Appalachian State University
OP-6: Food and Beverage Purchasing

http://foodservices.appstate.edu/about/sustainability/always-local-list

Appalachian Food Services, while required to adhere to North Carolina’s State purchasing guideline, is committed to purchasing locally and sustainably. We purchased 13.6% local in 2014. Down 1% from 2013; however, dollars spent on local purchases increased by $72,000. Since reaching 10% in 2011, we have shown growth each year. We anticipate additional growth in subsequent years.

Being self-operated makes us "local" in every sense of the word. We employ a local staff to prepare the food that is served on campus - from the produce that is prepped in our Vegetable Prep area, to the baked goods and desserts that are produced in our Bake Shop, to the entrees that are prepared in our kitchens by local chefs and cooks.

We first began seriously working to source local products in 2010; over the years we have worked closely with the Office of Sustainability to research how other colleges and universities define local.

Taking this research into account, we have defined local as:

• Appalachian Grown™ products
• Got to Be NC / Goodness Grows in NC products
• NC products
• Regional products (grown and produced within 250 miles of Appalachian)
• Third-party certified products (such as Organic and Fair Trade)

We have worked with our nationwide and local distributors to determine what local products we are currently purchasing. We have published this “Always Local” list on our website. Key items include: Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee, eggs, dairy products, grits, organic tempeh and tofu, fresh poultry, ground beef and bratwurst, apples and sweet potatoes.

To grow our local percentage, we have established open lines of communication with local growers/producers and have purchased in-season produce as well as items for special events and catering. To illustrate our commitment to the campus community, we have scheduled twice yearly local meals, Carolina Chowdown: A Local Food Feast.

We are especially proud of Local Appetite, a partnership that brought together farmers, community organizations and the university. We used our purchasing power to invest in the local, rural farms that have few opportunities to sell to institutional buyers, and the farmers planted crops knowing that they had a guaranteed market. We purchased $8,000 of produce in 2013. In 2014, we saw a 39% increase in total cases purchased and a 35% increase in dollars spent.

We continue to seek out companies with good sustainability practices as well as research how to improve our own. Currently, we purchase meat, frozen vegetables and other food items in bulk to eliminate excess packaging. We also utilize returnable racks for our bread, milk and water deliveries.

Moving forward, we will continue to work with our distributors to identify additional local and sustainable products, strengthen existing relationships with local growers/producers and explore new ones, and continue to respond to the demands for local food and sustainable practices at Appalachian.

Having identified items that are Always Local, we run reports on total purchases of these items. We also work with our distributors to determine yearly purchases of seasonal produce.