A Bitter Aftertaste

Downsides of Sodexho Dining Services

Stephanie Bulger / Claremont Student

By Janine Kapp

Here at the Claremont Colleges, the company Sodexho provides the food served at Harvey Mudd, Pomona and Scripps College. Who and what is Sodexho? Sodexho is the leading global provider of food and management services. They employ with more than 313,000 workers on 24,900 sites in 76 countries. Gaithersburg, Maryland is home to the American corporate headquarters, a member of the international Sodexho Alliance based in France. According to the company’s website, "The people of Sodexho touch the lives of millions of men, women and children each day." And indeed, they do, Claremont Colleges included.   

It is probably less well known that Sodexho has a problematic past filled with accusations of racism. The Sodexho website states, "We are committed to developing all employees, strengthening our work environment, and ensuring that we draw employees from the communities we serve."  Perhaps this is the case now; yet in April 2005, Sodexho Inc. was charged with discrimination. Sodexho agreed to pay $80 million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of African American employees who claimed they were regularly excluded from promotions and experienced discrimination within the company. The agreement also contained guidelines for increasing diversity such as promotion incentives, monitoring and training. The company admitted no wrongdoing, professing that they settled the case so to avoid a prolonged trial.

In addition, Sodexho is the largest shareholder of Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison company. The privatization of prisons is a controversial issue because the human rights and lives of prisoners in privatized prisons switch from being controlled by public jurisdiction to being under the power of private jurisdiction, potentially endangering the lives and safety of prisoners and prison workers. The 2000-2001 Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts found some disturbing information about a Sodexho-affiliated prison, considered by the company to be a "model" prison. The prison at Forest Bank had the highest rate of assaults and the sixth highest rate of positive drug tests among all 40 prisons in its class of male local prisons. Outside the United States, in Australia, a prison with ties to Sodexho had such inhumane conditions that the Australian government had to reclaim control of the privately owned prison.

With this knowledge, students may wish to reconsider their college's involvement with Sodexho. For most students who live on campus, it is generally mandatory to pay for the meal plan provided by the college. This forces students to unwillingly support the questionable practices of Sodexho. One group fighting Sodexho is the national student organization Not With Our Money!. Many students are involved with the group’s campaign to protest the presence of Sodexho on college campuses.  According to the Not With Our Money! website, "each year, North American students and parents provide more than $1.2 billion in revenues to Sodexho - inadvertently helping them pursue a modern-day slave trade." For Harvey Mudd, Pomona and Scripps, it is necessary to begin a discussion about the implications of having Sodexho at these schools, and what should be done about it.

Maybe the answer is that all of the five colleges should support Bon Appetit, the food provider for Claremont McKenna and Pitzer. Bon Appetit is based in California and has a strong commitment to socially responsible practices. Recently, the company changed its policy on egg purchases. Within a year, the company will no longer buy eggs from hatcheries that confine birds in battery cages, but will instead buy only cage-free shell eggs. Furthermore, Bon Appetit policies mandate that the company purchase only hormone-free milk, antibiotic-free poultry and sustainable seafood. Bon Appetit’s chefs purchase locally produced and seasonal ingredients, which is beneficial for small farmers. Additionally, the farming practices supported by Bon Appetit have fewer negative impacts on the environment. 

It is not the intention of this article to offend those employed at the dining halls here at the Claremont Colleges.  Their work and time is very much needed and appreciated. However, as students, we should be inquisitive about the practices of the industries we support.