NU Board of Regents approves food and drink agreement with Aramark

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved an agreement with Philadelphia-based food and drink vendor Aramark on Friday.

The new vendor will sell food and alcohol in Memorial Stadium and the Bob Devaney Sports Center, while also keeping some Nebraska flavor intact.

Aramark provides concessions for several large colleges and National Football League organizations already, and has experience with alcohol sales.

Regent Tim Clare chose to abstain from the vote, citing a conflict of interest. Regent Kathy Wilmot voted against Aramark taking over concessions, disagreeing with the idea of selling alcohol overall. According to Athletic Director Troy Dannen, the contracts with Nebraska-based companies will carry over.

“The University of Nebraska athletic department has contracts with Vals, Runza, Wimmers, for their products to be served,” said Dannen. “Those contracts will now be held by Aramark as the concessionaire.”

Once the contracts end, Aramark will decide whether to continue selling the longstanding Cornhusker cuisine. Valentinos is the first contract to lapse, ending this year.

Along with bringing Aramark on as the sole vendor for Husker sports, the vendor will provide the university with a $10 million capital infusion to assist with concession updates.

“It’s just to modernize our concession stands as they are. The model that we have, walk up and walk away is kind of not in vogue,” Dannen said to the board. “We need to add coolers throughout the stadium to facilitate alcohol sales, which we do not have.”

Aramark will be replacing the Valentino’s offshoot, Premier Catering as the primary vendor for UNL athletics events.