Bon Appétit Management Company

The St. Olaf College Garden Research and Organic Works (STOGROW) and the Carleton Student Organic Farm employ rotating summer student interns each year, who grow thousands of pounds of produce, all of which is purchased by Bon Appétit for the schools’ respective cafés. The farms, which are both just 1.5 acres, have an outsized impact, serving as hubs for experiential learning and community-building. 

After being under construction for the fall semester, the café that formerly occupied Butler’s Residential College (ResCo) is back with a new look and feel, many new amenities and plenty of old favorites, and a new name – Midtown Provisions.  

Tucked away on the edge of campus, over a bridge and beside the athletic fields, lies The Farm at Butler, a gem within Butler University in Indianapolis, IN.  Just shy of one acre, this agricultural oasis is a clear example of how urban farming can transform previously dormant land into a thriving ecosystem and classroom.  

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.

Cucumber vines climbed 10 feet high to the top of the hoop house, leafy ginger plants intermingled with milkweed, calendula, and kale, and sunflowers towered over Fellow Elise Kulers during her visit to the Knox College Farm in Galesburg, Illinois.

Far above the bustling streets of Manhattan and many floors of priceless art and antiquities, Culinary Director Bill Telepan and the Bon Appétit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art team are tending to their garden.

Josh Parr practices a new philosophy of the soil at Lafayette College’s LaFarm.

Led by Executive Chef Daniel Stern, the Quaker Kitchen is creating weekly food-centered opportunities for students to build community at University of Pennsylvania. Every Friday students gather together in Quaker Kitchen to prepare and share a meal, but this particular week was distinct. Through a partnership with Penn’s campus farm, a unique group of students were invited to enjoy a simple plant-forward meal highlighting seasonal ingredients.

From humble beginnings the garden at Capital Group’s Irvine campus has grown, literally and figuratively, into a beloved fixture of the campus experience, as well as a key part of its on-site sustainability program.

We’re introducing a new quarterly series that celebrates the work being done on campus farms and gardens at our accounts across the country, starting with the storied Carleton Student Organic Farm at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.