Bon Appétit Management Company

What do avocado skins and seeds, onion skins, and beet trimmings have in common – besides being candidates for the compost pile? These scraps can all be used in plant-based dyes, and using them not only reduces food waste, it reminds us of what’s possible when we practice creative reuse and extend sustainable practices from the kitchen out into the other parts of our lives.

On the rise across the country since the mid-2000’s, food hubs are one solution to common barriers to getting local food into restaurants and difficult-to-access institutional markets. With a keen focus on selling to anchor institutions (long-term fixtures in communities, such as universities, hospitals, and school systems, that play vital roles in the local economy), food hubs coordinate the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of locally and regionally produced foods from a network of responsible producers.

Twenty DePauw University first-years are spending the morning at the Ullem Campus Farm in Greencastle, IN. Rather than sitting in a classroom, they are outside enjoying the first wisps of fall, bringing shovels down into the rich soil to unearth the starchy golden gems below.

For Native American Heritage Month, Bon Appétit is partnering with Golden Eagle Farm, owned and operated by the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians. Golden Eagle is an ambitious endeavor balancing traditional Indigenous farming methods and new revenue generators such as agri-tourism.

The Eat Local Challenge (ELC), now in its 19th year, is a little like Christmas at Bon Appétit. Of course, Bon Appétiters celebrate the bounty of local foods year-round, but every September, accounts across the country participate in this one big day that shines a national spotlight on our commitment to supporting local food systems.  

We’re looking back at the impact of the Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen series of food education classes we held over the past few months for kids all over the country. The Food Education team hosted over 20 classes and reached 400 children this summer.  Hooray for watermelon pizza!

On a recent visit to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, West Coast Fellow Hillary Swimmer helped lead a food waste focused cooking demo with Executive Chef Michael Palmer and the college’s Office of Sustainability.

This summer, Bon Appetit leaders at Emory University’s Atlanta campus decided to launch a new training program, which provided employees with an opportunity to increase their cross-functional knowledge across the entire dining operation.

How a love of food blossomed into a pursuit of justice and community.

Our newly formed Food Education Team is poised to take food literacy to the next level in our cafés and in the communities we serve.