Bon Appetit - Management Company

Homepage » People » Mac Lary

General Manager Mac Lary
Lewis & Clark College

Location: Portland, Oregon
Number of people fed each day: 2,500
With Bon Appétit Management Company since: 1998
Farm to Fork Farmer: Millennium Farms

Quote:
“Bon Appétit Management Company is an incredibly forward-thinking company. Because we believe we can change the food chain through our programs, we will. Once we meet one goal, we move onto the next one.”

Why I work with food:
I learned to love food because I had the opportunity from a very young age to discover what fresh, homegrown food tastes like. I grew up right here in the Pacific Northwest in a house with a big garden and I’ve passed on that love for real, unadulterated food to my children. When they were little, we served everything family-style and let them choose what they wanted to eat off of big platters. Now they know that if they want a snack, they just have to go raid the garden for fresh treats. They understand what real food is and it’s what their bodies learned to crave instead of sugary snacks. If you expose people to healthy food at its peak of freshness and flavor, they will began to make choices that are better for both their bodies and the planet. I enjoy exposing the students here at Lewis & Clark to great food in the same way. By presenting a good variety of fresh, healthy foods in self-service stations, rather than the usual cafeteria style, students can choose what and how much they want to eat. That way they feel satisfied and I think it helps them live healthier and happier lives here, while developing habits that will serve them well for years to come.

What sustainability means to me:
Sustainability means ensuring the longevity of ecological systems. We can have an impact on both global warming through our Low Carbon Diet initiatives, and the health of our agricultural systems, through local purchasing. But true sustainability can only be achieved if all of society participates. And that’s a huge part of what we do here. We don’t just do Low Carbon or local purchasing behind the scenes, we talk about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We educate our diners on the food chain through the food we serve and the way we talk about it. On Low Carbon Diet Day we started the conversation with dishes like Vietnamese-style cabbage salad with Oregon ground pork, Oregon bay shrimp, peanuts and buckwheat noodles, and also Oregon Turkey meatloaf with roasted potatoes and local romaine salad from Flamingo Ridge Farms. Most of our diners were happy to forgo their cheeseburgers for a day to enjoy these dishes. Many hadn’t thought about how their food choices can affect global warming before. The food serves as a focal point to get the dialogue started about big issues like climate change, and we need that dialogue for many reasons: First, people are resistant to change unless you can provide a good reason for the change. Second, we can all learn more and the conversation builds on the knowledge we already have, helping us to look at more facets of sustainability. By letting students portion their own foods, we cut down on food waste, which is a huge producer of greenhouse gasses. But focusing only on the food isn’t enough. We try to focus everything we do on our responsibility to the planet. For instance, when designing a building, sustainability needs to be part of the conversation. This means asking if we’ve provided enough space in a new kitchen design for an efficient composting system. Or ensuring that our delivery area will be accommodating to several small farmers dropping off deliveries.

Why Bon Appétit Management Company is Different:
No two cafes are alike. There’s no template for us to follow. Chefs and managers are trusted to run the business as if it were their own. We’re encouraged to take the initiative to meet our goals of sustainable sourcing. This is not a cookie cutter approach. For example, we partner with a group called the National Teach-in, based here at Lewis & Clark College. This organization works with colleges, institutions, schools, and corporations to put pressure on leaders to work on ways to reduce greenhouse gasses. Another Bon Appétit cafés may partner with an entirely different organization. We’re given the goals and it’s entirely up to us how to achieve them.