Campus food provider ARAMARK Corp. has turned down the opportunity to rebid on its contract at the University, company officials and Duke dining administrators confirmed Monday.
The surprising decision was made last week following months of speculation about the company's future at Duke.
"ARAMARK respectfully declined to participate in the process at this time," Karen Cutler, the company's director of corporate communications, wrote in an e-mail.
Five other companies-including Meriwether-Godsey, Inc., a relatively small provider, and Sodexho, an international conglomerate-remain in contention for the right to manage several on-campus dining facilities when ARAMARK's contract expires June 30.
ARAMARK's decision came quite unexpectedly, explained Jim Wulforst, director of dining services.
Wulforst received notice from the company Mar. 23-a day before all six bidders were scheduled to meet on campus with several administrators for a question-and-answer session.
He said he sent each company a fact sheet March 22 that outlined the wants and needs of Duke dining.
In it, he noted, "the University reserves the right to award management of these operations to one firm or to split [the operations]" among more than one company.
The stipulation leaves open the option of having more than one of the bidding companies manage operations in the fall, Wulforst said.
For instance, a smaller firm could concentrate on the East Union building while a larger one takes control of the Great Hall, Subway and Chick-fil-A, he explained.
Cutler wrote that ARAMARK reached its decision "after careful review and consideration of the dining service configuration as outlined in the University's request."
Several student leaders said they are pleased with the week's turn-of-events.
"I'm surprised that ARAMARK would give up without more of a fight, but after three DUSDAC votes of no confidence.... I can't say I didn't expect it," said senior Andrew Wallace, co-chair of the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee.
He noted that the conglomerate also claimed to have never made a profit at Duke in the past five years, which may have been a contributing factor in ARAMARK's decision to rebid for the job.
Senior Paige Sparkman, Duke Student Government's vice president of student affairs, echoed Wallace's sentiments.
"I'm actually happy that the process will be a lot more open and a lot less political now that ARAMARK has taken it upon itself not to renew the contract," she said.
Sparkman-whose DSG purview includes dining-noted that she was less than surprised when Wulforst told her the news. "I think the administration had vehicles in place to replace ARAMARK in the first place," she said.
The next step in the selection process is to allow each company in contention time to create a comprehensive proposal of their plans for Duke dining, Wulforst said.
"All five companies will be on campus for the next week to 10 days just doing reviews of all the operations," Wulforst said.
An "oversight" committee composed of undergraduate and graduate students, dining administrators and representatives from other University departments will then convene to debate the various options, he said.
Wulforst expects a decision to be reached by the end of April. "I'm excited," he said. "I feel like this could be a new beginning for our program."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.