Chartwells
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Chartwells is a foodservice provider for many schools, colleges and universities throughout North America. It operates through a number of companies such as Chartwells Educational Foodservices Inc. and Chartwells Educational Dining Services, all subsidiaries of international foodservice conglomerate Compass Group.
Many schools (or school boards) choose to have Chartwells take care of cafeteria service rather than administer it on their own, for administrative purposes or for financial reasons. However, schools typically only have one cafeteria, which causes a monopoly situation, allowing prices to increase and, potentially, quality to decrease.
Chartwells' food is typically consistent across schools, presumably to save money. One popular item is Pizza Pi, small individual pizzas. Many university locations serve Ritazza coffee.
Recently the company has attempted to defend itself against possible concerns about its food's nutritional value by introducing the "Balanced Choices" brand, highlighting healthier food options, without denying the rights of others to potentially unhealthy options.
[edit] Criticism
The U.S. National Education Association has compiled a number of alleged health and labor incidents associated with private foodservice operators, of which two are related to Chartwells; the organization opposes privatized support services in schools.
