The North Carolina-based Compass Group USA won the contract to supply vending machine food options in “The Hub” when the Sangamon Mass Transit District moves its fleet this summer.
The SMTD awarded the contract to the Charlotte, N.C.-based company at its December meeting.
Compass Group USA services the gamut of the dining industry from award winning restaurants, corporate cafeterias, hospitals, schools, arenas and museums. It’s vending machine division operates as Canteen.
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Compass Group USA’s website states that across its divisions the company serves 10 million meals each day.
“So chances are, if you’ve had a meal or snack while you were away from home you’ve eaten with us,” the website says.
Canteen already provides similar vending services for the Peoria Mass Transit and Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit.
Originally, a manned grab-and-go cafe was planned for the first phase of the new $86 million Springfield-Sangamon County Transportation Center that broke ground last fall. But the Cafe Advisory Committee shifted its search to a vending machine operator last year, at least until the second phase of the project is completed, which includes Amtrak’s operating center and a parking garage.
The massive center – bounded by Ninth Street on the west side, 11th Street on the east, Washington Street to the north and Monroe Street to the south – hugs the eastern border of Springfield’s downtown district.
Construction for the entire transportation center is projected to wrap up in 2025.
Canteen will provide and service vending machines for a public waiting area and employee break room at the new facility at 1000 E. Washington St., as well as an existing employee break room at the administration office at 928 S. Ninth St.
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The two-year contract runs from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 30, 2024, with the possibility of adding two single-year extensions.
Natalie Morris can be reached at 737-7254 or by email at [email protected].
