After 19 years UB is ending its vendor contract with Pepsi and switching to Coca-Cola products.
Despite inflation, students and other consumers will not experience price increases with this transition.
This change has been in progress for the past three years, after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Raymond Kohl, Director of Campus Dining and Shops.
SUNY campuses are obligated to uphold a public bidding process for food and beverage related services. This bidding process includes a committee of students, UB Athletics, UB Sustainability, FSA management and board members, who review and vote on company proposals to decide which products will be sold on campus.
Coca-Cola submitted a solicited request to UB before the pandemic. The committee approved the decision in January after the initial delay.
UB solicits requests every five to ten years, giving new companies the opportunity to sell their products on campus.
Members vote on each company’s package presentation—and the company with the highest scores receives an offer. After the pandemic subsided, the committee officially put their votes into action this past January, making UB a Coca-Cola campus.
Kayla Estrada is a senior news editor and can be reached at kayla.estrada@ubspectrum.com
Kayla Estrada is the opinion editor at The Spectrum. She is an English major who enjoys rainy weather, “Bob’s Burgers” and asking people who they voted for. When she’s not writing, she can be found hunting for odd-looking knick-knacks at the nearest thrift store.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
