Rado Petrovic works in what used to be his cafe.
Photo by Abel Lockhart
By Billie Estrine and Abram Morris
September 25th, 2024
Correction 09/26/24: Aladdin Dining does not use Halal meat on CCNY campus as of now.
CITY COLLEGE - As you walk up the escalator into the NAC Rotunda on the way to class, take a look to the right. You'll see a new Starbucks sign in what used to be Rado Petrovic's cafe. Mr. Petrovic was contracted with the City College of New York to run the NAC cafe and the second one in the Marshak building for the last seven years. Following a new contract with Aladdin Campus Dining, CCNY’s administration has cut off Mr. Petrovic’s livelihood and overlooked an important member of the campus community.
Mr. Petrovic graduated from CCNY last January with a B.A. in International Relations. In an interview with The Paper, Mr. Petrovic detailed how much appreciation the campus community has for him. “When the commencement took place on May 31st, I didn’t want to go. [Andy Rich, Dean of the Colin Powell School] persuaded me [by saying], ‘A lot of people [want you there], you have to come.’” Mr. Petrovic attended the ceremony and when he reached the stage, he continued, “Andy Rich was there and we hugged each other, the whole theater was [applauding], and it was very touching.”
Mr. Petrovic’s journey to CCNY is not a new story. He is an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia and prior to immigrating to the United States, he worked as a mechanical engineer for a Slovenian factory for 20 years. Mr. Petrovic explained that once the civil war came, “I was involved in that, they put me in jail, and I escaped that [by] coming here.” In 1992, he came to New York and opened up a cafe on 56th and Broadway. Then he opened a new cafe in the World Trade Center in 1999. After 9/11 and a four year struggle to stay afloat financially, Mr. Petrovic started a new venture.
Mr. Petrovic was able to rent a new space on Wall Street and opened a restaurant that he ran for ten years. Mr. Petrovic told The Paper that even though his small business was surrounded on both sides by corporate food services, his coffee and meals kept customers coming in daily. However, rising rents forced Mr. Petrovic out and back to Croatia. For a time, he and his wife operated a farm and restaurant before returning to the United States. In order to come back, Mr. Petrovic gave his operation to his employees. Mr. Petrovic’s hard work didn’t stop when he returned to the U.S. in 2016.
Mr. Petrovic’s history with CCNY goes back seven years. Before owning the business, he was a barista in the two CCNY cafes. When the former owner left, the administration offered him an opportunity to run the cafes, and he took it. While running the two cafes, he took classes and worked 15 hours every day from 2019 until now. Even during the pandemic, Mr. Petrovic operated the venue as City College slowly came back from being fully remote.
Photo by Abel Lockhart
Back in January 2024, Mr. Petrovic was notified that the college was in discussions with Aladdin Food Management Services, LLC to operate the cafes since his contract was up for expiration in May. Since then, Mr. Petrovic’s relationship with the cafes has been up in the air. He was initially told that he had until July 31st before he had to leave. Then, that date shifted to August 31st. Again that deadline changed, and he was told that he could work there through September. Mr. Petrovic even recalls one day when he was approached by the administration with a different plan for Aladdin’s transition three separate times.
Aladdin’s presence at CCNY is managed through the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation (AEC). According to CCNY’s website, the AEC “provides operational and administrative oversight over revenue-generating entrepreneurial activities at the college.” Through a discussion with Aila Choudhary, the current president of CCNY’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG), The Paper investigated how these conversations unfolded over the first few months of 2024.
Aila told The Paper that there is a USG member on the board of the Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation, and that she is “not aware of anything that was disrespected” during the process of Aladdin coming to the college. During the AEC Board meetings last semester, the Vice President of Finance served as the USG delegate. While it appears that procedure was not broken, Aila recalls no official communication to USG that mentioned Starbucks would operate Mr. Petrovic’s cafes through Aladdin.
