When it was announced last week that Holy Cow, the EMU’s organic restaurant, would be replaced by Laughing Planet Café, a lot of die-hard Holy Cow patrons were upset. A lot of the uproar certainly came as part of the shock of unexpectedly losing a campus landmark, but the loss of Holy Cow and the expected arrival of Laughing Planet both highlight the changes that customers, small businesses, administrations and food-chain corporations all have to adjust to.
Some say that the upsurge in concern for green local and sustainable businesses and goods may be only a passing fad, hijacked by aggressive companies in their marketing campaigns, but there is a lot of evidence that real bottom-dollar decisions are being made on how businesses line up against these criteria, and the fate of Holy Cow is exactly that.
Being organic or filling a vegan or vegetarian niche is no longer good enough for any business, local or franchise, to be able to handle all the pressures brought on by an economic downturn and the need for a green and sustainable image. All of our local Eugene businesses, and all of us as local Eugene customers, need to take note of what happened to Holy Cow as a result of these pressures and the criteria that the EMU committee that oversees food services used to determine what vendor would be best suited to serve the needs of students, campus and the EMU.
While Holy Cow had two back-to-back five-year leases, this did not guarantee that the restaurant would win the new lease, as a first five-year lease has an option for only one five-year renewal. According to EMU Food Service Director John Costello, Oregon state regulations require that as such a lease ends a new call for proposals for the space must be conducted. So because leases are not renewable past 10 years, any business already occupying an EMU food court space has to compete with all others who would also like to take out a lease on the space.
In order to find the best fit for the next lease on the vegan/vegetarian space in the EMU, the committee, along with Costello, measured each of the prospective vendors, including Holy Cow, against a set of criteria that reflects the current economic and environmental concerns. These included looking for a vendor with a menu that was oriented to vegan and vegetarian fare, using organic and local products. The criteria also specified that the vendor be able to show its professional and sustainable business practices, a record of success with its customer base, and a vision for the future and plan to draw in new customers.
So while we may feel frustrated with the EMU for replacing a valued local business with a chain restaurant, we’ve got to take the whole picture into consideration. It may be that Laughing Planet just looks good on paper and is really just a heartless franchise, but at the same time, if we really value the other independent and local businesses on and near campus we’ve got to encourage them to get with the times, and quick.
Hippie goodness and old-fashioned business practices have to pick up on the hawkish side of sustainable business if they’re going to survive the next 10 years. And we want them to, but in cases of highly prized lease space, karma can’t beat the bottom line of aggressive practices and selling more tofu better than the next gal.