Brenau University and Aramark Corp. entered into a long-term contract for Aramark to assume responsibilities for all facilities maintenance services at the university.
David Barnett, executive vice president and CFO for the university, said the arrangement will provide immediate benefit for the institution by enabling it to establish a fixed expense for maintenance in future years and reduce the rate of escalating costs for the upkeep of the 138-year-old institution’s buildings and grounds.
“As we have expanded our operations in Gainesville and other cities,” said Barnett, “it has been a challenge to keep up with escalating costs for maintenance and to manage the unpredictability of the rate of growth in our expenses. Aramark will invest in our community not only with new equipment, services and techniques, but also with additional personnel. We believe these enhancements will serve our employees and students. This agreement will provide us some long-term savings in managing the growth in costs while providing the additional levels of service for our employees and students.”
The agreement also takes care of existing employees. Under terms of the agreement, all of the employees in the university’s facilities maintenance department will become Aramark employees with at least the same salary and benefits they have at Brenau – plus additional benefits, career growth opportunities and job security associated with their working for a large multinational corporation. In addition, Aramark has agreed to add additional personnel dedicated to the Brenau team over the next two years.
Aramark already has a long-standing relationship with Brenau for custodial and food services. The company works with a number of other colleges and universities in Georgia, including the University of North Georgia, Georgia Gwinnett College, Berry College, Mercer University, Spelman College and Valdosta State University.
“We have received good service from the company in the past,” said Barnett, “and they were the best and most logical choice for this new assignment. Aramark employees interact seamlessly with everybody else on our campus and are very much a part of the Brenau family.”
The agreement covers Brenau operations in Gainesville, where the university has three locations on its historic campus and in leased facilities and will soon open a fourth location with completed construction of an athletics park. The university also operates in Georgia within leased space in Augusta and the metro Atlanta cities of Norcross and Fairburn, as well as in Jacksonville, Florida.
Aramark Corp., based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, provides food, facilities and uniform services to education, health care, business and industry, sports and leisure and corrections clients throughout the United States, Canada and in 19 additional countries around the world. With more than $15 billion in annual sales, in 2015 Aramark was the 21st largest company on the Fortune 500 list.