Gonzaga University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Gonzaga University supports LINC Foods which is a cooperatively owned food hub in Spokane. LINC was established in collaboration with Gonzaga and Zag Dining to meet the needs of the community regarding local/sustainable purchasing. We have supported the growth of LINC and therefore the local food system for many years and have continued to increase our support by crop planning with area farmers. Sales have increased 439% since our first full year in 2015. This has also allowed other area universities to purchase from the food hub including Whitworth University, North Idaho College and University of Idaho.

LINC offers CSA on site during the growing season which is available for pick up on campus weekly for members.

ZagCulture: Plant-based meals featuring sustainable, season food and produce from the campus greenhouse.

We support LINC Foods which is a cooperatively owned food hub in Spokane. We have supported the growth of LINC and therefore the local food system for many years and have continued to increase our support.

Sodexo Supplier Diversity

Sodexo publicly committed to having an inclusive supply chain around the world as part of Better Tomorrow 2025.
At Sodexo, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in our business and our values. We believe that diversity in our workforce gives us access to the best talent, and our D&I culture provides the ability to attract and retain this talent. This belief transcends into our supply base. We know that working with suppliers that mirror our consumers and our communities makes our company more relevant in the markets in which we operate. We also know that we want to partner with companies that have the same convictions about utilizing talent in all its forms.
The Partner Inclusion Program leverages best practices from Sodexo operations around the world in support of a commitment that all countries will develop strong and sustainable relationships with suppliers in at least one of the following categories:
• Small-and medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s), including social and micro-enterprises
• Suppliers from minority and other under-represented and/or protected groups (as defined in country), with an emphasis on women-owned businesses
• Major Sodexo suppliers will demonstrate a diverse workforce composition, actively embracing diversity and inclusion and promoting local supply chain inclusion.
Sodexo has publicly committed to having an inclusion program and tracks their progress by country annually for both women and underutilized suppliers as defined in country as well as spend with local small businesses or SME (Small Medium Enterprise) with goals of 25% SME spend globally focusing on diverse SMEs by 2025.
Supplier Diversity Procurement Policy in the US
The use of diverse suppliers and partners throughout the organization brings better value to our customers, clientele and the communities in which we live, work, and serve. As a result, we will:
• Hold all management personally accountable for increasing Supplier Diversity spend through our Diversity Scorecard
• Include qualified diverse vendors in all RFP’s handled by Supply Management.
• Establish supplier diversity goals for the divisions and company, reporting our supplier diversity spend on a quarterly basis.
• Actively seek diverse vendors through Sodexo’s supplier diversity website, our membership in diverse organizations and our attendance at various events.
• Require all manufacturers to establish a supplier diversity program within one year of contracting.
• Include supplier diversity as part of the business review process.

Currently in the US, Sodexo utilizes over 3000 national, regional and local diverse and small businesses. Our vendors include those that directly service our operations as well as those that provide services or products to our regional and corporate headquarters staff.
Sodexo sources opportunities for current and potential diverse vendors through a number of methods:
• Identify and contract with new vendors:
• Continue to grow our contracted diverse vendors.
• Utilize top down and field up support of diverse vendors

Earth Week 2019 held Mostly Meatless Monday where 6 out of the 7 dining platforms were 100% Vegan. Celebrate National Vegan Day with a Vegan menu in the main dining hall. Feature many events that promote locally sourced food including farmers markets, “chop shop” in which students helped to prep seasonal ingredients for storage to extend the life of local produce, harvest dinners and greenhouse dinners.

Zagriculture: Plant-based station featuring sustainable, seasonal food and produce from the campus greenhouse. 360 station (Mongolian Wok) has protein options available for vegans during daily operation. For instance when stir fry is being cooked all ingredients are picked by the student to add to the entrée. There are always vegan options including beans, and plant based proteins available as options for Vegan customers.

The “Zagriculture” food station in resident dining offers different vegan and vegetarian options at every meal period every day. We use “Vegan” and “Vegetarian” labels at that station and at all stations where additional vegan or vegetarian options are available.

Labeling of food items such as Vegan (VG) and Vegetarian (V) take place at our dining facilities across campus. During earth week held a session related to water usage and carbon footprint for educational purposes. Locally grown food is identified in the dining locations with an L. We also have icons to indicate ingredients grown in the campus greenhouse and with LINC. Students held a weigh the waste event in the dining facility. Educational tours of the Greenhouse on site for groups.

LeanPath & FMS (Food Management System) and stem to root techniques to reduce waste.

The dining facility in the COG went trayless in 2011. A “Weigh the Waste” night was used to measure how much students discarded after each meal. Based on comparisons of “Weigh the Waste” nights from before and after the availability of trays, 30% less waste is generated since the implementation of tray-less dining. This “Weigh the Waste” program is still used, although now to raise student awareness regarding how much food they throw away. In addition to reducing food waste, going tray-less has resulted in a water savings of approximately 300,000 gallons of water annually and reduced soap purchases by approximately 5%.

The new COG in Hemmingson, is also trayless, utilizes a low-water use dishroom with a built-in food compost dehydrator. In addition, Sodexo has implemented smaller portion sizes and an education program to keep food waste low.

Leftover food is donated to Campus Kitchens and the 2nd Harvest Food Bank. Campus Kitchens is a national project that partners with high schools, colleges, and universities to share on-campus kitchen space, recover food from cafeterias, and engage students as volunteers who prepare and deliver meals to the community. 2nd Harvest is a regional project which provides food to food banks, meal sites and other hunger-relief programs in the Inland Northwest. Donated inventory comes from the food industry, community food drives and other important partnerships.

A pre-consumer compost program is utilized in our kitchens across campus. After weighing food waste on the LeanPath System, culinary staff can put the organic waste in the compost bin.

Post Consumer compost bins are available for use throughout the Hemmingson building for collection. There are special pizza box collection stations to ensure they are composted and don’t take up all of the space in the regular compost bins in the building. We work and encourage our suppliers to purchase acceptable packaging.

Stainless steel flatware used in resident dining locations as well as for all china related catering on campus. All take out containers are compostable and made by EarthChoice. We also have instituted a water bottle ban and added Zip2water filling tanks around campus. Additionally we help sponsorship of the freshmen reusable bottles to support the university stance of no plastic water bottles. All standard dishes and utensils in the main dining hall are reusable and washed in the dishroom. Paper napkins are 100% recycled and any events that do not use china use compostable plates, cups, and silverware.

Use the Sodexo’s compostable Simply to Go packaging which is compostable locally. There are bins located throughout the Hemmingson Student Union to collect compost. We introduced the reusable clamshell program at Cataldo. Students can become members of the program and exchange a used clamshell for a clean one or a carabiner in exchange. This allows us to reduce packaging waste. On average, 30 students use the clamshells daily.

Discounts at retail sites are available for travel mug refills for coffee. Retail locations offer travel mug refill for $.99 versus regular cup of coffee at $1.99. There is a discount on fountain beverage purchase in the marketplace when using refillable Bulldog fountain cup, $.75 per 32oz refill vs $2.25.