Food Services

Florida Atlantic University (FAU), located in Palm Beach County, Florida, is issuing an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) for comprehensive food services management across its Boca Raton and Jupiter campuses. The procurement seeks an experienced contractor to operate residential dining programs, retail food outlets, catering services, athletics concessions, and conference/camp food services, with exclusive rights granted except for catering at the Eleanor R. Baldwin House (the president's residence). The successful vendor must demonstrate an established record in higher education food services, substantial financial capacity for significant investment and commission funding, and sufficient staffing to manage daily operations plus increased demands for game days and large events. Key deliverables include managing mandatory meal plans for approximately 2,906-2,956 students at Boca Raton and 355-426 at Jupiter, operating athletics concessions at major venues including Flagler Credit Union Stadium (30,000 capacity) and Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena, and providing diverse menu options across all service categories. The financial package must include capital investment, per-day meal plan rates based on participant numbers, athletics commissions, and may include sponsorships, scholarships, and in-kind services. The ITN evaluation will utilize a competitive process based on written responses, reference checks from five higher education accounts, management team interviews, site visits at the University's discretion, and best and final offers (BAFOs) that cannot be withdrawn within ninety days, with award made to the responsive and responsible proposer deemed most advantageous to FAU. The proposal due date is April 17, 2026, with all questions directed to Sean Cunningham, Procurement Coordinator, at scunning@fau.edu, and proposers required to submit through FAU's electronic sourcing system at https://fau.bonfirehub.com/. The contract structure provides for an initial seven-year term with two renewal options (seven years and six years respectively), totaling up to 20 years of potential operations.

The procurement documents do not specify set-aside designations or restrictions on organizational type; however, interested vendors must maintain all required federal and state certifications, disclose any conflicts of interest involving university employees, and file non-segregated facilities certificates if expecting $10,000 or more in orders during the first 12 months, along with EEO-1 forms if expecting $50,000 or more and employing more than 50 people. No incumbent vendor is identified in the solicitation materials. All beverages must be Coca-Cola products under FAU's existing exclusive beverage contract, and the selected contractor must be the sole entity permitted to sell or serve alcohol on campus. Historical revenue data reveals substantial financial opportunity: total food services revenues for fiscal year July 2024-June 2025 reached $10,325,438.38 ($6,672,986.32 in retail sales and $3,652,452.06 in catering), while athletics revenues totaled $1,969,256.63 for the same period, with preliminary data for July 2025-January 2026 showing $6,775,559.52 in food services revenue and $1,667,538.08 in athletics revenue. The University does not pay federal excise and sales taxes on direct purchases and retains all meal plan revenues, paying the contractor a per-day-per-participant rate. No specific award value or pricing information is disclosed in the ITN conditions, though the substantial revenue base and multi-year contract structure indicate significant financial opportunity for the selected vendor. Payment shall be made according to FAU Policy 4.1 - Prompt Payment, with invoices submitted in detail sufficient for audit and marked with the related purchase order number.