South Dakota State University administrators are working with Sodexo to improve the food vendor’s services after many complaints have surfaced in the two-plus years since the company came to campus.
Problems Arise
Sodexo replaced Aramark in July of 2022 as the university’s food service vendor. Since then, complaints from students, the Students’ Association, faculty and President Barry Dunn have indicated frustration with various aspects of Sodexo’s performance.
“We’ve had a lot of turnover of Sodexo leadership on campus and the catering team has changed several times,” Dunn said. “Labor’s been a problem and there’s been a lot of turnover.”
During Sodexo’s first year, issues such as long lines and unscheduled closings of some dining locations – often blamed on short staffing – caused problems, said Jennifer Novotny, assistant vice president for student life. Some restaurants like Qdoba and Mein Bowl weren’t operational when Sodexo took over.
Issues in Larson Commons
Sodexo operates 20 dining locations on campus, with the Student Union and Larson Commons ranking as the most popular. More recently, problems have surfaced at Larson Commons.
Larson Commons, located between Young Hall and Binnewies Hall, has been undergoing a renovation since last spring and is expected to be completed in summer 2026. The commons have been open to diners despite the construction, which has brought about issues with the building.
Novotny, who says she receives reports from Larson and visits the building multiple times a week, pointed to an incident during which birds got into the building.
“It was awful for students and the staff were really not happy,” Novotny said.
Work crews fixed the bird problem by closing Larson for one lunch period and clearing them out.
Another issue with Larson Commons happened in January when the cafeteria experienced cold temperatures.
“We had these really bad cold temperatures,” Novotny said. “So, further investigation showed the Residential Life Department was already working on it. A piece of equipment was going down, so they were getting it addressed.”
Students who eat at Larson Commons have reached out to Novotny saying problems like these have impacted their days, and she has said that she will continue to be attentive to issues that arise and address them with Larson Commons staff.
Novotny works with Sodexo daily to monitor the student dining experience and has regular conversations with Dunn and Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management Michaela Willis about these matters, according to Dunn.
“I want people to know that [for] those kinds of things we are keeping a close watch on it but don’t ever hesitate to reach out if those things happen,” Novotny said. “I always want to be aware of it and make the Larson staff aware of that.”
Frustrations with International Food
In February, a member from the International Relations Council at a Students’ Association meeting reported that some international students who hosted events on campus have been frustrated working with Sodexo’s catering.
“It’s been a really big struggle to get genuine, authentic international food for these nights,” SA President Trinity Peterson said. “It’s something we’re trying to address. I know some have had to move their event off campus so that they can more easily cater things.”
Novotny said that for catering larger-scale events, the Sodexo staff will take a recipe from student groups and put that into their software, to create recipes for attendees, who can be hundreds of people.
“Those events are big undertakings for the students…[and] for the crew that facilitates that,” Novotny said. “When you’re making things for 800 versus 100 [people]… it really does have variable degrees of difference.”
Aramark previously allowed student organizations to cook for events, but Sodexo does not, Peterson said.
“Sodexo makes the food, and it’s just not as authentic as people want it to be,” Peterson added. “It’s hard to just follow a recipe and have it taste exactly the same as the food…made by someone who has experience in making that particular [kind of] food.”
Also, if students want food from a restaurant in the region that can make the food they want for their event, the restaurant has to provide certification of their insurance and have to meet “the requirements of being a licensed food service provider.” Some student groups haven’t been happy with this process, Novotny said.
Some groups have wanted to make their food, but aren’t allowed to for these events.
“We’re not able to just allow people to just provide food at that large scale and not run the risk of foodborne illness and greater concerns,” Novotny said. “And so that’s why there’s rigorous process in place. They [Sodexo] did go through rigor to make sure that that is safe and certified. And that really is what we bind Sodexo in [the] contract about, which is why they have that exclusivity contract.”
Because of these problems, students have complained to faculty and the student government about Sodexo over the last two-plus years.
Students’ Association Responds
Student frustrations led the Students’ Association to address Sodexo’s service issues at a Board of Regents meeting in 2022. As a result, students across South Dakota’s six regional institutions received meal plan refunds, with the highest reaching $200. Students’ Association leaders continue to advocate for improvements and encourage students to voice their concerns.
“If this does continue to where Sodexo is consistently and not providing students with a satisfactory experience here at SDSU, then I think we would have the credence and the precedent to go to Sodexo and request that refund again for students,” said SA Vice President Hayden Bentz.
Peterson said she has heard complaints from students about Sodexo, with the most regarding the service issues at Larson Commons. However, she thinks that the issues should be alleviated once construction is completed.
Regardless, Bentz said that students should bring up their frustrations to SA about Sodexo.
“I know they’re (Sodexo) always very willing to hear student feedback and are very receptive to it, so don’t stop complaining by any means,” Bentz said. “I continually bring up things to them. If you’re a student or bring things up to us on Students’ Association, as well, and we’ll communicate those to Sodexo as well.”
