By July, Genuine Foods’ contract will be officially terminated with Long Beach City College at both Pacific Coast Campus and the Liberal Arts Campus.
Genuine Foods supplies eateries on both PCC and LAC such as the Carson & Clark and the Viking Express.
“As far as we know we’re going to have to find new jobs. The pay here was really good, and I barely make enough money as it is, so it’s going to be a struggle for me, especially with the bills. I’m still proud of what my team and I did here, ” said Timothee Konthear Chin, lead chef for Carson & Clark.
The contract’s termination is the result of Genuine Foods not meeting their terms in contract, specifically at LAC.
The mobile kitchens had been set up since the beginning of the spring semester months ago, but opened just last month.
It was unknown for a while as to why it took so long to open, but it was revealed that the location needed more fixing to be done to be up to code.
“The health department came to check on the trailer, and they saw it wasn’t up to code so we took the time to fix things,” Timothee Konthear Chin, lead chef for Carson & Clark said.
Current workers were not informed of why they were terminated.
According to Raymond “Chip” West, LBCC’s Vice President of Administrative and Business Services it was Genuine Foods’ responsibility to tell their workers that the contract was terminated.
“We can’t communicate with the (Genuine Foods) workers as per the Genuine Foods contract,” West said.
The current workers were not informed of why they were terminated, as they were only told when their last day would be.
“It might’ve been my company (Genuine Foods) that dropped the ball but Genuine Foods wasn’t even the ones to tell us,” Chin said.
According to Chin, the only reason they are aware they were terminated was because of an email sent by the Associated Student Body at LBCC.
“It really sucks, because I was really committed to being at this place, and it’s perfect because I live in Long Beach, the hours are great, and the days are too. I’ve been doing this for fifteen years and the customers just liking my food was enough for me,” Chin said.
Carson & Clark is expected to remain open until the E Building renovations are completed in fall 2027.
“Our plan is to continue to operate in this location until the new Building E is completed. The new building E will have food services, catering and other operations to support students.We anticipate a fall 2027 opening, and we are currently transitioning our food service operators,” said West.
The new food distributors, Integrated Food Services will be taking over right after Genuine Foods contract ends, they also will be in charge of LAC’s new Connections Cafe that is under construction.
Cafe Connections will serve coffee, boba as well as other pastries and is projected to open in July.