Taco Bell gets the boot
Bon App‚tit, Washington University’s food service provider, is currently seeking a replacement for the Taco Bell franchise in Mallinckrodt Center’s Food Court. Although Taco Bell will remain in its current location for the upcoming school year, Bon App‚tit plans to have a new food provider for the fall of 2006.
The move was made in response to the results of an e-mail survey conducted by Student Union last month to determine dining preferences among University undergraduates. The survey indicated that 44.9 percent of respondents preferred that Bon App‚tit not renew its contract with Taco Bell.
Also of note to administrators was the 39.8 percent of students who indicated that they “don’t mind” Taco Bell, but would prefer a different franchise in the Food Court.
A Chinese food franchise ranked as the most preferred potential replacement for Taco Bell, a fact that Bon App‚tit is taking into consideration.
“Based on the results of the survey, it is apparent that students want change,” said Student Union Food Committee Chair Jeff Zove, a sophomore, who worked with Bon App‚tit administrators to analyze the results of the survey.
Taco Bell’s five-year lease in its Food Court space expired this year but the results of the survey became available too late to replace Taco Bell immediately. Rather than renew Taco Bell’s contract for another five years, Bon App‚tit extended Taco Bell’s contract for one year, during which Bon App‚tit will negotiate with potential replacement companies.
The Taco Bell franchise has been the target of protests over its business practices, both at the national level and on the University campus. Several years ago, a group of Florida tomato pickers formed a political protest group called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), calling on Taco Bell to pay more for the tomatoes it purchases. The CIW contends that the low price of tomatoes has kept Florida farm-workers in poverty.
The CIW had called for a nationwide boycott of Taco Bell, but dropped the action last week when Taco Bell agreed to voluntarily increase the price it pays for tomatoes.
On the University campus, the Student Worker Alliance (SWA) has supported the CIW locally and advocated laborers’ rights issues. SWA had been at the center of “Boot the Bell” efforts, a grassroots campaign to raise awareness of the Immokalee workers’ wage issue.
The survey of dining preferences indicated that while some students are concerned with the Immokalee workers’ situation, Bon App‚tit decided the number was not large enough to merit removing Taco Bell based on that issue.
The 15.9 percent of students who indicated that they do not eat at Taco Bell because of the Immokalee workers’ situation represented a “significant factor,” according to Zove, although “not large enough to justify getting rid of Taco Bell.”
Zove explained that Bon App‚tit administrators were more concerned by the significant number of students who indicated that they simply do not like the food at Taco Bell-29.5 percent of students indicated that preference when asked to select which statements represented their feelings from a list.
Although the survey was conducted while the nationwide boycott of Taco Bell was underway, the recent end of that action is unlikely to change Taco Bell’s fate, explained Zove. The survey’s results suggested that the Immokalee workers’ protests were a secondary issue; the number of students indicating that they did not like the food concerned Bon App‚tit administrators more.
If a suitable replacement franchise is found and contract negotiations are successful, the final step in the vetting process would be to put the issue to a vote of students. Another survey, in the same style as the recent one, would likely be conducted, said Zove.
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