On Jan. 11, UNC released a request for proposal, known as an RFP, inviting outside companies to propose to privately manage Student Stores — and the Pit coffee shop is referenced in the document.
Brad Ives, associate vice chancellor for campus enterprises, said The Daily Grind is mentioned in the RFP because it is a privately owned company that has an existing contract with the University.
“When we’ve gone out with the RFP to look at somebody to potentially manage the stores,” Ives said. “We’ve told them we have existing contracts, so that’s why The Daily Grind is referenced in the RFP.”
In September, Matt Fajack, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said if the proposal from one company, Follett, to privatize Student Stores went through, The Daily Grind wouldn’t be affected.
Ives said Fajack’s comment was true at the time.
“What (Fajack) was saying was basically is that the contract of The Daily Grind wouldn’t be affected. We wouldn’t terminate their contract prematurely. And at that time in September, we were hoping to have the whole process done by December of last year, so The Daily Grind contract still would have been in place when somebody took over management,” Ives said.
The Daily Grind’s contract was renewed in 2015 on a one-year basis and will run through June 30 of this year, Ives said.
“We’ll have to make a decision about the renewal of The Daily Grind contract and we’ll do that like we always do. The Daily Grind doesn’t have some perpetual right to run a coffee bar at the Student Stores. It’s just a contract that the University has,” he said.
