Pomona Dining Chief Abruptly Leaves After Series of Controversies

Jose Martinez. (Photo Credit: Pomona Comms)

Pomona College has parted ways with Dining Services General Manager Jose Martinez after a series of controversial decisions and years of staffing woes. A spokesperson for the college confirmed to the Independent that Martinez “is no longer employed by Pomona College.”

Martinez had been at the head of Pomona’s dining operations since 2018. In the last four years, Dining Services has struggled to maintain consistent hours, especially at non-dining-hall locations like the Coop Restaurant and Cafe 47. Martinez consistently blamed staffing issues, yet did not appear to increase the overall number of dining staff, as confirmed by his superior, Assistant Vice President of Facilities and Campus Services Robert Robinson, in an interview with the Independent earlier this month. 

The inconsistent schedules of the Coop Fountain and Cafe 47, which are in part staffed by student workers, were a main factor in the decision of dining’s student workers to join UNITE HERE Local 11, the dining workers’ union, in 2024.

More recently, Pomona students have pushed back against changes to Pomona’s student dining plan that reduced the number of swipes Pomona students could use at other campuses from 14 to 10. Many students, alongside Pomona’s student government, ASPC, pointed out that other campuses' dining halls provided better options for students with dietary restrictions. The changes were reversed last week.

Martinez’s final error may have been the decision to shut down Milk and Honey, a student-run boba tea shop that ran out of Cafe 47 two evenings a week since 2016. Student managers received an email on Sept. 10 at 10:41 am requesting they appear at an 11:00 am meeting. There, they were informed by Martinez that Dining Services, which provided funding and access to Cafe 47, would be closing the operation down.

Martinez blamed the ongoing student boycott of Cafe 47 over its contract with Nestle to serve Starbucks products, which has reportedly cut into revenue at the coffeeshop by 50%. Martinez also reportedly told Milk and Honey staff that the boba shop “made more money in three hours than Cafe 47 makes in twelve.”

According to an email sent to students by the President of ASPC, Pomona’s student government, Milk and Honey “consistently recoups their cost of labor, and only required $6170.45 in supplemental funding from dining last year.” The closure was reversed less than a week later by Robinson, but no timeline has been given for when Milk and Honey will reopen. Robinson told ASPC senators that he was not informed about Martinez’s plans to shutter the boba shop. Robinson declined to comment on this story.

“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on individual personnel matters,” a college spokesperson told the Independent in a statement. “Moving forward, the College is committed to a search that can identify an experienced leader who can support Dining Services into its next era.”