This article was first published in The Sheaf, the print newspaper of The University of Saskatchewan. It was an article inside Volume 91, Issue 12.
St. Thomas More College (STM) once again has a stable food services program running for this school year.
Dean Wilfred Denis of STM said he was pleased to welcome Derek Cotton as the new manager of college food services. Stax Catering, which formerly ran food services in STM, was dismissed from its contract shortly after it has been renewed for the 1999-2000 school year over the summer. The company had run food services in the college for the past two years. Food services are separate from those of the University of Saskatchewan, and are run entirely by the STM college.
Since early September, the services have been “under evaluation,” Denis said. Several alternatives, one being the sale of Pizza Hut personal pan pizza at the beginning of the year, had been explored, he added. While the pizzas were successful, “it was getting a bit too complicated to run that,” said Denis. A new food services program was implemented Tuesday, October 12.
The decision to dismiss Stax Catering was made after the start of the new school year, due to “complications” upon which Denis did not care to speculate. Food services of STM remain separate from those of the university to serve residents in the smaller college, students in their own cafeteria, and for their internal catering needs.
An employee of the catering service also declined to offer specifics on the dismissal of Stax Catering. “I guess they wanted to do it themselves,” said the employee. While they handled the dismissal with politeness and care, the employee said, the timing was extremely poor. The employee stated the decision to dismiss Stax Catering should have been made in the summer, when the option to renew or dismiss the company was still open, instead of after the school year had started. Stax was forced to terminate a number of workers hired for the project. “We’ve lost many hours [on this job],” the employee confessed.
Cotton, the new director of programs, “comes highly qualified,” stated Denis, citing Cotton’s past experience has been with the Bessborough Hotel and the Terragon restaurant.
