BACKGROUND
For several years, the University of Virginia Hospital has had
a dual food service operation in confined contiguous areas. The
University Food Service operated the cafeteria with support from
their food center on Ivy Road and less than adequate support and
production space on-site. The Hospital operated the patient food
production and distribution from the main kitchen. The Replacement
Hospital is scheduled to come on line with a large modern cafeteria
and new methods of patient food production and distribution. These
anticipated changes brought on by the Replacement Hospital along
with the inefficiencies of our current setup, as well as complaints
with quality and service from our cafeteria, generated a management
decision to unify food production, distribution, cafeteria and catering
services into a contractually provided service.
A Request for Proposal was developed and targeted at nationally
recognized companies with experience in serving major teaching
hospitals preferably with resources and experience in opening and
operating new facilities within our current planning and budget forecasts.
The University Hospital was successful in attracting the
interests of seven companies that met its requirements, of which
three competitive proposals were received. Negotiations with these
three vendors were accomplished, and ARA was selected.