Aila acknowledges that there are positive aspects to Aladdin’s move-in. The corporation’s chef uses Halal meat, and Aladdin serves the role of a well-equipped food vendor at CCNY for club events. However, Aila has less sympathy for Starbucks, a large company displacing an alumni-owned small business that took care of the cafes during the pandemic. She mentions that it’s “a slap in the face” to the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment, due to Starbucks repression of union support for Palestine, as well as Starbucks’ corporate ownership.
According to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), Starbucks sued Starbucks Workers United over a tweet declaring “Solidarity with Palestine”. CJPME also lists Starbucks’ Corporate connection with The Vanguard Group which holds 7.7% of Starbucks stock while also being a top shareholder in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company. Meanwhile, BlackRock holds a similar amount of Starbucks stock and is a top shareholder in Lockheed Martin, a producer of fighter jets for the Israeli military.
Additionally, Aladdin Food Management Services, LLC is owned by Elior Group, a multinational company based in France employing over 132,000 employees. It is 48% owned by Daniel Derichebourg, an ownership stake valued at over $400 million according to marketscreener.com. In 1992, the very same year that Mr. Petrovic Came to New York to start a new life, Daniel Derichebourg sold his family’s waste management business for $300 Million according to corporate-executives.com. Shortly after, he purchased a yacht that he nicknamed “Le Bison”.
The compensation of some of CCNY’s AEC executives are similarly impressive. According to ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, In 2023, AEC chairperson Felix Lam was allegedly compensated $280,748, and Treasurer Ken Ihrer allegedly received $331,335. These amounts from AEC appear to exceed Lam’s and Ihrers reported salaries of $220,556 as Vice Presidents at CCNY, according to openpayrolls.com. When The Paper reached out to AEC’s Executive Director Jason Wallace about the partnership with Aladdin, we received the response: “Thank you for reaching out. On behalf of Aladdin and myself I would have to respectfully decline. Unfortunately, we don't do interviews.”
Aladdin’s dealings with CUNY are not limited to CCNY. On February 28, 2024, Aladdin announced on its website a partnership with the CUNY Graduate Center and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At the top of the webpage is a photo of Aladdin executives and staff standing with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Halfway through, it is announced that the very same corporate acquisition that has happened to the NAC and Marshak cafes has already been taking place at John Jay:
“John Jay’s Lil J’s Café will open to the public in 2024 with a small refresh. In the fall, it will be transformed into a full-service licensed Starbucks, ranked nationally in the top three most popular restaurant chains among college students who enjoy their favorite handcrafted espressos, blended beverages, and coffee.”
Meanwhile, at the CUNY Graduate Center, Lucien Baskin, a student of urban education and a member of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) chapter there told The Paper:
“The recently opened cafe at the Graduate Center serves products from Starbucks, a union-busting company that has repressed its workers’ organizing for Palestine. We will not stop and we will not rest until CUNY respects the boycott of Zionist products and has affordable food on campus made by unionized workers.”
Lucien recalls the recent history of the Dining Commons at the Graduate Center. During the pandemic, The Grad Center administration shut down the food services there. “Former President Robin Garrell told us that we did not need hot food on campus because we could eat microwaveable grilled cheese sandwiches from the vending machines.” In response, the student government and Grad Center PSC occupied the Commons, “setting up a mutual aid people’s pantry where anyone could take as much free food as they needed, a free radical library, and a table with literature on CUNY and city organizing”.
A statement released on September 10th by CCNY’s Students For Justice In Palestine Instagram account reads similar to those sentiments shared by Lucien:
“Students for Justice in Palestine condemns the removal of Alumni-owned small business by CUNY for the further corporatization of our campus and continued investments in the genocide of Palestine. We demand an immediate reinstatement of the former Alumni-owned Café (...) we call on every CCNY student for a sustained boycott of Starbucks on and off of campus.”
One line in the statement summarizes the last few months of history between CUNY, its Auxiliary Enterprise Corporations, Aladdin, and Starbucks all working to end Rado Petrovic’s small business: “This decision shows CUNY’s clear priorities to put profits over people.”