Thompson Rivers University
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

TRU has two primary food and beverage operations that are part of the institution: the TRU Culinary Arts Program (which includes the Retail Meat Cutting program), and Aramark, the primary dining services contractor. The TRU Student Union (TRUSU) runs a cafe called Common Grounds. It will not be counted in this section since TRUSU is officially a separate governed entity from the institution of TRU (https://trusu.ca/). Only Culinary Arts and Aramark expenditures are included in the figures provided. Following is a brief description of each of their sustainable food and beverage purchasing programs: TRU Culinary Arts Program (http://www.tru.ca/act/culinary.html). Culinary Arts supports local and community-based vendors whenever possible and buys from many on a regular basis, especially when fresh produce is available during the main growing months. All meats used in the Retail Meat Processing program is sourced from local and community-based suppliers. The former Chair of the Culinary Arts Program and current faculty member, Ed Walker, was instrumental in developing the successful Farm2chefs collaborative (http://www.farm2chefs.com/), which works by bringing local farms/ranches together and partnering them with local restaurants in order to see more local and substantially produced food get from the farm to the consumer. Most beer and wine used in the Culinary Arts program is sourced from local providers. All coffee used is fair trade and organic. Aramark (in contract with TRU) (http://www.aramark.com/): Aramark accounts for the majority of food and beverage purchases at TRU (approximately 75%) and buys many local, community-based and/or third-party verified products, especially during the growing season when fresh produce is easily attainable. Due to its defined contract, however, it is often limited by price, supplier and other contractual obligations regarding its ability to buy from local, community-based and/or third-party verified vendors. As the largest food provider on campus (including largest caterer), Aramark buys a lot of coffee, most of which is certified fair trade and organic. Aramark at TRU has implemented their “Green Tread” program in its operations. The following is from the Aramark website (https: //www.tru.ca/campus/life/food-services/did-you-know/sustainability.html): " "Green Thread™ was introduced in 2008 by Aramark, and is a brand that encompasses a range of environmental stewardship programs and practices that can be offered to our clients. Green Thread™ allows Aramark to efficiently customize an environmental strategy that educates and engages consumers in environmental practices that extend from our on-site operations to opportunities at home for the entire family". http://www.aramark.com/about-us/news/aramark-general/green-thread-environmental-sustainability-platform.

The managers of the two main TRU food and beverage operations were asked to supply a list of all food and beverage purchases that met the criteria and definitions around the terms ”third-party verified and/or local & community-based”. This data was then looked at a second time by TRU Sustainability staff to verify its accuracy and enter it into the attached inventory sheet. The time frame of the data is April 1 2016 to March 31, 2017.

Paul Murphy, TRU Culinary Arts Coordinator, provided inventory lists and expenditures. These inventories were then manually sorted through and all Third Party Verified and Local and Community-Based products were highlighted in order to create a sustainable inventory list. Expenditures were also calculated. Each company was also researched in order to determine if it was considered Local and Community-Based. Contacted Jessica Papineau, Director of Aramark Food Services at TRU, and she provided inventory lists and expenditures. Aramark Canada head-office has a Sustainability Manager (Michael Yarymowich) who provided all the exact numbers for Jessica, and so no manual counting was needed. Regarding why some food products are 400 kms and 800 kms from TRU, according to the STARS Criteria regarding the definition of 'Local & Community Based' all single-ingredient products must meet ALL of the following criteria: Ownership. Producer must be a privately or cooperatively owned enterprise. Wild-caught seafood must come from owner-operated boats. Size. Produce: Gross annual sales for individual farms must not exceed $5 million (US/Canadian). Meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish/seafood, grocery/staple items (e.g., grains): Producing company’s gross annual sales must not exceed $50 million (US/Canadian). Distance. All production, processing, and distribution facilities must be within a 250 mile (400 kilometre) radius of the institution. This radius is extended to 500 miles (800 kilometres) for meat (i.e., beef, lamb, pork, game).