Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 43.94
Liaison Lisa Kawai
Submission Date June 5, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Soka University of America
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.45 / 6.00 Kamal Hrouch
Manager of Bon Appetit
Food and Dining
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on products that are third party verified under one or more recognized food and beverage sustainability standards or Local & Community-Based:
8.50

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 2 of this credit (expenditures on conventional animal products)? (If data is not available, respond “No”):
Yes

Percentage of total dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional animal products (meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, and dairy products that do NOT qualify in either the Third Party Verified or Local & Community-Based category):
31

A brief description of the sustainable food and beverage purchasing program, including how the sustainability impacts of products in specific categories are addressed (e.g. meat, poultry, fish/seafood, eggs, dairy, produce, tea/coffee):

Our produce and groceries are supplied by LA Specialty, which sources from various farms, some of which qualify as Farm to Fork. They also supply us with certified humane eggs. All tea and coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified and/or Certified Organic, supplied by Groundworks Coffee and Numi Tea. The bulk of our liquid dairy milk is from Hollandia, a local dairy supplier. Fish and seafood come from Santa Monica Seafood, a distributor that uses the Monterey Seafood Watch rating system to score their individual products. The scores are displayed on our invoices so that we know the sustainability impact of our seafood purchases. Most of our meat and animal products are supplied by Sysco and Newport Meat, both of which are large distributors, although we do source some beef from a local cattle rancher and are looking to increase our percentage of locally sourced animal products. Lastly, we supply specialty products from various local suppliers, such as tofu from Meiji Tofu based in Los Angeles and pastries from Rossmoor Bakery in Signal Hill.


An inventory of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchases that includes for each product: the description/type; label, brand or producer; and the category in which it is being counted and/or a description of its sustainability attribute(s):
A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):

We measured spending on qualifying products by examining invoices during two representative months, March 2017 and October 2016, to account for seasonal variation.


Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food A (0-100):
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Percentage of total dining services expenditures on Real Food B (0-100):
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Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the total food and beverage expenditure figures?:
Present? Included?
Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution No No
Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor Yes Yes
Student-run food/catering services No No
Franchises (e.g. national or global brands) No No
Convenience stores No No
Vending services Yes Yes
Concessions No No

A brief description of purchased food and beverage products that have other sustainability attributes not recognized above :

Through Bon Appetit, we purchase products categorized as Farm to Fork, which include small farms and producers from within 150 miles of the Bon Appetit kitchen, or mid-sized producers of animal products from within 500 miles or less and third party humane certified. Bon Appetit requires chefs to have at least 20% of their total purchases be from Farm to Fork qualifying suppliers.

We also participate in the Imperfectly Delicious produce program, which works with farmers, distributors, and chefs to purchase cosmetically challenged fruits and vegetables that otherwise would have been discarded.


Additional percentage of dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional products with other sustainability attributes not recognized above (0-100) :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.