President Dunn Responds
Sodexo’s catering problems have not been limited to student functions. Some scholarship events and SDSU sports events also have seen problems, Dunn said.
“We’ve had some really great experiences there, and then we’ve had some that weren’t so good,” Dunn said. “We’re trying to elevate that.”
Dunn also said that since the university is the largest among the SDBOR institutions, SDSU requires different needs than other schools and feeds a larger number of students day to day as well as holds larger scale events, multiple times per month.
“SDSU welcomes thousands of visitors to a football game who purchase items from the concession stand, attend the game in a premium seating area, or potentially attend another event on campus prior to the game,” Dunn said. “All of this requires the well-preparedness of Sodexo’s staff to meet the needs of an influx of people to campus. Those are important areas we continue to work through to provide a positive experience for our students, faculty, staff and visitors.”
Although issues have been occurring, the university and Sodexo communicate frequently and have improved some areas for the university and its students, Dunn said.
“Last year, I thought we had really good food service at Larson, and then Chick-fil-A has been a big hit,” Dunn said. “Qdoba’s really popular this year. So, there’s been some really good things about the food service.”
Staffing Challenges
The transition during summer 2022 brought several challenges to the university. One of the main issues was the difficulty Sodexo faced in hiring and retaining staff later.
Novotny, who works in the Student Union and the university’s liaison with Sodexo, said Aramark’s food service employees had already been experiencing a “pretty steady decline” in the labor market post-pandemic, even before Sodexo took over.
Due to the timing of the transition, along with the already strained labor market and rising food prices, Sodexo struggled to hire staff. These challenges led to high turnover, particularly in management positions.
The new Sodexo staff also had issues adjusting to the university post-pandemic because they did not know the students or their trends yet.
“I think overall staffing was a concern at the very beginning,” Novotny said. “They had to solidify the staffing that was currently in place…look at increasing new hires, and they didn’t know the student campus yet. So that took a lot of effort, and I do think that that probably rolled out slower than what we had anticipated.”
For this fall, though, Novotny said that there has been close to a 98% return rate of the Sodexo staff that was here last year, which has made staffing “more solid.”
In fact, she said that all of SDSU’s operations require 300 to 400 staff to support food service.
“All of our operating hours have been more consistent because of that,” Novotny said. “Our catering operation really depends very heavily on some full-time staff, but also a lot of hourly students.”
Because their staffing has been more solid, Novotny says that more places have been at standard operating hours, such as Union Coffee and the Dairy Bar.
“We do get some feedback that students are still looking for some things to be open evenings and weekends,” said Novotny.
To improve this, James Quinn, Sodexo’s resident district manager, will look at student trends to build stronger operations and meal service times for each food service operation.
More Food Servings
One complaint that Novotny has seen this year is about small protein portion sizes at Larson Commons. Novotny said that to reduce food waste, protein is served to students in one-ounce servings, and if they want more, they can go back for another serving.
“There’s a reason we do this,” Novotny said. It’s to keep costs down for everybody, but it’s also so you don’t waste it. You might think you want a bunch, and you sit down and you’re like “Oh, I’m so full,” and then you dump it all.”
Other than that, complaints this year have lessened. However, she will receive occasional complaints about food service and quality. She said that they include some photos of burnt toast sent to her, and messages about chips from Qdoba running out before closing.
“Overall, I really am not getting the frequency [of complaints],” Novotny said. “[But they do] need to be addressed from time to time…And that helps us too, because when there’s a thematic concern, like chips, then, we know we’ve got a little bit bigger issue…either we don’t have enough supply loaded…or maybe we’re understaffed and they’re not keeping up.”
Resolving Issues
Another area that the university is working on with Sodexo is “fine-tuning” the operations on the west side of campus for the Dairy Bar and the Hansen Hall C-Store, Novotny said.
“And we’ve been focusing on, how do we bring more food options to the west side of campus,” Dunn said. “As well as our restaurants also know full and we have more students over there, so definitely have been focused on that.”
As far as a plan goes for resolving the issues, Novotny said for each year in contract with Sodexo, there have been ‘strategic goals that are enhanced to dining performance,’ which is the Larsons Commons Project, and ‘freshening up’ their dining spaces. She said that most of that was happening during the first year of the contract with Sodexo.
For years two and three, the university has been focusing on the Larson Commons Project, and if other issues come up, according to Novotny.
“As we move forward, there’s always going to be discussions with the university leadership too, about what other priorities might emerge,” Novotny said. “But yeah, those are laid out pretty clearly in our contract agreement.”
In the meantime, if students have any complaints regarding food service, they are encouraged to reach out to university leadership.
“We’re committed to providing students [with] the best,” Dunn said. “You make a huge investment here in your education, which includes several years in the dorm and then food service throughout here for three to five years…[We] want that experience always to be very good.”
Sodexo did not respond to multiple requests for comment before publication.
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