DePaul dining employees rallied outside the Lincoln Park student center on Tuesday, Oct. 7, after the university announced that a new food service company will replace its longtime provider, Chartwells Higher Ed.

Chartwells employees picketed and handed out information on the corner of Belden Avenue and Sheffield Avenue with their union, Unite Here Local 1. Community members and students also joined.

Starting in December 2025, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality will be DePaul’s new dining services provider. Current Chartwells employees will need to reapply to their jobs through Aramark in order to stay. 

Ariana Goode has worked for Chartwells at DePaul for 13 years. Despite her familiarity with the community, she feels unsure about working for Aramark.

“Why should we have to reapply for the jobs that we’ve been doing for years?” Goode said.

Unite Here Local 1 represents about 108 food service workers employed by Chartwells at DePaul. They launched a petition calling on the university to cancel the contract with Aramark due to uncertainty about whether current employees will be retained.

Tiffany Perez has worked as a cashier for Chartwells on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus for the last 25 years. The reasons for the protest were to fight for respect, job security and to stand with their union, she said.

“Right now, the tension is really high,” Perez said. “Everyone is nervous with anxiety about the uncertainty. The whole thing is to make sure that we have a job, that we are employed.”

Perez plans on reapplying to Aramark to make sure she keeps steady employment and to stay in the DePaul community, whom she considers to be like family.

“When these young people come to DePaul, they’re away from home,” Perez said. “They’re trying to figure out who they are. So in the process, what we do, we’d be able to give them some type of sense of comfort, security.” 

Goode also feels the dining employees have a special bond with the students.

“I know my regular customers,” Goode said. “They come in and I know their orders by heart. It just feels good to serve them and know what they want and get them out the door, especially when they got to go to class and stuff.”

The new partnership with Aramark will launch as Blue Demon Hospitality, a student-centered dining experience initiative, according to a Sept. 11 announcement.

Among the changes are an Eat to Excel program, Grubhub Ultimate mobile ordering and inclusive dining options, which include kosher and halal options and allergen-friendly stations.

DePaul members can expect a smooth transition, the announcement said. There will be no changes to meal plan pricing during the academic year, and Aramark will host multiple town hall meetings to get to know current employees and walk them through the hiring process.

“We recognize Chartwells employees are important members of our university community,” said Kristin Claes Mathews, senior director of strategic communications at university communications. “The university’s dining service provider employs the dining workers at DePaul who are members of UNITE HERE Local 1. DePaul does not have a role in negotiating the union contract between the dining service providers and their employees.”

Aramark will hire all of those who successfully complete the onboarding process, according to Mathews.

Aramark processed 98 union employees and 11 supervisors so far, said Kelli Steckbauer, Aramark’s director of business development.

Goode hopes that DePaul officials who have a say in the issue will “do the right thing” and consider current Chartwells workers’ years of service.

“They know what’s going on,” Goode said. “They know how hard we work to build this contract that we currently have.” 

Jake Cox contributed to this report. 

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