Catering for Campus Events

It is the policy of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to require that food served on campus at events sponsored by university offices or departments be stored, prepared, served and disposed of in accordance with health and safety standards established by the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. 

1. Catering for events held on University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee controlled property is available through UWM Restaurant Operations [Note SAAP 03-01, sec. 6 assigns a separate authority to the School of Continuing Education (SCE for providing and dispensing all alcoholic beverages at the SCE. All catered events at the SCE will be serviced by the food vendor under contract for the facility.]  
2. Non-university caterers may be used under the following conditions:  
   1. Caterers are appropriately licensed by all governmental authorities having jurisdiction over their activities/services. 
   2. The caterer will provide a certificate of insurance as required by the UW System Risk Management Manual no less than two full business days prior to the catered event. 
   3. If university funds are used, state purchasing procedures must be followed. 
   4. The UWM Guidelines contained in SAAP 03-01 for the Service of Alcohol are strictly followed. [If alcoholic beverages are served at such events, Restaurant Operations must have exclusive authority to dispense them, unless otherwise allowed in SAAP 03-01.] 
   5.  The university sponsor of the catered event makes adequate arrangements for the safe and sanitary disposal of food waste as well as any general cleanup that is required after the event. 
   6. If the facilities of either the UWM Union or Sandburg Residence Halls are used, all catering arrangements (including those with a specific caterer) will be handled by UWM Restaurant Operations and the policies of those units will apply to all events. 
3. Safe and sanitary food storage and preparation procedures must be practiced at events such as picnics or parties sponsored by university departments and involving the on-site preparation and serving of food by university staff or student organizations. Sanitation guidelines are available through UWM Restaurant Operations. 
4. If university Staff provide food for informal events for special occasions such as birthdays, retirements or holiday parties, organizers of such events should be aware that they can be held personally liable if failure to follow reasonable procedures in preparing and serving food results in illness or injury. If university funds are used, the full provisions of this policy apply. 
5. Normal procedures for making room reservations must be followed for all catered events. The provisions of SAAP 06-05 – Use of Facilities also must be followed. 
6. Exceptions to this policy may be granted only by the chancellor. 

This policy is intended for University-supported catered events. Continuous operations, retail sales and student events are covered by other policies.

February 5, 1998

Original

September 29, 2015

Revised

April 28, 2021

Editorially Revised