Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 58.15
Liaison Lacey Raak
Submission Date Feb. 21, 2021

STARS v2.2

California State University, Monterey Bay
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.80 / 2.00 Ashley Lin
Dining Sustainability Manager
A'Viands
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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:

Farmers Market hosted by Associated Students began in Fall 2019 lasted through Spring 2020.


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?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
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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?:
No

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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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:

Meatless Mondays : Every Monday we highlight the vegetarian options in the dining room. For example, Broccoli Cheddar Baked Stuffed Potato, Cheese Pizza, Mad Mex Vegetarian Quesadilla, Citrus Grain Salad, Roasted Curry Tofu, Lentil Dal and Curry Roasted Vegetables, Stir-Fried Cabbage, Peppers and Peas.
A few examples of low impact dining events on campus are farm to table events where we feature special and unique seasonal produce and dishes. We always ensure that we have meatless and vegan options at all times.


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:

Inside of the dining commons, there is a designated vegan station that only serves composted vegan entrees with protein sources. Some examples are beans and tofu. The options at that station change every day for both the lunch and dinner service. At other locations, there is always one vegan option available for customers as well, however, the number of vegan options will vary.

In addition, we feature a salad bar daily that includes a wide variety of local and organic produce when available and vegan protein such as garbanzo or kidney beans, edamame and composed salads like a Citrus Spiced Lentils.

The El Camino Taqueria includes a build your own burrito daily featuring vegan refried or black beans, Mexican fried rice, lettuce, tomato and guacamole.

Brown Rice and legumes are available daily at the Dining Commons, as well as vegetables, tofu, soy beans, and more.

Campus Dining has worked first hand with CSUMB vegan to offer a vegan-friendly menu, such as Amy's frozen items at the Otter Express.


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:

We label all food options throughout the Dining Commons that are local, vegan, and gluten-free. We also identify the vendors that the meals were sourced from and routinely feature promotions that educate guests about the overall impacts of their dining choices such as their waste, energy resources, food waste, etc. Our dining halls now also incorporates BeWell information on all the food served at each service based on their nutrition facts.


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’viands team is installing a food waste tracking program called Winnow to help us track and reduce waste within the kitchen at the Dining Commons. We also track on a monthly basis our waste output during lunch services during our Watch Our Waste programs.


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:

A’viands has implemented trayless dining at all locations that serve food. We also utilize smaller dishware and plates to help minimize over-heaping of food products to encourage students to come back and take the right amount of food that they need. We also encourage students to communicate with the staff when being served if they need smaller portions or to ask for plates without certain food items that they do not want to eat as well.


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:

The A’viands catering team partners with the CSUMB Basic Needs organization to implement our “OtterEats” program where we allow people to choose whether or not they want to list their event as an “OtterEats” event at the end. This means that if the event ends and there is plenty of food left over, a text message will be sent out to a group of self-selected students that will then be notified when and where the leftover food will be and will then be allowed to come and eat the food on site to help feed hungry students while eliminating food waste. We also are currently working on a program with our Basic Needs committee to help donate leftover food from Starbucks to the Basic Needs program as well to continue minimizing our food waste output.


Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor divert food materials from the landfill, incinerator or sewer for animal feed or industrial uses?:
Yes

A brief description of the food materials diversion program:

Our used cooking oil is collected by Pure and then recycled into low carbon diesel fuel.


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:

All locations (Dining Commons, Otter Express, Monte’s, and Verve) have comprehensive pre-consumer composting prep capabilities, all locations that serve coffee also compost coffee grounds and other relevant prep items.


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:

All post-consumer food waste and compostable single-use materials are composted through Green Waste Recovery. Students/Campus community are required to scrape all food waste and sort compostable materials into bins before placing service ware in the dish return. All these materials both organic and compostable are then collected and composted through Green Waste. We regularly conducted “Watch Our Waste” events with our student body and campus community, which is just one of the ways that we regularly engage and educate our campus community about the amount and type of waste is being generated on campus. We collect this information and then use it to publish case studies and marketing materials to help educate them on their direct impact on food waste


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:

At the dining commons and Monte’s, reusable plates, cups, and silverware are the default option. We also offer “Otterware” through the Dining Commons for students to utilize outside of the Dining Commons to keep their events sustainable and zero waste by giving them the option to rent reusable dishware and then return it.


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:

At all dining locations that allow for retail or to-go/take out options, we offer compostable, recyclable, or biodegradable items such as cups, straws, soup cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, napkins, and so forth. We have taken every initiative to continuously review our inventory lists to ensure that we are always sourcing the best compostable single-use items for our locations. All these compostable offerings are then collected and composted through our composting program in partnership with Green Waste.

In our catering program, we also offer chinaware for events, as well as compostable and recyclable single-use items.


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:

We always offer a reusable cup program at our Starbucks, Verve, and Otterexpress location on site. Any guest who brings in a reusable cup will receive a $0.10 discount on their order. We also regularly offer increased discounts at $0.50 and $1.00 off beverages when customers bring in reusable cups to these locations as well to continuously encourage and incentivize our campus community to bring in their reusable mugs and cut down on single-use disposable items.

We also offer our green-box program where students pay a one-time fee to obtain their green to go container. Once they receive it, they are able to fill it up at the Dining Commons with their meal and leave. They just have to bring it back dirty to trade it in for another new one.


A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:

As a 2014 winner of the Food Management Best Concept award, Mindful by Sodexo is all about providing choice – to consumers, clients and our own Sodexo staff. We believe that when people are presented with delicious healthy options and choose those foods on their own terms, they are more likely to enjoy them and realize the benefits that come along with a healthier lifestyle – and consequently more likely to repeat those good choices everywhere they go.

Some examples of Mindful options offered at CSUMB include: Spicy Korean Tofu Pita and Tandoori Vegetable Pita, Roasted Italian Vegetable Wrap, Mediterranean Veggie Wrap, Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich, Chimmichuri Chicken Biggie Sandwich, Seared Chicken Greek Salad, Korean Stir-Fried Vegetables with Tofu, Cauliflower Tofu Curry, Posole Style Chicken, Pork & Hominy Stew, Pesto Spinach Tomato Penne Casserette and Turkey Sausage Arugula Pizzetta https://www.mindful.sodexo.com/

Food is a meaningful and significant part of culture. As an international company, we have an opportunity to showcase the cuisine of many countries through our Global Chef program. CSUMB hosted Sodexo chefs from a variety of countries over the past several years bringing the authentic techniques and recipes to our culinary teams and the unique tastes to our guests. In October, Chef Ronald Thomas Minezes from India spent a week on our campus and prepared the menu and meals for our students. During that week, he met with students, shared samples of food native to his culture and answered many of the student’s questions. His ethnic cuisine received such a great response from our students that our chefs were inspired to continue to break cultural boundaries with every meal.

CSUMB Dining Services also partners with many programs and clubs across the campus to support events like API Week, the BSU Jamboree and International Education Week to prepare traditional dishes from around the world.

A’viands has a BeWell program, which is focused on sustainable food and nutritious healthy options being the easy options for their clients and customers. In regard to mindful and culturally diverse options, A’viands regularly has stations featuring Mexican food, a world flavors stations which rotates between different types of Asian cuisines.


Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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