Aramark keeps Houston school pact despite furor

Nation's Restaurant News, July 8, 2002

HOUSTON - Aramark retained a foodservice contract with the Houston Independent School District despite a rancorous school board debate over the contractor's use of minority vendors. The board reportedly voted 7-2 to renegotiate with Aramark and Quality Concession Foods, the on-site feeder's minority joint-venture partner.

Aramark had been the district's foodservice provider since 1997 but came under fire from some board members who charged that the Philadelphia-based company was freezing Hispanic firms out of contracts. The school district requires that its contractors subcontract at least 25 percent of their services to minority- or women-owned businesses. Darryl King, African-American owner of Quality Concession, also is the head of the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and is former chairman of the Houston Area Urban League. The Houston Chronicle reported that state Sen. Mario Gallegos sent a letter in May to district superintendent Kaye Stripling, charging that "Hispanic firms have been completely sh ut out of the Aramark foodservice management contract." Gallegos called for an audit of the company. An Aramark spokesman said that over the life of the current contract, black-owned vendors would make $2.54 million and Hispanic-owned vendors would make $2.39 million, mainly from food and supply purchases.