.
Ken Pacheco (Food Service) explained the process: the original five-year contract is periodically amended each year with the CPI-driven increases and is reviewed with DESE guidance. Committee members asked about food quality and levels of food waste. Several members requested that custodial and utility staff be asked whether food waste or discarded items are affecting operations and whether the district is seeing large amounts of prepared food being discarded.
One member asked for an updated survey of food-service operations and of the a la carte and catering lines; staff said catering and a la carte items are covered in the original RFP and pricing schedules. Committee members also queried administrative and management-fee line items in the contract (monthly administrative fee and monthly management fee), which procurement staff said are standard components of the standardized DESE food-service RFP format and that CPI is applied each year.
The committee approved the amendment by roll call. Members asked staff to collect additional input from custodial and utility workers and to report back on food waste, participation trends, and catering usage in time for a fall review or sooner if issues arise.
