Bon Appétit Management Company

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Proprietary System Tracks Sustainability and Wellness Metrics; Offers Chefs and Managers Actionable Data to Make Menus and Purchases Good for People and Planet

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.  (February 8, 2022) – Food service trailblazer Bon Appétit Management Company today announced the launch of the second generation of its proprietary Food Standards Dashboard, a sustainability and wellness data tracking and reporting tool. Developed in house by Bon Appétit, the sophisticated management tool is designed to give chefs and general managers easy-to-understand, actionable data that helps them make their operations and menus more sustainable for the planet and healthier for guests.

Pulling data from multiple purchasing, finance, and menu management systems, the Dashboard tracks each operation’s progress in alignment with Bon Appétit’s ambitious companywide standards including local purchasing, amount of plant-and animal-based foods on menus, compliance of seafood purchases with Seafood Watch criteria, alignment with practices in key categories from the company’s Low Carbon Lifestyle program such as efforts to decrease deforestation, trim transportation, and reduce waste, and much more.

The second generation of the Dashboard builds on the robust reporting capabilities of the first generation tool, which the company launched in 2015. The new tool offers more than a dozen new indicators along with new features that make the expanded information easy to understand and act on quickly for busy culinary teams. Bon Appétit provides the Dashboard to all of its accounts for free. Key features and functions include:

Overall UX: Simple, visual, and actionable.

• Dedicated tabs for key categories of purchasing, climate change, plant-forward menuing, and wellness with a panel that shows how each aspect of the dashboard connects to Bon Appétit’s companywide dream statement and food standards.
• Color-coded indicators, downloadable graphs, trend lines, and charts that offer at-a-glance action items for chefs and managers. Tick marks at the top of the screen indicate overall progress on each key category.
• Rollup/rolldown functionality so data can be monitored at the café or campus level (for large operations with multiple cafés).

Purchasing tab: Compliance with Bon Appétit’s industry-leading purchasing standards.
Provides an at-a-glance view of compliance with a wide variety of sustainability criteria at the product level with line-item data pop-outs on non-compliant purchases to influence future purchasing behavior. Includes measurements on the following metrics:

• Percentage of spend that meets Bon Appétit’s Circle of Responsibility (COR) sustainability standards.
• Farm to Fork (local purchasing) spend as a percentage of total food spend and spend by product category such as meat, produce, and dairy.
• Any spend on products not aligned with Bon Appétit’s Cooked from Scratch standard.

Climate Change tab: Reducing food’s impact on the climate.
Displays the focus areas of Bon Appetit’s Low Carbon Lifestyle, tracks waste-related programs, and provides a snapshot of where greenhouse gas emissions are most impactful in each operation.  Look for measurements on the following metrics:

• Prioritizing Plant-Based Proteins such as ounces of beef per meal per guest and dollars spent on cheese.
• Preventing and Reducing Food Waste by highlighting Food Recovery Verification and waste tracking programs.
• Decreasing Deforestation features new indicators displaying spend on imported meat, recycled paper products, and ethically certified coffee.
• Trimming Transportation features a new indicator displaying spend on imported products including: vegetables, non-tropical fruit, and bottled water.
• Robust World Resources Institute-driven data tracking shows chefs the carbon impacts of their menus and simplifies reporting for clients who want to commit to the Cool Foods Pledge.

Plant-Forward tab: Shifting menus toward plants and away from animal products.
At-a-glance synthesis of menu information drives busy culinary teams toward a style of cooking that emphasizes and celebrates, but is not limited to, plant-based foods. Metrics include:

• Ounces of beef and overall animal protein served per guest per meal and a pie graph showing the breakdown of animal and plant product purchases (in both dollars spent and weight).
• A snapshot of vegetarian and vegan offerings per meal period.
• A bar graph comparing animal and plant protein purchases (by weight) to encourage the use of plant proteins as either the sole source of protein or in combination with animal protein.

Wellness tab: Balancing plates for human and planetary health.
First-of-its-kind visualization of a “Wellness Plate” uses purchasing and menu data to show alignment with EAT-Lancet Commission’s guidelines for a healthy and sustainable diet. Look for the following:

• Color-coded indicators for produce, whole grains, animal protein, plant protein, dairy, plant oil, and added sugar measure if each component meets or exceeds the recommended goal.
• Accounts participating in Bon Appétit’s Well-Being Indicator^® program have an additional dashboard view:
  • Overall menu mix and nutrition profile by Well-Being Score.
  • Average calories, sodium, added sugar, and weight of produce per plate.
  • Plant protein purchases in relation to animal protein purchases with color-coded indicator nudging chefs to use more plant proteins.

“The new Dashboard is designed to measure the sustained culture shift we’ve made as a company,” says Chief Strategy and Brand Officer Maisie Ganzler who oversees the team that developed the new Dashboard. “Our chefs are passionate about great food and about sustainability, but during a busy day they don’t have the time to mine data for actionable answers. Instead of tying chefs to computers, we worked to give them indicators that allow them to immediately see the impacts of their menu choices and give them simple, straightforward actions that will have positive long-term impacts on their guests and the environment.”

About Bon Appétit Management Company

Bon Appétit Management Company (www.bamco.com) is an on-site restaurant company based in Redwood City, CA, that operates cafés in 33 states for corporations, universities, and cultural institutions. Bon Appétit chefs create unique menus and cook from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups at every location. “Food service for a sustainable future” is the heart of Bon Appétit’s business philosophy and the company is a recognized industry leader in environmentally and socially responsible practices, with awards from organizations including the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, Acterra, James Beard Foundation, and many others.

Contact:

Jenny Slafkosky, Director of Communications
Peter Todaro, Communications and Content Specialist
[email protected]