Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 79.39
Liaison Yolanda Cieters
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Seattle University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.80 / 2.00 Yolanda Cieters
Associate Director
CEJS
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives

Local community engagement

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?:
No

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
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Sustainability-themed outlet

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:
Redhawk Dining does not currently have one venue that is sustainability-themed focusing. When menuing, our culinarians try to provide local and sustainable focuses to each of our menus but there is no particular venue that is solely focused to this.

Inclusive and local sourcing

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
When appropriate, Redhawk Dining tries to season our menus with many fresh & local ingredients. A few vendors that we continuously use throughout the year include: WOW Baking Company, Beecher’s Cheese, Seattle Bagel Company, Oregon Chai, Wilcox Farms, Marsee Baking Company, Dillano Coffee Roasters, Columbia Gorge Juice & Coffee, Aunt Patty’s, Northern Fruit Company, Domex Farms, Ralf’s Green House, and Hugh’s Farms.
20% of Redhawk Dining’s food purchasing is from local, social enterprises, and/or disadvantaged businesses.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
20

Low-impact dining

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:
Throughout the year Redhawk Dining focuses on many low impact eating habits and events. Examples:
--Our Thrive without 9 menu features vegetables & other sides like starches as the center of the plate with a smaller emphasis and size of the traditional animal proteins.
--Each year we host a "Stop Food Waste" day that measures and shows Redhawks how much food waste they are creating as whole.
--Each of our Teaching Kitchens focuses on sustainable cooking tips, tricks, as well as local ingredients and how buying local doesn’t just impact local owners but helps our planet!
--A recent example of a low-impact dining event: Celebration of National Vegetarian Day in October 2020 with a complete plant-based menu for lunch & dinner.

Vegan dining program 

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:
Redhawk Dining’s vegan items consist of 22.59% of our menu. Throughout our rotating and stagnant menus we try to offer a traditional protein and a plant-based protein option. Throughout each station Redhawks will find a complete protein vegan option available during every meal, in addition to delicious sides. To help students identify these options, we post a vegan icon on all menu screens as well as online on our website: Dineoncampus.com/SeattleU

Labelling and signage 

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:
Redhawk Dining informs its guests about low impact food choices and sustainability practices in many ways.
--Right at the entrance of Cherry Street Market, we have a wall dedicated to all of our sustainable principles to remind students of our focus on sustainability issues and relevant policies, including antibiotics use on animal farms, animal welfare issues, sustainable seafood, and farmworkers rights.
--All Redhawk Dining venue menus utilize the following icons throughout their menus across campus: "Vegan" to indicate all vegan entrees & sides; "Vegetarian" to indicate all vegetarian options; "Avoiding Gluten" to showcase all options that are made without any gluten/wheat in the ingredients; Lastly "BalancedU", that indicates a healthy, balanced option
--On our website (Dineoncampus.com/SeattleU), guests can find further details on all of our current sustainable policy’s from what we purchase to where! See also: https://dineoncampus.com/seattleu/our-sustainable-commitment

Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery

Food recovery program

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:
Our culinary team is trained to use proper cutting techniques to ensure as much limited waste as possible. We also utilize small batch cooking throughout all of our facilities to ensure we are only preparing what is needed. All of our waste is tracked weekly through our "Waste Not" program. This program enables us to not just track the waste, but do a weekly reflection on if we need to par down any ingredients, amounts of dishes, etc.

Redhawk Dining is also an official Chapter of the Food Recovery Network. On average each year (October to October) we’ve donated over 10,000 pounds of food to Operation Sack Lunch (https://www.oslserves.org/) and SU’s Food Pantry (https://www.seattleu.edu/oma/food-security-initiative/food-pantry/).

Trayless dining and portion modifications 

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?:
No

A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
Trays are still utilized throughout Cherry Street Market but all of our menus are a la carte, so students are only able to order what they need. None of the facilities are currently all you can eat, and each of our servers are trained to provide the healthy portions based on a recommended 2,000 calorie intake a day.

Food donation 

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:
Redhawk Dining is an official Chapter of the Food Recovery Network. On average each year (October to October) we’ve donated over 10,000 pounds of food to Operation Sack Lunch (https://www.oslserves.org/) and SU’s Food Pantry (https://www.seattleu.edu/oma/food-security-initiative/food-pantry/).

Food materials diversion 

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:
Yes, we divert food materials from the landfill in the following ways: on-site pre consumer composting, RTI (Restaurant Technologies Incorporated) takes our used oil and makes it into bio-diesel, and off site post-consumer composting.

We also reduce waste in our supply chain by purchasing through Chartwell’s Imperfectly Delicious Produce program – a program that was developed to create markets for cosmetically imperfect produce that would otherwise go to waste on farms and in processing.

Composting 

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:
Food preparation staff put pre-consumer food waste into red bins in the kitchen. Pre-consumer food waste goes to our on-campus compost facility. The pre-consumer systems makes over 50 ton of compost per year. All of the finished product is used on our campus grounds as soil amendment.

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:
There are food waste bins at every restaurant and cafe, outside every building, at catered events, in employee kitchens and in dorm rooms. Post-consumer food waste is collected by a local hauler and taken to a local compost facility because our campus compost facility is not permitted to take it. There is post-consumer collection at 175 stations around campus in the academic buildings.

Dine-in service ware 

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:
Due to COVID-19, we currently are not able to offer dine-in materials. However, typically we provide and encourage the use of china & skipping the straw on beverages. Note that all of our straws are compostable, but we continue to promote skipping single use plastics throughout our facilities through events, tabling, and promotions.

Take-away materials 

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:
Yes, Redhawk Dining utilizes 100% compostable containers for to-go meals, and has a composting program that is able to accept those containers.

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:
Yes, (pre-Covid) guests were able to bring in their own reusable mug and thermos to any of our coffee venues and receive a 20 cent discount.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Each quarter Redhawk Dining also works with Seattle University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs to help support food security on campus. The last two weeks of each quarter, students are able to donate their unused meal plan dollars to other SU students in need in a program called "Swipe Out Hunger." Redhawk Dining is a partner with Swipe Out Hunger: https://www.swipehunger.org/

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
http://Dineoncampus.com/SeattleU

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Our primary dining service contractor is Chartwell's which is called "Redhawk Dining" at SeattleU.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.