Photo by Ellie Strikes Weird
After drama with its previous food supplier, D.C. Public Schools has selected two vendors to prepare meals at more than 100 schools during the 2016-2017 academic year. Beginning in August, DC Central Kitchen and SodexoMagic—with Revolution Foods as a subcontractor—will supply breakfast, lunch, after-school supper, summer food service, and more to DCPS students, pending further approval.
Under the proposal, 12 schools, all in Ward 7, would be served by DC Central Kitchen, while the remaining 100 schools would be served by SodexoMagic and Revolution Foods, according to a release from DCPS. “The partnership’s contract with DCPS would provide an innovative program that will bring cutting-edge food concepts, state-of-the-art menu creation and adherence to the highest nutrition standards,” SodexoMagic and Revolution said in a joint statement.
Last June, Chartwells Dining Services agreed to pay $19.4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by former DCPS food services director Jeffrey Mills, but admitted no wrongdoing in the case. Meanwhile, a Washington City Paper cover story chronicled the allegations of mismanagement that included “rotting food, fraud, and millions of dollars lost.”
Shortly thereafter, Chartwells quit as DCPS’ main food services provider after seven years on the job. Chartwells’ president Rhonna Cass, said in a letter to the D.C. Council in July that the company was “no longer a valued partner to DCPS,” and it was best to “exit the contract and allow DCPS to move forward in another direction,” causing concern that the system would be left in the lurch for the school year.
In a second letter to the D.C. Council, Cass said they would not leave the system without a replacement. And in December, DCPS hosted a pre-proposal/bid conference for a replacement.
One of the new providers, Sodexo, has its own problems. The company settled a $20 million False Claims Act case in New York in 2010, and has also sustained findings of spoiled or expired food and employee safety violations in other states since 2010, The Washington City Paper reported. “If [DCPS] trades Chartwells for Sodexo, people will be rightfully outraged,” a Council source told WCP.
The DC Central Kitchen and Sodexo contracts must be approved by the Office of the Attorney General and D.C. Council.
