The University is seeking proposals from suppliers of soft drinks and other bottled and fountain beverages to become the primary beverage supplier for its Dining and Campus Store locations on the main campus in Columbia. Current Dining Locations are provided on Attachment A of the Solicitation. The University has three Campus Store locations that sell refreshments in the University Union (Russell House), the Law School, and the Byrnes Building. The University reserves the right to add, remove, or relocate any locations throughout the life of this contract. 1. Exclusions: a. To ensure customer satisfaction with the services provided by both the Dining and Campus Store operations, the University reserves the right to provide a mixture of 80% of the products offered in these locations to its primary provider and 20% to other providers designated by the University and its Dining and Campus Store service providers. The 20% share will apply to the sale of any products that belong to the other major national brand who is not selected to be the primary partner. There may be up to 20% of these products offered or none at all. Regarding this exclusion, the University’s intent is to strongly promote and merchandise the Contractor’s product; however, we will allow up to 20% of other brands to be sold only if there is a customer requirement for such brands. b. Other exclusions are as follows: i. Current and future branded food concepts that require, or may require, a specific beverage supplier (i.e. Chick Fil A homemade lemonade), whereas the University is not privy to outside agreements, which may exist for those entities. ii. Tea and coffee, which is brewed by the University’s Dining and/or Campus Store contractor. iii. Catering exclusions such as milk and juice as described here-in. Note: Where beverages are provided for Catering Services, the customer will ultimately make the choice of beverages in the catering environment. The primary partner’s products will be provided unless there is a specific customer demand for a different brand. iv. Unique products where Offeror cannot provide equal or same product requested by the University’s contractor. 2. Campus Dining Program: The University of South Carolina operates an extensive dining program for students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. The Carolina Food Co. provides patrons with safe and enjoyable experiences for each service; and takes into consideration the growing number of customers with food allergies and special dietary needs. The Carolina Food Co. is dedicated to reducing our environmental footprint and has an onsite sustainability coordinator and dietitian who leads the charge for responsible sourcing, waste minimization, healthy eating, and wellness. Currently, the campus has over 40 distinct places providing meal service options as listed on Attachment A. Additional information about the campus dining program can be found at https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/dining_services/index.php. For FY25, sales for meal plan and retail usage of the dining facilities totaled approximately $57 million. For the year, there were $1.03 million in purchases of beverage products in all dining facilities. On average there were 20,000 daily customers in the collective dining venues on campus during Fall and Spring semesters. In addition to the campus dining locations, the dining contract also provides catering services for the campus community. There are certain exceptions to the exclusivity of the catering business on campus depending upon the source of funds that are used in paying for the event. Catering and camps/conference sales for the last fiscal year were $2.6 million. The University’s dining services are provided through an exclusive dining contract that is procured under the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code. The current contract was awarded to Aramark Educational Services, LLC in 2017 and expires on June 30, 2032. 3. Campus Store Operation: The University also operates a Campus Store under an exclusive contract with Barnes and Noble College Booksellers, Inc. This contract was procured under the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code and expires April 30, 2028. The Campus Store operates a total of four locations: the Russell House Student Union, the Byrnes Building, the Law School, and the Gameday Store. Refreshments are not sold at the Gameday Store location. The square footage that will be allotted for the sale of bottled beverages is as follows: The Russell House Student Union – 6 square feet with 1 glass front door The Byrnes Building – 6 square feet with 1 glass front door The Law School - 6 square feet with 1 counter top glass front and 1 half size glass front
