This summer, Malvern signed a new contract with Sodexo to optimize the cafeteria’s food service. Sodexo is a massive corporation with millions of clients worldwide. They provide food for schools, businesses, universities, cruise ships, and other establishments. Many different institutions use them to help run their food services, from providing, preparing, cooking, and serving food to helping manage employees.
Sodexo offers more flexibility with staffing. A perk of this service is that employees can transition through the company if or when somebody leaves. Sodexo has so many employees and clients that people can move around from school to school or business to business. If employees get a promotion or one place is short on employees, Sodexo can contact different institutions to help with staffing. Mr. Jason Baker, Chief Manager of the Church Farm School, spoke about the benefits of employees coming and going.
“Say, one of your general managers is departing, we can reach out to another unit and say, ‘Hey, can you come over and cover this position while we find somebody to run it?’… you have a lot more talent to glean from, you know, just general exposure… [Having] a very wide group of units to glean from definitely has its benefits,” Baker said.
Malvern strives to bring in the most qualified teachers and staff available. When leadership considered staff members other than qualified teaching professionals, they realized that they do not have a lot of experience bringing in food service employees, and Sodexo, being in business for over fifty years, has a lot of experience specifically in that field. This was a big selling point when the Malvern Cabinet first discussed transitioning to a service like Sodexo in 2022. The Cabinet members, including Head of School, Mr. Patrick Sillup, Associate Head of School, Mr. Ronald Algeo, Head of Mission and Ministry, Fr. William Gabriel and 13 other campus leaders felt that using a company that is an expert in hiring employees outside of the teaching field was a reason for choosing Sodexo. Malvern works with many services and partnerships to make daily features of the school day more convenient on campus. Mr. Sillup talked about the importance of getting the most qualified employees possible.
“I would say that we found as we first started the exploration, particularly learning from university partners, is that when you would run into any kind of staffing issue because you have a partner that’s an expert in that industry, they’re able to help solve that staffing challenge faster than a school might be able to order them,” Sillup said.
Not only will Sodexo help the dining experience, but it will also help bring what the students want to eat to fruition. There have already been discussions about what can be added to the dining menu to make it more versatile, whether an expanded salad bar, a grain bar, vegetarian-friendly options, or whatever else students want to see.
“Making sure that we’re fueling you in a way that keeps you energized, that keeps you healthy, that keeps you attentive, and it isn’t just like a sugar based experience, which makes you crash, and then you’re sitting in that class at two o’clock and getting sleepy. So how do we fuel you? Because you guys are super active. You’re doing sports, you’re doing theater, you’re doing activities, you’re doing things after school. So you want that, that fuel is going to help you do those things,” Sillup said.
An additional perk to using Sodexo is the price advantage. Sodexo buys its food in bulk orders, which gives them a price cut. For example, if a school typically orders 1,000 pounds of chicken at $2.00, Sodexo could buy 100,000 pounds for $1.50. This discount is then passed on to the customer, saving them thousands of dollars annually. This money can then be used elsewhere in a cafeteria, such as refurbishing the dining area or adding other necessities such as more microwaves, or better tables and seats.
Another goal of Sodexo is to make the dining experience better. This will be done in many ways, which will take time to evolve. So far, Stewart Hall has been redesigned to give it a different look and feel while students are eating, the lunch line has added monitors to display the menu, and a second microwave was added to speed up the time it takes students to heat their packed lunch. When asked what else might change, Sillup started talking about the various opportunities for improvement.
“There’ll be more evolutions as we go through—even the furniture. If you’ve been to a college campus, you’ll notice there’s a lot of [seating] variety,” Sillup said.
This variety in seating is a significant upgrade to the current big round tables with no difference in look. This will not only help the comfort of students but strengthen the brotherhood by allowing a diverse way of sharing a meal.
Ms. Chandra Williams was a longtime food service employee at Malvern Prep, but she was much more than that; she was a friend to many and always a smiling face for people to talk to. She left Malvern in October after 18 years of working as a Malvern Prep employee.
“Being at Malvern and being a Malvern employee has been a blessing for me. I’ve gained so many friends [from the] faculty, staff, parents, alumni, and, obviously, boys who go there. I really wasn’t planning on staying 18 years, but I kind of found my niche. Malvern allowed me to be my true, authentic self, especially the people that I worked with, and that’s what I mean when I say Malvern. Obviously, it’s not just the building; it’s the people. I had planned on retiring [at Malvern]. That’s how comfortable and at peace with myself that I felt there,” Williams said
Many things changed inside the walls of the cafeteria when Sodexo was brought in. After the food service switched, Williams and the rest of the cafeteria staff became Sodexo employees rather than Malvern. After a few months with Sodexo, Williams announced that she would be leaving Malvern Prep. Williams comments on changes that occurred at Malvern after the switch of food service while paying homage to the coworkers she greatly appreciates and respects.
