Still a good value
Prices for entrees and food items are increasing from ten to sixty cents beginning the week of October 9 at ARAMARK-operated Laboratory cafeterias.
“The price increase is really meant to help us keep up with increases in our labor and commodity costs,” said Vance Boone, ARAMARK food services director. “Even with the price increase given our fair and generous portions, we are still less than 75 percent of the market price for comparable restaurant food here in Los Alamos.”
“Over the past ten years we’ve only seen two increases from ARAMARK, and they were only about four percent, so we agree this increase is deserved,” said Bob Patterson of Maintenance Site Services (MSS).
ARAMARK operates the Otowi cafeteria at Technical Area 3 and cafeterias at TA-55 and the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANCSE) at TA-53.
In addition, the look and feel of the Otowi cafeteria has been upgraded over the past year and the focus has been on maintaining and improving the quality, speed of delivery, and sanitary conditions at all the cafeterias.
“We’ve made a number of improvements at the Otowi cafeteria, including new carpeting and furniture in the dining areas, and major changes inside the servery and kitchen, including a new dish room, flooring, and many other cosmetic and functional upgrades,” said Patterson. ARAMARK also has improved menus, employee training and food service practices, and is placing an emphasis on customer service.
“We have worked very hard to make it fast and easy for our customers to pickup food and go, including adding debit/credit card readers that process transactions quickly,” Boone added.
Boone said that safety, and with the support of facilities personnel, ARAMARK has made major strides in food safety and health regulation compliance.
“When we received our annual health inspection from the state we received a report of “very clean facility” and an overall rating of “outstanding,” said Boone. “I was very pleased with their evaluation.
“We did have some issues relative to mobile catering a month or two ago, and have upgraded equipment and practices so that we now meet all requirements,” said Boone.
ARAMARK also plans to open a Starbucks coffee kiosk in the National Security Science Building (NSSB) at TA-3.
"We plan to have the kiosk open sometime in the next few weeks," said Boone. "We will be inside the entrance of the NSSB. I'm very excited about that and I am looking forward to seeing our customers there when we open."
For more information, contact Boone at 7-3591 or boone-vance@aramark.com by electronic mail.
