Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 75.28
Liaison Yumiko Jakobcic
Submission Date March 3, 2023

STARS v2.2

Grand Valley State University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Yumiko Jakobcic
Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability Practices
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives

Local community engagement

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a farmers market, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or urban agriculture project, or support such a program in the local community?:
Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
GVSU hosts and on-campus Farm Stand and its Sustainable Agriculture Project offers CSA shares.

Sustainability-themed outlet

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host a sustainability-themed food outlet on-site, either independently or in partnership with a contractor or retailer?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
Campus Dining is proud to earn a 3 Star Green Restaurant Certification for the sustainability efforts at Engrained.

Inclusive and local sourcing

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor support disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through its food and beverage purchasing?:
Yes

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Local Vendors
Using local vendors is an important sustainability initiative because it requires the use of less fuel to deliver the food to campus.
Produce: Sysco MI produce line (when available)
Produce: Gordon Food Service MI
Arnies Bakery: Grand Rapids, MI
Fryer Oil: Zoye, Zeeland, MI
Bread Crumbs: Drakes, Marshall, MI
Ice Cream: Hudsonville Ice Cream, Hudsonville, MI
Baked Goods: Sandy’s Bakery, Grand Rapids, MI
Concessions: Kowalski Hot Dogs, Detroit, MI
Dressings: Chadalee Farms, Lowell, MI
Vending: Karr’s Nuts, Detroit, MI
Concessions: Grand Rapids Popcorn
Dairy: Country Dairy
Engrained uses a variety of local vendors; look for more information on the digital menus inside this restaurant.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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Low-impact dining

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor host low impact dining events or promote plant-forward options?:
Yes

A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
Campus Dining offers Meatless Mondays meal options at all dining locations as well as a complete protein vegan meal option.

Vegan dining program 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a vegan dining program that makes diverse, complete-protein vegan options available to every member of the campus community at every meal?:
Yes

A brief description of the vegan dining program:
Campus Dining offers Meatless Mondays meal options at all dining locations as well as a complete protein vegan meal option. The Green Team promotes vegan options as part of a sustainable and healthy meal alternative.

Labelling and signage 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor inform customers about low impact food choices and sustainability practices through labelling and signage in dining halls?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:
Local vendors are noted on menu screens and various signage is used. Additional efforts are noted here: https://www.gvsu.edu/campusdine/sustainability-68.htm

Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery

Food recovery program

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor participate in a competition or commitment program and/or use a food waste prevention system to track and improve its food management practices?:
Yes

A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
A system of food management fundamental and waste reduction is used to minimize food waste and maximize efficiency. The Food Management Fundamentals system consists of the following steps: 1. Planning: forecasting customers and portions; 2. Product: purchasing compliance; SKU consolidation and reduction; 3. Production: using production sheets and standard recipes and tracking waste; 4. Post Analysis: using past results to inform future forecasts.

Trayless dining and portion modifications 

Has the institution or its primary dining services contractor implemented trayless dining (in which trays are removed from or not available in dining halls) and/or modified menus/portions to reduce post-consumer food waste?:
Yes

A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
The use of trays at Fresh Food Company was eliminated to reduce energy, water and detergent use. This resulted in saving 1,619,000 gallons of water froom 2007-2008. In addition, we have installed more efficient dishwashers in at least two of our dining locations that will save additional resources on top of the original study. An audit was conducted at Fresh Food Company to track consumer waste as a percentage of food served. The results aided in helping the Green Team promote consumer waste minimization efforts at the dining location.

Food donation 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor donate food that would otherwise go to waste to feed people?:
Yes

A brief description of the food donation program:
Campus Dining donates to local food pantries at the end of each semester. Through a partnership with Food Donation Connection, excess baked goods and produce are donated to Mel Trotter Ministries in Grand Rapids, MI.

Food materials diversion 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses?:
No

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
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Composting 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a pre-consumer composting program?:
Yes

A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
Pre-Consumer composting is available at all of our dining locations. We have separate bins for composting, recycling, and landfill waste at all of our dining locations for ease of separation. Our goal is to be zero waste and eliminate the landfill bin all together.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
Yes

A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
Post-Consumer food composting is available at all of our dining locations. Separate bins for composting, recycling and landfill are easily accessible for all customers to separate their items. Campus Dining also has a “Green Team” actively educating and showing students how to separate their trash to eventually reach zero waste in the dining halls. This team routinely stands out by the trash receptacles and educates students on the importance of composting and recycling to eliminate trash from going to landfills. We use compostable service ware and trash liners to encourage composting and landfill diversion.

Dine-in service ware 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor utilize reusable service ware for “dine in” meals?:
Yes

A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Reusable dining ware is available at Engrained and Fresh Food Company to reduce the need for disposable to-go containers.

*Please note this was the case for the majority of the reporting period, although reuseable dining ware was removed in response to COVID-19

Take-away materials 

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor provide reusable and/or third party certified compostable containers and service ware for “to-go” meals (in conjunction with an on-site composting program)?:
Yes

A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
The Fresh Food dining location offers a reusable to-go program. This program allows customers to purchase a meal to take home in a reusable container and bring it back to us to wash and exchange it for a new container during their next meal. Compostable clamshell to-go containers are offered at applicable dining locations. Compostable containers are made from Ingeo plastic and are BPI-certified compostable.

Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor offer discounts or other incentives to customers who use reusable containers instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations?:
Yes

A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
$1 coffee and pop refills are available at all Campus Dining locations. $.25 water refills are available at all Campus Dining locations.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Campus Dining has a registered dietitian who offers education and programming for students.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
https://www.gvsu.edu/campusdine/sustainability-68.htm

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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