Macalester College
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Macalester – through our wellness program – partners with Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm out of Waverly, Minnesota to bring the community fresh, local, and nutritious produce for sale, right on site. Untiedt’s has been traditionally on-site every Thursday. Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm also offers a CSA subscription with pick up locations near campus. Macalester also partners with Good Acre to be a CSA drop-off site all summer.

In addition there are a few initiatives aimed at student food security. MacsHare is a student-run cooperative that sells produce and dry bulk goods to the Macalester community at weekly pop-up sales. They purchase produce in bulk from local producers or food hubs and sell everything by the pound, at-price. Any food that remains unsold is purchased by Macalester’s Cafe Mac/Bon Appétit. It’s a convenient and affordable way for students to access fresh produce. MacShare also piloted a summer CSA program for students focused upon providing accessible $10 weekly boxes to students

Bon Appetit has a coffee cart in the art building that serves all Fair Trade/Equal Exchange Coffee and Tea drinks in completely compostable cups.

Bon Appétit's Farm to Fork program requires that vendors be small (under $5 million revenue), local (within 150 miles) and owner-operated. Organic certification isn’t required, because we believe that small, owner-operated farms, where the owner is involved in the day to day operation of the farm operate much differently than large mono-cropped farms. Locally Crafted, a program within Farm to Fork, was created for locally owned businesses creating artisan food products (such as tofu) from local or third party certified ingredients. Farm to Fork vendors have been visited by members of the Bon Appétit team in person; some during the enrollment process and some on a more regular basis. You can read more about Farm to Fork requirements at http://www.bamco.com/timeline/farm-to-fork/.

When Bon Appétit started our Low Carbon Diet program in 2007 — making us the first restaurant company to connect food and climate change — it was with specific targets in mind for how much carbon emissions we wanted to lose over five years. And we did it, meeting our goals and resulting in reductions of the equivalent of approximately 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide each month.

After a few years of happily maintaining our weight, we decided it was time to mentally move from a time-limited diet aimed at a quick reduction to a long-term, sustained way of living. Enter the Low Carbon Lifestyle, a new set of commitments that we can live for the foreseeable future and continue our dedication to reducing the climate-changing impacts of our food choices. We consulted with food and climate change experts across the country, from the Environmental Working Group to the Union of Concerned Scientists and Rainforest Alliance. We settled on these four focus areas: Prioritizing Plant-Based Proteins, Preventing and Reducing Food Waste, Trimming Transportation, Decreasing Deforestation.

We host a number of low impact dining events, including an annual Eat Local Challenge, Earth Week, 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.

In Spring, 2023 the Cafe also partnered with the Macalester Sustainability Office to host an entomophagy awarness day in which students had the opportunity to try baked goods made with cricket flour as well as other insect-themed dishes. Students were also provided with information about the health and sustainability benefits of entomophagy

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 such as gestation crate use, 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 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

Bon Appetit provides vegetarian and vegan meal options at each one of the six stations in the Cafe Mac cafeteria (open 19 meals a week), as well as Celiac friendly options. Vegetarian and vegan options are always available at each of the food outlets on campus as well.

Menu Icon Legend
Vegetarian
Vegetarian: Contains no meat, fish, poultry, shellfish or products derived from these sources but may contain dairy or eggs

Farm To Fork
Farm to Fork: Contains seasonal, minimally processed ingredients from a local farm, ranch, or fishing boat.

Locally Crafted
Locally Crafted: Contains products crafted by a small, locally owned food business using socially and/or environmentally responsible practices.

Vegan
Vegan: Contains absolutely no animal or dairy products.

Humane
Humane: Contains humanely raised meat, poultry, or eggs. Must be certified by a credible third-party animal welfare organization.

Made Without Gluten-containing Ingredients
Made without Gluten-Containing Ingredients: Due to our open kitchens that handle gluten, we cannot guarantee that items made without gluten-containing ingredients are “gluten-free,” as defined by the FDA. We make every effort to avoid gluten cross-contact; however there is always the potential for cross-contact with other gluten-containing food items, particularly in our self-serve facilities. We encourage guests to speak to the chef or manager regarding any questions about ingredients.

Well-Being
For Your Well-Being: Contains foods illustrating this month’s Food For Your Well-Being topic

Bon Appetit makes all their food in small batches as needed to prevent having leftovers. Food will be prepped in large quantities and cooked on an as need basis so the prepped ingredients can be used again in different meals. Macalester students also operate a food recovery program in collaboration with Cafe Bon Appetit where they recover uneaten food from the cafeteria and deliver it to a local nonprofit loaves and fishes. Macalester recently received a 20,000 grant to expand the food recovery program on campus.

The dining hall hosts has removed all trays from the cafeteria to reduce water usage and food waste in 2012.

In addition, a student group on campus partners with the dining services provider to recover food suitable for human consumption from campus dining services and deliver it to the local nonprofit loaves and fishes

Beginning in 2009, food that cannot be donated is diverted to a pig farm, Barthold Farms.

Bon Appétit has long believed that wholesome, excess food should feed people, not waste bins or landfills. We follow the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, which recommends best practices for how to sustainably prevent and manage food waste, meaning we make sure our accounts are actively preventing waste at the source and donating leftovers to local hunger relief organizations, in that order.

Any food waste produced on campus in the process of food production is sent to the pig farm.

Items that cannot be donated or sent to the pig farm are but into the College's industrial composting stream.

Bon Appetit switched all wares – for food produced and packed on-stite – to compostables; this effort includes to-go options and catering wares. Bon Appetit also invested in reusable catering services to make events Zero Waste.

With the supply of all wares switched to compostables, post-consumer composting throughout campus was made easier for everyone.

The Dining Hall offers only reusable dishes. At some made-to-order stations, reusable service ware can be requested for dine-in meals; all other wares are compostable.

In 2021 Macalester implemented a reusable to-go container initiative which converted compostable take-out containers to resusable ozzy containers. The containers are returned and cleaned in the dining services after use. All other take out containers provided on campus are compostable dishware

Bon Appétit offers discounted coffee in reusable mugs.