Lafayette College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

We host in conjunction the LaFarm farmers market outside of Gilbert’s Cafe or McCartney Residential Halls for much of the year with LaFarm.

The ECO Café (which stands for Environmentally Conscious Options) provides a full array of local farm forward options, healthy and local smoothies and grab and go items, packaged in compostable takeaway containers. ECO also carries local beverages including kombucha and cider, a local soup maker and pasta maker.

Yes, we view our procurement spend as a vehicle for amplifying our core values of inclusion and equity, and pursue these goals through Locally Crafted, part of our Farm to Fork local purchasing program, and our Supplier Diversity program. Locally Crafted vendors must be two of the following criteria:
Locally Sourced: At least 50% of the product’s ingredients are from small, owner-operated farms within 150 miles of the Bon Appétit kitchen.
• Responsibly sourced: At least 50% of the product’s ingredients are responsibly sourced as verified by an approved third-party organization, such as Certified Organic or Fair Trade.
• Humanely sourced: The eggs, dairy, and protein in the product meet all Bon Appétit’s own sustainability standards.
• Traditional/artisan: The product is a staple of a specific cuisine, made in the traditional manner with a minimum of additives and preservatives, or in small batches by hand using traditional methods.
• Justice through ownership: The business is majority minority or woman-owned and -controlled.
• Justice through training: As a founding principle, the business seeks to provide job opportunities to a disadvantaged population.
Our Supplier Diversity program was inspired by best practices developed through Farm to Fork and Locally Crafted. Through this initiative, our regional network of Farm to Fork Foragers (the chefs and managers who are tasked with discovering and partnering with local farmers and food producers) now actively pursue the enrollment of small BIPOC-, women-, and LGBTQ+-owned businesses who meet Bon Appétit’s standards. We communicate this program via a Supplier Diversity COR icon that appears on menu items containing products from vendors enrolled in the program. Additional materials in our cafés and online help tell the stories of these products and vendors to guests.

Yes, we host a number of low-impact dining events, including an annual Eat Local Challenge, Earth Week, plant-forward dining events, and an annual National Farmworker Awareness Week. Through educational materials on each table, and in signage throughout the café, we share information about the benefits of prioritizing plant-based proteins for one’s health and the environment, and offer plant-forward meals multiple times per week in each café.

Yes, we prioritize plant-based proteins in our cafés and a complete-protein vegan option is available to the campus communities at every meal served in our cafés. We communicate vegan options to our guests using the Vegan Circle of Responsibility icon on both online menus and menus in the café.

We inform guests about low impact food choices and sustainability practices in many ways. On guest tables and in signs around the cafe, we share information about pressing sustainability issues and relevant policies, including antibiotics use on animal farms, animal welfare issues, sustainable seafood, and farmworkers rights. Using our Circle of Responsibility (COR) program, we communicate sustainability attributes of ingredients through our online and in-café menus. Menus are labeled with COR icons and specific reference to vendors that denote the following (and more):
 if the dish includes local ingredients, and which farm they are from
 if the dish includes animal products from a farm with a third party animal welfare certification
 if the dish includes seafood rated as Green or Yellow by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program
 if the dish is vegetarian and/or vegan

We currently are using the Waste Not system. Our first focus is on reducing food waste at the source. Our leadership knows the impact that wasted food has on people and the planet and therefore has decided to make Waste Not usage and in turn, food cost reduction a priority for the business.​

Waste Not is a web-based tool that will allow ​accounts to track and measure their food waste at the station level. Use this tool to take ownership of your product and food cost and tell each station's waste story to your client. Using Waste Not you will be able to pinpoint where the majority of your waste is coming from and why.

Yes, we are trayless in our all-you-care-to-eat café on campus at Lafayette, and train all servers in portion control to help minimize post-consumer food waste.

Yes, we donate food to the Third Street Alliance, Safe Harbour and Project Easton by working with Lafayette’s Food Recovery Network student group, and are currently Food Recovery Verified.

There is also an on-campus initiative that alerts students to leftovers available on campus. This is overseeing by the Office of Sustainability and staff, faculty, and students are all contributors and participants.

Used cooking oil to fuel

Our pre-consumer compost program works in Marquis directly with LaFarm to pick up buckets to be used in their compost. Other materials are put through the pulper to eventually make its way into compost.

All post-consumer food waste from our 2 main sit down dining halls is put through a pulper and brought to a composting area to be composted and is then used on our student farm.

In our Residential dining facilities and Gilberts Cafe we offer reusable (washable) service ware including cups, bowls, plates silverware etc.

Yes, we have a reusable clamshell program on campus and we utilize compostable containers for to go meals.

We offer reusable clamshells to all students which can be used at either all-you-care-to-eat dining facilities. We offer 10% off drinks for those with reusable mugs at Skillman Library's cafe. Our ECO Cafe we also offer a discount for returning used glass Kombucha containers to be returned to the family owned business.

Marquis Dining Hall – Food Recovery Verified
Upper Farinon – Food Recovery Verified
Gilbert’s Café – Food Recovery Verified
ECO Café – Food Recovery Verified