Maine Community College System

In December, 2015, PKC began a programmatic review of the seven colleges in the Maine Community College System. The review included site visits to each location to tour the facilities, interview key stakeholders and conduct market research with students, administrators and key stakeholders. Following the tour of the campuses and a thorough survey process for each campus, PKC delivered a report to the System’s CFO recommending the optimal strategy regarding competitively bidding the entire system’s dining program out under one contract versus having some campuses remain as individually-contracted accounts and others as self -perated accounts.

Following this recommendation, PKC returned to each campus individually to make programmatic recommendations to the key stakeholders for short- and long-term dining operations. Each campus was unique in their size, constituency, missions and needs, so PKC developed unique solutions for each campus in the system. Based on PKC’s recommendations, one of the seven campuses went out for a competitive bidding process (Eastern Maine Community College), which was completed during the summer of 2017. The process included a detailed RFP document that set a new precedent for dining quality and options on campus. The new contract resulted in additional capital money for dining renovations. The school was also able to expand their meal plan benefits, hours of operation, and improved the menu variety and selection.