Long Beach City College started off the 2022 fall semester with the added pressure to find alternative food services in the wake of S&B Foods dissolving their contract with the school immediately.
The contract termination was revealed to LBCC only two weeks ago and resulted in the closure of the cafeteria in the E building on the LAC campus.
Robert Rapoza, Director of Business Support Services worked very closely with the owner of S&B foods Dave McDonald and stated, “S&B foods did a great job providing healthy alternatives.”
Rapoza admits that he has a lot of respect for McDonald as he worked hand in hand with the school helping to employ special needs persons on campus.
Even with the surprise nature of the event, the administration has been swift to instill alternative food options that can parallel and hopefully excel beyond what had previously been offered on campus.
While this may seem like a setback, Rapoza chooses to see this in a different light saying, “When we take it as a whole and look at it differently, food trucks, Farmer Fridge, ect., match and exceed what was offered. This will open a new portal of food for students.”
This process may have come at a good time for LBCC as Building E is set to be remodeled in the fall semester of 2023. This would have led to a change in pace regarding food options either way.
These alternatives are a temporary fix to fill the gap between now and the time when the cafeteria may open back up again.
An email from LBCC went out late last week stating that fresh food vending machines operated by Farmer Fridge will be installed on both campuses. These will be in Building E at LAC, and Building GG at PCC. According to the email sent out, fresh meals can be provided for $8.99 – $9.99.
Food trucks will also be implemented around campus. LAC brought in its first food truck on Tuesday in parking lot G. The truck featured Bunz Gourmet Burgers.
Each Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., a different variety of food will be offered.
However, these meals range on the expensive side when it comes to college campus meals. Tuesday’s food truck showed its least expensive item being $15, and the most expensive coming in at $22 per meal.
Both LAC and PCC locations have reopened their Viking Express stocked with grab and go items, sandwiches, cold drinks, and others. These coolers can also be found in the bookstore.
In an email from the college LBCC says, “These locations are already stocked with snack items like chips and crackers, as well as cereal and instant ramen containers.”
However, in a chaotic turn of events, the Viking Express store at the LAC campus was closed Tuesday due to an ant infestation, but reopened the next day.
Needless to say, there are a multitude of options for students to find food around campus.
Student Luna Trejo, while looking at the Bunz Gourmet Burgers menu on Tuesday says, “I would rather eat food truck food than cafeteria food anyways.”
Unfortunately Rapoza shared that S&B foods is struggling to find revenue. A post from McDonald’s LinkedIn confirms that they are closed indefinitely.
These impromptu circumstances have been matched with speedy solutions and have hopes to bring outcomes that only benefit the students further.