For nearly two decades, Trinity Food Services served meals to state prisoners in Arizona. Then on Sept. 30, 2024, another company named Aramark replaced Trinity.

In my experience, Trinity provided consistent meals, but the food was often mediocre, tasteless and unsatisfying. Five months after Aramark was established as the vendor, I surveyed 100 incarcerated people on the change. About 65% of respondents considered Aramark the better food service vendor. Trinity got 24% of votes, while another 11% believed neither had done a consistently good job. Even though Aramark received good remarks, myself and others have encountered several problems early in the rollout of Aramark’s food service.

Robert Macek, who has served six years in state prisons, said he has preferred Aramark.

“The quality of the food is noticeably better,” he said. “The bread is not full of seeds and sticks, the fruit is fresh, and the meat product is not full of filler. The variety is better.” 

Still, there is room for improvement. As a kitchen worker, I’ve seen Aramark staff display a lack of consistency when it comes to food preparation and portions. 

Three weeks after Aramark’s debut, the kitchen in one prison unit shut down due to an equipment issue. A whole kitchen remodel was required because the equipment Trinity used to prepare food was different from Aramark’s. The renovation took longer than expected and happened alongside training prison staff to cook a whole new set of menu items.

As a result, food preparations were conducted at neighboring prisons on the campus, which pushed back meal times in our prison. Breakfast, regularly scheduled at 5 a.m., was sometimes served as late as 10 a.m. Dinner was the only meal that arrived close to its 7 p.m. slot. These dinners were much easier to prepare than hot meals because they were served in sacks that contained four tortillas or slices of bread, two ounces of peanut butter and packaged animal cookies.

Another persistent issue for Aramark has been food portions. Macek and John Rogus, another person I surveyed, said amounts were smaller than the nutrition guidelines set by Arizona’s prison system. After the most recent menu update in June, I have witnessed a reduction in meal portions: Trays went from three pancakes to two and two biscuits to one.

Even before Aramark, portions were a topic of heated debate. Prisoners who noticed any signs of inconsistency have challenged prison and kitchen staff. I have observed residents throw trays back into the meal-serving window to contest the amount of chicken, or other meal items like meatloaf and pizza. This was particularly true on chicken days. 

Still, when it comes to presentation, Aramark has done much better than Trinity.

“The old menu featured food that would’ve insulted animals,” Macek said.