ARAMARK may be coming to town. But before we let that happen, Recess decided to bring ourselves to ARAMARK first. If Duke students are going to be subjected to the megacorp-or reject it-we want the community to have a fair assessment of what ARAMARK's product is like. As the old saying goes, you can't knock it 'till you've tried it. And now we have tried it-all of it.
We headed to the campus of ACC rivals Wake Forest University, a school with similar population demographics and a 30-plus year relationship with the company. Against our better judgment-and gastrointestinal well-being-we attempted, in the span of about three hours, to eat everything the company has to offer on campus, excluding the chain stuff (Pizza Hut, Subway, Chick-Fil-A and Krispy Kreme doughnuts). But everything else-the sandwiches, the desserts, the Chinese food, the chicken-was, literally, on the table. Our bite-by-bite analysis may not be pretty, but it should be a revealing look at the conglomerate that may come to dominate dining at Duke.
10:25 a.m. Reynolda Cafeteria
We got to campus a bit too late for the full-fledged breakfast-the kind with eggs and bacon and such-but ARAMARK's operations in the Reynolda Cafeteria (affectionately known as "The Pit"-see the similarity?) offer a continental breakfast until lunchtime. In fact, the place serves continuously until closing at 8 p.m.-unlike the Great Hall at Duke.
The cafeteria is divided into little sub-restaurants, or "concepts" with names that sound suspiciously like rejected theme park installations ("Parmagiano's," "Tortilla Fresca"). There's also a Freshens yogurt stand (a la Alpine Bagels), salad and fruit bar, a self-serve Krispy Kreme donut case, a similar bagel case, drink machines and a Subway restaurant. Of course, most of this stuff wasn't open for breakfast other than Java City, which served up an iced cinnamon roll and a danish, and "The Grill," which dispensed sausage-and-egg and ham-and-egg croissants for our pleasure. We also picked up an apple, a hot chocolate and a soda called "cherry." (To their credit, ARAMARK's Wake operation serves both Coke and Pepsi products, just not their cherry sodas).
Once we sat down, we chatted up Wake junior Britney Gallagher, who explained to us that Subway's lunchtime lines are usually longest and that, in general, she thinks ARAMARK makes a good effort at meeting student demand. In fact, the company just started highlighting a "Healthy Deacon" item of the day in response to student complaints about a lack of nutritional choices. Unfortunately, ARAMARK made no such recommendation at breakfast, but our money was on the bagels we neglected to eat.
THE VERDICT: Our cinnamon bun could be bested by anything out of Little Debbie's back yard-it was dry and ill-flavored. The best part-the core-was more like Mt. St. Helens in an off year than a bubbling cauldron of icing and cinnamon. The egg sandwiches had the familiar McDonald's flavors of grease and cheese, but with a lower price and a commensurately reduced amount of meat. The drinks didn't deviate much from what we expected. And the apple was, well, an apple.
11:15 a.m. Benson Food Court
Located in the basement level of Wake Forest's Benson University Center (a centrally located, thoughtfully laid out version of the abysmal Bryan Center), the
Also in the area are more traditional ARAMARK "concepts," such as the highly popular Pan Geos, which serves the only specifically vegetarian food on campus. Although the stir-fry place offers only two options a day (skillet A has one item, skillet B has another), Pan Geos is almost always packed, probably due to the long waits for the two overworked employees to hand-make each order.
"There aren't a lot of vegetarian options except for greasy pasta and this," said junior Sara Linderman, "and any meat sauces you get are greasy, too." Although other veg-heads made similar complaints about ARAMARK's selection, one must wonder what else vegetarians can ask for-Wake's dining services offer the same vegetable-based sandwiches, vegetarian Mexican food, pasta, breakfast foods and salads that Duke's do, along with a vegetarian-specific eatery.
Also in the area is a place for grilled sandwiches, a dessert stand, a deli, a whole room full of self-serve candy and a Pizza Hut that is one of three chains on the Wake campus. We skipped the pizza and snagged both offerings from Pan Geos (basically, rice and veggies on flatbread), a plate of Shorty's Chinese food, a chicken salad sandwich and a slice of bourbon pecan pie.
