Bentley University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Bentley University is a pick up site for Farmers to You which is a grocery service of locally grown products. The Bentley community is encouraged to participate in this program in new employee orientation and periodic emails to the community.

Bentley Dining hosts a farmer’s market once a semester. We purchase fresh, locally sourced produce from Russo’s Market. Students, faculty or staff could purchase a variety of local fruits and vegetables, cheese, yogurt, pies, pumpkins, apple cider, and apple cider donuts. The fruits and vegetables offered included: apples, Asian pears, cranberries, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, pineapple, tomatoes and potatoes. In addition, we also had available cookie dough protein bites, chocolate covered pretzels, coconut, chips and fresh salsa, banana bread and avocado.

Bentley Dining supports medium-sized enterprises through our local farm purchases.

Bentley Dining has partnered up with Sustainable Sippin to create and offer customizable, reusable Bentley Dining straws. Sustainable Sippin is owned and operated by a Bentley University student and alumni. The reusable straws are sustainable, 100% Food-Grade stainless steel, free from EA, lead, rust, FDA-Approved, Eco-Friendly, and help further sustainable development. The bags are made from plant-fiber. Part of our purchase was donated to non-profit organizations that are dedicated to finding lasting solutions for our environment.

Bentley Dining offers Vegan and Vegetarian stations as well as Mindful offerings. Mindful is Sodexo’s health and wellness approach that helps you make healthy choice second nature. We are committed to creating healthy, nutritious foods. The result of this initiative is an approach that focuses on transparency of ingredients, delicious food, satisfying portions and clarity in message so that students can make mindful choices. Mindful offerings meet stringent nutritional criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Each meal part is limited in calories, has fewer than 30% of calories as fat, fewer than 10% of calories as saturated fat, and is restricted in sodium, and cholesterol. Student can look for the Mindful icon to indulge in the healthy and delicious items offered at each meal.

Mindful demos are a part of Bentley Dining’s sustainability approach. These demos show students how to portion out their meals and how they can make healthy food delicious.

Once a month, Chef Oriol hosts a plant-based cooking demo in front of the students. These demos show students the many options we offer within the resident dining hall. Additionally, this is a great opportunity for students to try something they normally wouldn’t eat. During the demo, Chef will explain the ingredients and the nutritional facts along with them. An example of one of the demos Chef hosted, he cooked Cauliflower and Amaranth Risotto as well as Watercress and Roasted Tomato Salad.

A plant-based meal consists mostly or entirely of food derived from plants, including vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and fruits, with no animal product. Plant-based meals are low in saturated fat, free of cholesterol, and rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Not only will Chef Oriol host cooking demos, but our Dietitian will host Tasting Tuesday’s with the Wellness Educators inside the 921-dining hall. These demos are an outlet for students to try something new and exciting and show them how you can take something such as Jicama and make it multiple ways. For example, you can add Jicama to your stir fry, make Jicama slaw, add Jicama to your crudités tray or roast Jicama to enjoy with their meal. With these demos, our Dietitian will provide the nutritional facts as well as how to handle and store the item.

Bentley Dining’s Vegan and Vegetarian stations are a great example where we offer meatless options for students. Students can expect to see options such as Roasted Balsamic Brussel Sprouts, Turmeric Basmati Pilaf, Steamed Vegetables over Moroccan Couscous, Moroccan Berbere Stew, Naan Bread and more!

We label all of our choices that contain peanut, milk, eggs, wheat, soybean, fish, shellfish, tree nuts and that are vegan, vegetarian, Mindful, gluten-free, halal and kosher. Customers can preview a weekly menu on our website, Bentley.sodexomyway.com or on the Bite app.

In addition, we have an icon guide that goes into detail what each icon means. We have napkin inserts and posters around the dining hall. The icon guide is also displayed on our ViewSonic, digital screen.

Sodexo does not provide trays in any dining facility on campus. We also offer samples of any item to our guests to minimize waste.

In addition, guests can request the serving size that suits their needs including half portions. When plating dishes, we offer smaller portions and encourage students to come back for more if they like.

Food for Free is a non-profit organization that is bridging the gap between hunger and waste. Food for Free collects untouched and unwanted food and repackages it into person meals and distributes it to those in need. Bentley Dining Services now packages prepared untouched food at the end of each meal period in the main dining hall only. It is then frozen and picked up by Food for Free. During FY 2019 Bentley donated 4,665 lbs of food to Food for Free equating to approximately 3,800 complete meals for those in need.

Bentley recovers used cooking oil with a vendor to create biofuels. Our Food service vendor contracts with Filta-fry which filters the oil at least twice before collecting it for biofuels.

Pre-consumer food waste is separated in campus kitchens and collected via a toter system in all of the main food locations. City Compost picks up the compost toters twice per week and brings the scraps to compost it at a local site.

Post-consumer food waste is collected only in the main dining hall on campus. Post-consumer food waste is collected with the pre-consumer food and is picked up by City Compost.

The university's main dining hall is purely dine-in, so reusable service ware (trayless) is the only option. Reusable melamine, silverware and glassware is used in the main dining hall and also in the Faculty/Staff Dining Room. Catering operations offer china/silverware/glassware however customers must pay an additional fee. The university's third dining room on campus is utilizes only to-go containers.

Bentley Dining offers reusable to-go containers students can purchase at the 921. The reusable container can be purchased for a one-time fee of $5. Students can fill the container with food items from the 921. When students are ready for another meal, they can simply bring back the dirty container to the cashier and exchange it for a clean one. For time when students are not taking food-to-go, they can trade the box for a Green Clip which can be exchanged for a new Green Box at any time. Cash or credit can be used to purchase a Green Box. $5 is the cost of the box. Food items are priced separately.
In addition, we provide to-go mugs and Vitamix bullets, where students can take smoothies on the go. The reusable to-go mugs are sold for $3.00 and the Vitamix bullets are sold for $20.00. The to-go mug and the Vitamix work the same way as the reusable to-go container. Students can bring back the to-go mug and bullet for a new, clean one

Faculty, staff and students who bring their reusable mugs to Einstein's or Starbucks franchises on campus, receive 25 cents off of beverage purchase. This applies to both cold and hot drinks.

We thank Bentley Dining for collecting data for this credit.