Based on the current data and search results, I can see that the original UK-Aramark contract was signed in 2014 for 15 years (which would end around 2029), but was later extended to 20 years in 2018. The recent headline mentions Aramark ending services at UK after June 30, but the search results don't provide specific details about what UK plans to do next. Let me craft a response with what's available:

I heard that Aramark is ending its contract with U-K and hundreds of food service workers will lose their jobs. Will the university bring those services in-house, or are they planning to hire a different company to handle dining on campus?

That's right, Aramark Campus has announced they'll be ending their food and concession services at U-K after June thirty. This is actually pretty significant because the university signed that original fifteen-year, nearly two hundred fifty million dollar contract with Aramark back in twenty fourteen, and it was later extended to twenty years in late twenty eighteen. So this is happening well before that contract was supposed to end.

That's a lot of people potentially out of work. Do we know what the university's planning to do?

The university hasn't announced their next steps yet, but they really have three main options here. They could bring dining services back in-house like they had before twenty fourteen, they could contract with a different food service company, or they could do some kind of hybrid approach. What makes this particularly complicated is the scale we're talking about. Aramark has been responsible for everything within the dining program, including cafés, food courts, convenience markets, athletic venues, coffee shops and catering. Plus, there's that whole Food Connection program they set up with the College of Agriculture that's been sourcing local Kentucky products.

So this affects way more than just the dining halls.

Exactly. And historically, when U-K made that original switch to Aramark, current U-K employees with dining, about one hundred ten people, had the opportunity to remain university employees with the same salary and benefits. Whether the university extends similar protections this time around, or how they'll handle the transition, we'll have to wait and see. But given how integrated Aramark became with campus operations, this is going to be a pretty massive undertaking to sort out.

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