“We were still the same people in the cafeteria. It was more of an emotional, psychological thing for me, knowing that I was not part of the Malvern community, even though, if you talk to the higher-ups, you’re still part of it. Still, it was quite obvious that we were not part of the Malvern community,” Williams said.
Williams discussed how she wishes all the best for all parties involved and hopes that there can be evolution and growth within the school and Sodexo in the future.
“I just wish Malvern and Sodexo all the luck. They have great people in that cafeteria who will perform and do the work. I hope Sodexo sees that. I hope they honor that and let them know that because we got that from Malvern. That’s why being with Sodexo was different; I just didn’t get that from them. So, I just hope they have a growing partnership that works well for both of them, and they take care of my friends in the cafeteria,” Williams said.
In addition to the departure of Williams, another beloved Malvern employee, also resigned from the school. Mr. Tom Gray, Malvern’s Director of Food Service, who worked at Malvern for over 20 years and was the father of two alums, stepped down at the end of October after a great career at Malvern. We reached out to him for an interview, but our request was denied.
The entire Malvern community is very sad with the departures of two of their most impactful employees. A lot of students had very close personal relationships with both of these individuals and to see them go is hard. Malvern junior Jack Hechler spoke on the resignation of the two employees.
“Ms. Williams and Mr. Gray left a huge impact on me, and I will miss seeing those faces on campus every day. They were always willing to have conversations with me, and made my days ten times better. Thank you Ms. Williams and Mr. Gray for everything you have done for me and Malvern,” Hechler said.
Replacing Gray is a new Director of Dining Service, coming from the Hill School. Mr. Jim Fekelman is a very qualified and experienced Chef and manager; he has worked for Sodexo for 30 years. Bouncing around from different colleges and high schools, he has much experience in school dining.
The aforementioned evolutions of Sodexo will take time and can hopefully make everything run smoother. Fekelman mentioned the possibility of Malvern developing a meal plan similar to a college’s meal plan.
“[We are contemplating having] an all-inclusive thing, everybody would be on a plan …you’d be able to come in and be able to get, like a dessert, a salad, your meal, a drink, [we want students to] have a balanced meal, versus, … Oh, I don’t know if I have the funds to get a vegetable or the potatoes or starch, whatever that may be,” Fekelman said.
In addition to this possible evolution, Fekelman wants to add more promotions and big meals monthly. Sodexo likes schools to implement holiday promotions such as the beloved Thanksgiving feast at Malvern. Malvern has had a Thanksgiving feast for years, and Sodexo wants to keep that running and implement new themed celebrations.
While there are all these great things to be said about Sodexo, some students and faculty are questioning whether or not this switch was for the best. Throughout the first semester, some students noticed a regression in the food quality provided for breakfast and lunch. Mr. Jack Kelly ‘20 and most recently long term Theology substitute teacher, expressed his feeling towards this new service.
“I think it is very interesting that two of the longest standing cafeteria workers have left during the first term of this new service. It just makes you think what is going on behind the doors. As far as the food goes, when I was in high school I thought that the food was very good, and now I have heard some complaints about the food and all, but at the end of the day the students will still eat what they are given,” Kelly said.
Malvern senior Duncan Christensen talked about what he thought of this year’s food.
“I feel like the food this year is of poorer quality compared to the food last year. The food seems to be very inconsistent. The selection of food they have has also not been up to the standard as last year; I just feel like there is less variety in things,” Christensen said.\
On the other hand, Malvern senior Jimmy Kosloski has mixed emotions.
“In some aspects, it’s better, but some aspects it’s lacking, such as removing the Wawa drinks they had, the chicken sandwiches are hit or miss, 50% of the time they are good, the other times they are not. But the pizza has taken a step up and is better than last year. Overall, I would say the food is better,” Kosloski said.
This year, incoming freshmen with unique dining hall experiences at their previous schools have noticed things that set Malvern’s food apart. Jude Kavka-Coogan ’28, a new freshman at Malvern, enjoys varying yet consistent choices our food service has to offer.
“It’s pretty balanced. I mean, there’s always the steady options of the pizza and pasta, but then there’s also a good mix of unique entrees that you don’t see a lot [in other cafeterias],” Kavka-Coogan said.
The change to Sodexo was sudden, occurring over the summer, the new staff and system need time to settle in before efficiency peaks. Any student or faculty member who has a problem, feedback, or even just a question should reach out to Fekelman. Fekelman is experienced and will take what people say into consideration. He wants Malvern to succeed, both in food service and as a whole.
At the end of the day, all Malvern students have different food preferences. Thankfully, Mr. Sillup along with our new Director of Dining Services, Mr. Fekelman, are striving to take student feedback into consideration. Sodexo might seem out of touch due to its massive business empire, but the current food service workers care about helping the community get the most out of their campus dining experience. Students and faculty should expect to see an evolution of the dining service and should feel like their voices are being heard.
