CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County Council has named Summit Food Service, LLC, as its new provider of food at the jail.
Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Summit for a three-year, $18 million contract to provide jail inmates with three hot meals a day, starting Jan. 1. It replaces Trinity Services Group, the jail’s current food provider, which has long been criticized for its poor quality.
Councilman Michael Gallagher, who chairs the Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee, acknowledged the lengthy wait to find a new provider and the extra cost over the existing food contract. But he said he’s hopeful that food at the jail will now improve.
The sheriff’s department is also optimistic. Of the three companies that applied for the job, Summit Foods, which has 30 years of experience in correctional food service, “best satisfied” what the county was looking for, Jim Carbone, special assistant to Sheriff Harold Pretel, told council members during a recent committee meeting.
The other bidders were Trinity and EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute, which trains formerly incarcerated adults in food service. EDWINS owner Brandon Chrostowski previously raised objections to county council about the contract going to Summit Foods.
Carbone, during his recent comments to the council committee, didn’t explain where Trinity or EDWINS fell short in the county’s eyes.
But he noted numerous areas where Summit stood out:
- Summit offered different meal options that fit in the county’s budget.
- Summit has demonstrated experience preparing meals for large correctional facilities, including in Chicago where the population has reached more than 11,000 inmates.
- Summit offered a plan for potentially feeding staff in the jail in the future. “It tasted pretty good,” Carbone said of the meal he tested.
- Summit provides internal oversight of meal services, which Carbone said the county felt is “critical in the event of staffing shortages or other operational complications.”
Summit’s oversight arm comes on top of the county’s required food contract monitor, who will oversee daily staffing and kitchen sanitation and ensure meals are delivered warm and timely, Carbone said.
Summit was one of three bidders who vied for the county’s jail food contract back in 2019, sheriff staff told council. But sheriff staff said the county chose to go with Trinity Services Group, even after rebidding the contract after learning about the company’s problems in other jails, based on the recommendation of then-jail administrator Ronda Gibson, who had worked with the company before.
Trinity’s service has been fraught with problems since. For the last two years, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer has reported on complaints that Trinity’s food is low quality and how its sister company, Keefe Commissary Network, significantly increased prices on the commissary items that inmates used to supplement their diets as the meal service declined.
The county continued to extend Trinity’s contract while it worked to find a new provider.
Prior to the contract being formally approved, the county declined to release the scoring sheets to cleveland.com that show why it recommended Summit as the best option. But spokeswoman Kelly Woodard defended in an emailed statement that Summit was chosen for its ability “to meet or exceed” state standards for nutrition.
“Summit Food Service is the company best positioned to provide this critical service to those in our care, with the appropriate safeguards to maintain safe and nutritious food service,” Woodard said.
Chrostowski, of EDWINS, continues to protest the pick. In a recent letter shared with council and cleveland.com, he accused the county of prioritizing cost over people by “choosing the lowest bidder over a partner who is willing to invest wholeheartedly in the well-being of our county and the future of our county.”
His proposal not only sought to feed inmates, but also to start training them in the culinary arts, similar to the service he provides in the juvenile detention center, as well as at his businesses, EDWINS Too, EDWINS Butcher Shop and EDWINS Bakery.
“I urge the county to re-evaluate its priorities and recognize the invaluable role that education and empowerment play in strengthening our community,” Chrostowski’s letter said.
Gallagher said he did not see Chrostowski’s letter prior to recommending Summit’s contract in committee, but he said it wouldn’t have made a difference for his vote. He doesn’t agree with using jail inmates as kitchen staff, noting it was one of the issues that led to problems with Trinity’s service.
On average, those charged in the county stay no more than a month in jail, Gallagher said. Many are out in a few days. That’s not enough time to teach a skill, he argued, and those who are staying longer are accused of serious violent crimes that he believes make it unsafe for them to work in the kitchen.
“They’re treating it like a prison, where people stay longer and you can do some of these things,” Gallagher criticized. “We are not a prison; we’re a county jail.”