Story By: Brayden George

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – After much uncertainty about the future of flex points and downtown dining for the 2026-2027 academic year, the University reached a contract agreement with Chartwells allowing for the retention of downtown dining using flex points.

In fall 2025, the option to pay with flex points was removed from chain restaurants in Montevallo, such as Jack’s and Subway. Vallo Vision News reported on the change in flex points and upcoming loss of downtown dining as information came available. As of last fall, the University was planning to “fast-track” the removal of all flex points starting in Fall of 2026.

This officially changed after the renegotiated contract with Chartwells was approved, along with slightly increasing meal plan fees, at the Friday, Feb. 13, UM Board of Trustees meeting.

The contract was renegotiated largely in part by Executive Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Tammi Dahle, who was able to come up with a way to add downtown dining back into the contract for next academic year.

According to Dr. Dahle, while the downtown dining program is important for students, it also serves a large role in generating business for local restaurants in the city of Montevallo.

What will downtown dining look like in 2026-2027?

The terms of the renegotiated contract aim to keep the downtown dining program focused on generating local revenue while providing still providing students off-campus dining options, according to UM General Manager of Campus Dining Jason Quarles.

Downtown dining will be capped at five off-campus dining options at a time, plus all on-campus vending machines. The five options starting fall 2026 will be the same as the current options:

  • C’s Cake & Coffee House
  • La Conchita Bakery
  • Main Street Tavern
  • Merri Moon
  • Xcaret Grill Mexican Restaurant

If a new vendor expresses interest in joining the downtown dining program, the students will be polled to determine which of the current five vendors will be replaced.

Another part of the new contract, states that the downtown dining vendors cannot be a direct competitor with any dining options in Farmer Food Hall, unless they are already a part of the program. For example, C’s Cake and Coffee House, which would be considered a direct competitor for Einstein Bros., will not be kicked out of the program, but a new coffee shop could not be added to the list of vendors.

Finally, vendors cannot be added to the downtown dining program if they operate any locations outside of Shelby County. This excludes all restaurant chains, such as Jack’s, Subway, McDonald’s, etc. This restriction is part of the effort to use UM’s downtown dining program to generate revenue for local Montevallo businesses.

The University plans to release information on new fee rates in the upcoming weeks. This is a developing story. We’ll post updates as they become available.