Cheltenham SD to recommend food-service vendor after RFP; Aramark, Witson's and Charwells were finalists

The Cheltenham School District finance committee reviewed the food-service fund and the ongoing RFP to pick a food service management company for 2026–27 at its May 5 meeting.

Finance staff member Josh Swingard summarized a multi-step procurement that began in December with a state review of the RFP, a pre-bid walkthrough in March, five responses and a narrowed set of three finalists. Taste testing with the wellness committee, the district nutritionist and student panels occurred on April 28. "We held a taste testing on 4/28 with those three finalists," Swingard said; he named Aramark, Witson's and Charwells as the top three candidates.

Swingard said the state-approved scorecard weights cost at over 50 percent of the points and that staff are still collecting scorecards and verifying references; he said a recommendation will be presented at the next legislative meeting. He also reminded the committee that the current contract with Witson's expires on June 30, 2027 but that the RFP yields a five-year agreement with annual renewals under state rules.

On the food-service fund itself, Swingard said paid lunches and reimbursements from state and federal sources drive the revenues, operating costs are primarily payments to the management company and the fund has recently realized a surplus that allowed the district to avoid raising lunch prices in recent years. Swingard said roughly $50,000 of equipment purchases were made to replace aging ovens and steamers and that some remaining capital needs exist across buildings.

Board members asked when taste-test scorecards would be released; Swingard said he will share final scorecard results once all reviewers have returned their completed forms so the district can avoid external influence on the outcome.