THE VERDICT: After choking down two plates of Pan Geos-one item a spicy kidney bean dish slathered in cheese, the other a bland garbanzo and rice stir-fry that might even turn off a goat, the gorgefest was already wearing us down. After the Chinese food-gooey sweet and sour chicken and a greasy egg roll that left us longing for $2.50 and its microwave equivalent-we didn't know if we could make it through the chicken salad sandwich (90 percent mayonnaise, 10 percent chicken) and the pie. The pie turned out to be the Food Court's only saving grace-it was at least edible. We also got harassed by some Sig Ep fratters who apparently had never seen a camera before. They seemed happy as horses eating ARAMARK's swill, so we left them in peace. Judging by the Benson Center, ARAMARK's target audience is, well, dudes. Ones who eat-and eat and eat and eat-anything, that is.
11:45 a.m. Reynolda Cafeteria
Lunch was served, and we were really groaning. After another interminable wait for the employees to hand-make our food, we sat down to a chicken burrito from Tortilla Fresca and chicken parmesan from Parmagiano's. With everything made to order, things don't move very quickly-do these Wake students just have extra time on their hands, or what?
THE VERDICT: The burrito was literally dog-food quality, with rank tasting chicken, a tasteless, nameless sauce and stomach-turning, stale-tasting refried beans. The chicken parmesan stacked up favorably to the offerings of the Great Hall, with a spicier tomato sauce and richer flavor. And admittedly, the glutinous mass of delicious cheese on top of it, after our other experiences, made it less appealing that it normally might have been. After the burrito disaster, we needed a break.
12:15 p.m.
Shorty's told us that beer is not served until 5 p.m., but we couldn't bring ourselves to head back to the Pit. Instead, we took a break with Wake's weekly newspaper, The Old Gold and Black. It's not The Chronicle, we assure you.
12:40 Reynolda Cafeteria
As we headed back to the table for round four, weighted down with half a rotisserie chicken, a serving of yams, a biscuit, cucumber and tomato salad, three slices of pork tenderloin and a couple of drinks, we were accosted by Don McMahon, ARAMARK's retail operations manager for Wake Dining Services, who noticed our camera. Cornered as we were by the soda fountains, we listened respectfully through McMahon's spiel about ARAMARK and its "concepts"-the little mini-restaurants like Pan Geos and Parmagiano's that the company can rotate in and out as it pleases. He confirmed that the company makes at least one rotation every year. Among its recent innovations, in fact, was the removal of chains Taco Bell and KFC in favor of a rotisserie grill and the abominable Tortilla Fresca. Taco Bell, McMahon explained, was suffering from "brand burnout," but had been more-than-adequately replaced by its ARAMARK equivalent, Tortilla Fresca.
As we sat down to our fourth meal of the day, we chatted up a few more Wake undergrads, including one healthy fellow with a Caesar salad, a plate of cheese-laden pasta alfredo and a cleaned plate of ARAMex in front of him. While his friends spent most of their time bitching about the dining employees-who we found almost universally polite and friendly-this guy spent a good 10 minutes telling us how much he loved Tortilla Fresca's fajitas and quesadillas. He also hit us with a hot tip-another faraway dining area called the IS Food Court purportedly had the best food on campus. His friend offered us some more immediately interesting analysis: "No matter what you eat, you're gonna have to shit 20 minutes later."
Groaning at the thought of another whole cafeteria to tackle, we went back to pick up one last item: turkey tetrazzini, one of the offerings of a "concept" whose cuisine changes each day. As we laid down another wad of The Chronicle's hard-earned cash, the ARAMARK cashier, laughing, exclaimed, "I know you aren't eating all of that, or you'd be sick. I can only eat it once a day."
Before we could even dig into our next pile of victuals, another ARAMARKeter plopped down at our table: Wake Forest Dining Services Director Veronica Cruickshank, politely inquiring who we were and why we were taking all the pictures. Though her thinly-veiled suspicion was a bit off-putting, she did inform us that she meets with students "all the time," and that they have come to expect a concept rotation at least once per year. "When we met after spring break this year," she said, "the first thing they wanted to know was, 'What are you going to change?'" Noting ARAMARK's longstanding relationship with Wake Forest, she didn't seem to understand the concept of ARAMARK not being there. The company has always been, and always will be, it seems, until the end.
VERDICT: Though the intrusions of the ARAMARKeters left a bad taste in our mouths, most of the food didn't. The rotisserie chicken (roasted in a real rotisserie that you can watch) was moist and lightly seasoned and the sweet, soft yams did
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