Students will have a choice between six different meal plans next semester under a tentative compromise between representatives of campus residents and Aramark, ASU's dining provider.
Members of the Residence Hall Association's General Council expressed mixed feelings about Aramark's response to their recommendations, which five of the company's representatives presented to them Thursday night.
"I think it's definitely still a work in progress," RHA Director Jane Christie said.
Aramark agreed to add an additional meal plan type in a last-minute meeting with Christie and Bobby Cannavino, RHA's associate director of campus affairs, on Thursday morning.
The company will also reduce "meal windows" from four hours to 30 minutes. A meal window is the minimum time that has to pass between two meals for users of certain meal plans.
"We really took into consideration some great recommendations," said Sam Zamrik, Aramark's district vice president of operations.
But Aramark also rejected some of the council's proposals, such as permitting campus residents to opt out of a meal plan altogether for financial reasons.
The company also didn't want to keep the $950-a-semester M&G Plan but wants a $1,500 plan instead.
M&G Dollars can be used both at Aramark's "all-you-care-to eat" cafeterias such as Pitchforks and Manzy Square and at the company's other locations, like Devil's Diner and many Memorial Union eateries.
Brandy Heatherly, a district manager for Aramark's cafeterias, said $950 wouldn't give students enough funds to afford two meals a day for the entire semester.
"We feel like this is the mix that will best serve the student population," Zamrik said when Robert Ramirez, a council member for Palo Verde East and Palo Verde West, challenged him on the issue.
Aramark also wants RHA to choose between two of its proposals — one to offer meals to-go and the other to expand Aramark's "Meal Exchange" program, which allows students to trade in cafeteria meals for meals at other locations.
"It's one or the other. It's your choice," Zarmak told the council. "We can't offer both."
Zarmak said after the meeting that Aramark's software keeps the company from offering both options because the software would not prevent customers from using up a meal and a meal exchange within the same dining period.
"It's cost," Zarmak said. "We can't offer it all."
Michael Hunter, a council member for Palo Verde West and Palo Verde East, said he didn't understand why Aramark couldn't update their software to give customers both options.
"They're in the service industry," Hunter said. "They're a Fortune 500 company."
Cannavino said he didn't think it made sense to choose between the two options.
"I think they're fundamentally different," Cannavino said. "I don't know if I'm willing to give up one for the other."
Christie said the council will consider Aramark's response Thursday and then she expects Aramark will submit a final proposal, which the Arizona Board of Regents will vote on in March.
"What's nice is that we see that there's an open vein of communication," Cannavino said. "Now I think we're getting down to the nitty-gritty."
Reach the reporter at: andre.f.radzischewski@asu.edu.
