McDonald's representatives plan meeting with RPS

The McDonald's Corp. is scheduled to make a presentation to Residential Programs and Services and IU's Meal Plan Committee Friday concerning McDonald's contract with IU, which will expire after the 2006-07 school year.\nThe meeting will be at 2:30 p.m. in the large conference room of the RPS building at 801 N. Jordan Ave. The meeting will be open to the public.\nThough no decision will be reached Friday, both RPS and McDonald's officials are hoping the presentation will help IU representatives learn more about the options available to them in this situation.\nAfter the presentation, the Meal Plan Committee, which is comprised of both student and RPS representatives, will take a vote and make a recommendation to RPS whether to pursue another contract with McDonald's or consider other options, said RPS Executive Director Pat Connor.\nThe final decision, however, will be left to RPS directors. They are "not even close" to making a decision, Connor said, because they will not have to sign a contract until sometime during the 2006-07 school year.\nRight now RPS' first priority is not to decide how to fill the space in Read Center, but instead whether or not it wants to be the franchise owner of whichever restaurant will be in Read, Connor said. \nUnder a franchise agreement, IU would be licensed to sell McDonald's products in exchange for paying a certain percentage of its sales back to McDonald's. In the current contract with McDonald's, 10 percent of every meal point purchase at the restaurant goes back to RPS, and the University receives no income from cash sales.\nBecoming a franchise owner is a more attractive option to RPS than it was 10 years ago since the organization now has 10 years of experience working with corporations under its belt and is currently the franchise owner of Taco John's in Gresham Food Court in Foster Quad, Connor said. \nConnor also said there are more major chain restaurants interested in doing businesses on college campuses than there were 10 years ago when IU signed its contract with McDonald's.\nAfter the RPS directors make that decision, they will proceed to see which corporations would be interested in such an arrangement, meaning McDonald's is still a possibility.\nBob Lach, the site acquisition manager for the Indianapolis region McDonald's Corp., said in an e-mail statement that McDonald's would like to continue to operate on campus and it is "looking forward to the opportunity to have dialogue with the students of Indiana University." \n"We have enjoyed serving our customers and the community for the past 10 years, and we are excited about the prospect of extending our contract," he said in his statement.\nMcDonald's, however, might not be willing to make RPS a franchise owner, said Roland Long, the owner of all Bloomington McDonald's franchises and a former McDonald's Corp. employee.\n"Historically, McDonald's does not franchise to anyone other than an individual person," he said. "They do not license to corporations or facilities. Any deviation from that would be highly unusual."\nLong said McDonald's hasn't made a group a franchise owner in the past because it "believe(s) in having a very active on-premise owner-operator" and just one individual to speak with instead of a whole group.\nThough he will not handle any contract negotiation personally, Long thinks RPS and McDonald's have "enjoyed a good two-way relationship" and said the presentation will be "based around the idea of getting an extension or a new contract for continuing operation at Read Center." \nIf the McDonald's contract is renewed or renegotiated, the chain also has requests of IU, said Kathy Bodle, the manager of the Read Center McDonald's.\nBodle said the lobby would need to be redone and equipment would need to be replaced. The company "has a lot of questions" concerning these issues because a great deal of money would need to be reinvested, she said.\nBut McDonald's and RPS will not be the only ones considered in this issue. Presidents from each residence hall have helped the Residence Hall Association "put (its) feelers out" by talking to students and getting their opinions on the issue, said RHA President Owen Sutkowski. \nAt last Wednesday's Presidents' Council meeting, seven of the 10 residence hall presidents who attended the meeting reported their residents thought RPS should pursue a different food vendor or at least renegotiate the terms of the contract. Of the three presidents in the minority, one reported students definitely want to keep McDonald's, one had received mixed opinions and one had not yet discussed the issue with students.\nAnna Saraceno, the president of Collins Living-Learning Center, received mixed opinions from students. She said students liked the fact that McDonald's is cheap and quick and some liked the food. Others, however, told her they wanted a healthier alternative. \nSeveral of the presidents who reported students were not in favor of renewing the McDonald's contract said students were concerned about health and financial issues.\nSutkowski said he and most of the presidents will be at the McDonald's presentation so they can get all the information possible before forming an opinion. Regardless, RHA's main goals are to provide healthy options for students that are still "grab-and-go" and to have a nationally recognized chain, he said.\nSaraceno, along with many others, thinks something will need to change whether or not McDonald's stays.\n"Whether or not students would like McDonalds to stay at IU, almost everyone agrees that the current contract with McDonald's is not beneficial," she said.