The Hospitality Consultants survey was prompted by UT Catering's failure to become profitable, despite several changes. The same consultants previously evaluated the catering services at the University of Eindhoven. In Eindhoven, the consultants suggested reducing the number of service points and increasing their diversity by creating food courts, lunch corners, lounge areas and a take-out service. Recently, the planned closing of the cafeteria in the main building of the UE was met with fierce resistance.
The UT will examine whether the quality must be improved based on the results of the evaluation. `We certainly did not request this evaluation to justify outsourcing catering to a third party,' emphasizes Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board Willem te Beest. `That is a completely different story. That is not an option unless the results of the evaluation give us a reason to consider it, but right now we do not expect that.'
Another recent development is the start of the renovation work in the Schuur Building, next to the Faculty Club. It will be the location of UT Catering's new production kitchen; it has been using the kitchen in Het Bouwhuis since it left the Bastille in early 2002. The contract with this home for the mentally handicapped will expire this summer. The plan to build a catering kitchen in the Schuur Building is five years old and is included in the university's real estate master plan. None of the alternative locations - on or off campus - considered over the past five years in an attempt to cut costs were viable. In the end, the kitchen will end up where it was originally planned in 2000: next to the Faculty Club.
The project, which should be finished this summer, will cost about one million euros. Willem te Beest calculates that the new kitchen will cost UT Catering about one hundred thousand euros per year in deduction costs, interest and repayments. That price is slightly less than the rent for Het Bouwhuis's kitchen as well as the transport and personnel costs that come with it. `A modern kitchen nearby will also improve the quality of the food.' The first construction meeting was held last week.
Trans. Jeroen Latour
