Information provided through Iowa's Workforce Development said Sodexo, which has provided food services on Luther College's campus, filed notice of 130 layoffs expected to take effect June 30. Luther opened its food services up for proposals in the fall of 2024. Bill Smith, vice president of communications at Luther, said whether the incoming food service vendor offers employment to the 130 affected employees is not the college's decision to make, but he said the state's recent report may not have the impact the numbers might seem to infer. (Photo courtesy of Luther College)
Luther to release more information in coming weeks
Information from Iowa Workforce Development recently showed Sodexo — which currently provides food services for Luther College in Decorah — expects to layoff 130 employees as part of an expected closure this summer.
“Luther College is in the final stages of a lengthy (request for proposal) process related to the contract for its campus food service operations,” the college said in a statement Thursday, April 3. “The college anticipates having more news to share in the coming two weeks.”
Sodexo has managed Luther’s food services since approximately 2009, according to college officials, and the company’s most recent 10-year contract with Luther expired in 2024. The college began accepting applications in the fall of 2024 from other vendors interested in providing the campus’ food services.
“We got responses from multiple vendors,” said Bill Smith, Luther’s vice president of communications, later adding the process is common to many college campuses across the country. “We evaluated them. We had finalists. We interviewed. It was a process that was several months long.”
Smith also said Sodexo agreed to extend its contract with Luther by one year in order to help college officials avoid rushing the proposal process while Luther was in the midst of hiring a new finance director.
Sodexo submitted notification to state officials regarding its expected change in service on March 13, as required by Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification — or WARN — Act. The layoffs are expected to take effect as of June 30. Information from Iowa Workforce Development indicated federal requirements also instruct businesses with at least 100 employees to provide notice of mass layoffs at least 60 days in advance — Sodexo employs approximately 104,000 people in the United States and provides food services and facilities management to clients in 3,400 locations across the country, according to the company’s website. Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN log shows the last mass layoff reported in Winneshiek County occurred in early 2021, when Collins Aerospace decreased its Decorah location’s staff by approximately 30 people.
Smith said Luther can’t speak to whether the college’s incoming food services provider will hire the 130 employees notified of the pending layoffs, noting the decision is not the college’s to make, but he indicated the recent state report may have caused the Decorah community some unnecessary heartburn.
“The impact will not be what people may infer initially,” Smith said. “We’ll have more that we can share soon.”
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