The ASU has been, and continues to be a democratically elected body, that makes democratic decisions based on student feedback.  Recently, it has been brought to the attention of the Executive that some confusion exists around the prospect of opening a Tim Horton's in the SUB for the 2009-2010 academic year.

A year and a half ago, the ASU Executive created a survey on the ASU website that almost 20% of the student body responded to and concluded the following:

• Food service in the SUB should include a coffee shop, a grill/fast food concept, and a convenience store
• The hours of these operations should be reflective of the hours that students could make the most out of
• Price is very important, and that pricing should be student friendly
• Consistency was also outlined as being very important encompassing all of the above factors as well as consistency in food quality and quantity

Other questions on the survey were:

• If you had to choose a pizza provider who would it be?
• If you had to choose a coffee shop in the SUB, who would it be?

Of these two questions, a little over 60% of respondents said they would prefer Pizza Pizza to be the pizza provider of choice in the SUB.  With regards to the second question, over 90% of students said that they would prefer to have a Tim Hortons as the coffee shop in the SUB.  Choices were not given, rather students were able to type in any answer. 

After hosting the survey, the ASU then formed focus groups.  The focus groups ran over a span of two weeks.  These focus groups reaffirmed the results of the ASU survey.  The Executive then met at the beginning of the summer and decided to move forward with the results of the student consultations.

Acting on these surveys meant meeting first with Chartwells and Acadia to evaluate where their position was.  In the meetings, members of the Executive discussed the student concern over the high price of products in the SUB and the inconsistent food quality and hours of operation.  Chartwells executives informed the ASU that in order to move forward due to financial constraints, the SUB would either have Perkin's and Momo's open with the same hours of operation as two years ago (which were essentially 9-2 in Perkin's and unknown hours in Momo's) or go with the next option: Perkin's would have to be closed down and that the exact same services provided in Perkin's would be available in Momo's going forward and Momo's would open with longer hours of operation to compensate with the closure of Perkin's.  The ASU chose this option because we believed that students still wanted to have a 'coffee shop' on campus and that the longer hours of operation would be favorable. 

However, this was still unacceptable to the ASU, and shortly after this time, we had decided that we would be moving forward after this current academic year without Chartwells in the SUB.  This was confirmed by the ASU Food Committee as well as surveys performed this year by Acadia University and Chartwells where no food service operation in the SUB scored above a 50% approval rating. 

Upon making this decision, the ASU held more focus groups that dealt with creating a vision statement for food services in the building.  While keeping in mind the results of the survey, the ASU Executive outlined the following:

• A Pizza Pizza may not be possible due to the outlying contract with Chartwells, so the ASU may have to look elsewhere
• A Tim Hortons was the coffee shop of choice going forward due to the open process of a survey, focus groups and general feedback
• The convenience store had been self-operated before, and the ASU felt that this was possible to do again
• Student employment is necessary in all ASU operations
• The grill line should provide better service to the Axe, lower its prices, and consider using vegetables from the Acadia Community Farm (at this point the farm was in its infancy)

Now that criteria were set based on ASU consultation with students, we decided to move forward with these projects.  This part of the process began in September 2008.  The Executive began talks with Tim Hortons at this time, but because of the nature of business deals these conversations had to remain private until such a time when they could become public.  From September until December the Executive had begun the contact process with the local franchisee.  After the winter holiday, the Executive were approached by executives from Tim Hortons in the SUB where they had an opportunity to evaluate the space.  Within weeks, the ASU Executive were sent a letter of intent to operate a Tim Hortons franchise, owned by a local franchisee, in the SUB.  The Executive had also finalized plans for the new convenience store, The Union Market, and the new grill line, The Axe Handle.  They have also secured Pizza Pizza in the SUB going forward.

Due to the continued confidential nature (for legal reasons) of the letter of intent, the Executive had called for an 'in camera' session during a meeting of the Students' Representative Council, which basically means observers must leave the room and what is said in the council chambers is not to be repeated once the councilors leave.  The Executive had informed councilors, all of which are elected by you, of what had transpired.  They were asked for any immediate concerns, as well as to collect any feedback or concerns that students may have over the next couple of weeks and to report that back to any member of the executive.  Seeing as how no issues were brought forward, the Executive signed off on the letter of intent indicating that they approved of the terms of the contract which will mean more money for student programming and the Student Activities Fund, hours that span 8am to 11pm Monday through Friday and 10am to 11pm on weekends, consistent pricing and quality that is available throughout the country as well as student employment.  Along with the other ASU food service operations, the ASU will be able to put more money into student initiatives than ever before.  

With all of this in mind, the ASU has responded to a process that all students were invited to partake in.  While some folks have called for an open forum, there have been open forums available for students.  As an example, last year, Kyle Steele ran an election campaign on buying out Chartwells and pursuing a Tim Hortons in the SUB.  This election included a debate where all students were allowed to ask questions of his platform - no issues were presented with regards to the Tim Hortons proposal. There was another election this year, where no SUB food service questions were brought in front of candidates.

At this point in time, to reverse the decision of the ASU would mean going back to square one, and would mean that there is a potential for no coffee shop in the SUB next year, potentially longer.  The ASU realizes that this is not a favorable option for Acadia students.  This process would have to be started all over again, and by that time there will be new students here, as there are now, who were not part of the process and who may not agree with the results.  The ASU Executive realizes that this is a democratic form of student government and that is almost always impossible to please every student with every decision made.  However, being part of this democracy is something that the ASU is very proud of.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Kyle Steele, ASU President, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .