Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.81
Liaison Kelli O'Day
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of California, Davis
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Camille Kirk
Director of Sustainability and Campus Sustainability Planner
Office of Sustainability
"---" 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?:
Yes

A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
Farmers market:
Student Housing and Dining Services (SHDS) is a co-sponsor of the UC Davis campus farmers market. The Coffee House is also a supporter of the UC Davis Farmer's market.

Urban agriculture projects:
The Coffee House purchases locally grown produce from the UC Davis Student Farms as well as several other local farms. In 2019, the Coffee House also launched a garden program called the Rooftop Garden, which is intended to grow produce for Coffee House recipes and for donation to the student pantry.

Dining Services supports the Student Farm and the Resident Garden program. Dining does not host a Community Supported Agriculture program, however, the campus Student Farm does (https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sf/farm-marketplace).

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:
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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:
Dining Services purchases produce from the Student Farm.

The Coffee House purchases a variety of products from small local businesses such as Russell Ranch, Portello Farms, Main Street Bagel, Next Generation Foods, Pure Grain Bakery, UC Davis Student Farm, Village Bakery, and Pink Dozen.

Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
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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:
Dining hosted several plant-based pop-up meals to gauge student interest in plant-based meals and has since added more plant based options into the menu cycle. All burgers served in the Dining Commons are a 50/50 meat and mushroom blend. At one of the retail locations the Beyond Burger and 50/50 burger are served and listed as the first two items on the menu.

The Coffee House Cooks platform host Meatless Mondays every Monday, in which made-from-scratch meatless options are available. In addition to the Meatless Monday program, the Coffee House also has meat alternatives at every food station.

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:
Dining Services currently offer a complete vegan option at all 3 of our residential dining facilities. We have a vegan entrée on the menu and offered during lunch and dinner at a dedicated platform as well as a broad range salad bar that contains vegan dips, salads, build your own salad and fruit available. During breakfast, our salad bar has a vegan congee available as well as oatmeal. Our catering department has options for vegan and vegetarian and are able to accommodate additional requests. Our menu planning ensures that at least 1 vegan option is available at all times in our residential dining and our menu labels designates vegan items with a blue V symbol. We have vegan desserts available during each meal period from third party vendors and at one resident dining facility we are offering a chia seed pudding which is vegan or vegetarian. We have coconut ice cream and a variety of milk alternatives available at each location and are consistently looking to improve selection. Other offerings we have on a daily basis are sprouted wheat bread, soft tofu, vegan spread/dip (rotates daily – includes romescu, hummus, babaganoush, etc. with pita chips), tahini, seed mixture for salad/entrees, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, and nutritional yeast for sprinkling on anything.

The Coffee House has a vegan alternative at every food station.

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:
Icons were created and added to menus and marketing materials (posters, napkin holder inserts, LCD screens, bulletin boards) to identify ingredients that meet sustainability criteria (i.e. Fair Trade, Local, Organic, Human, Sound). Additionally, there are sustainability and nutrition student staff that do in person peer-to-peer education that includes the topic of healthy and sustainable food choices.

The Coffee House has product-specific signs at several of our food stations.

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:
The campus participates annually in the US EPA Food Recovery Challenge and reports the amount of food waste that is annually donated to feed people, composted, anaerobically digested, or recycled (for oils, fat and grease). As part of the challenge, the campus also sets food recovery and reduction goals for the following year.

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
All UC Davis Dining Commons are trayless dining; trays are not available any location.

UC Davis Dining Services offers several programs that encourage food waste minimization. The Just Ask program at UC Davis Dining Services provides guests with an option of customizing a prepared dish by encouraging them to request alterations from our chefs. Signs are posted around the Dining Commons reminding students that they can ask for a dish without sides, in a half portion or without a bun.

The Try-a-Taste program at UC Davis provides guests in the all-you-care-to-eat campus dining commons an opportunity to sample a plated entrée or soup before taking an entire serving of food. This helps reduce food waste.

Reusable 4oz china ramekins or 2oz ceramic soup spoons are used as sample vessels. Platform cooks prepare a flight of samples that are available next to the fully plated items or crock of soup. A larger ramekin is available at the point of service for students to discard empty sample cups/spoons.

The Coffee House does not offer or use trays and has various portion size options for food and beverages to help minimize food waste.

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:
UC Davis Dining Services participates in the Food Recovery Network Davis chapter, which was started on campus in 2012. The food is donated to the Aggie Compass, The ASUCD Pantry and local charities in the Davis community.

The Coffee House donates surplus food to its employees or to the Campus 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:
The fryer oil is diverted from the landfill and used for industrial uses. The pre & post-consumer food waste from the Dining Commons is sent to the campus Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester where the energy is used to run the boilers at a nearby facility.

The Coffee House has a recycling and composting program.

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:
ASUCD Project Compost unit maintains a pre-consumer food waste program on campus that collects food trimmings, coffee grounds, etc. from campus retail eateries for on-site composting. Pre-consumer food waste is picked up twice a week by Project Compost.

Pre-consumer food waste from the Dining Commons is taken to a Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester facility that is built on the campus landfill.

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:
Post-consumer food waste is collected from all retail eateries and dining commons, a number of administrative offices/facilities, and special events. The composting implementation at each facility location is paired with an educational program to ensure that occupants understand and are able to compost their food waste/packaging accurately, decreasing the chance of contamination. The compostable material is taken to either an off campus commercial composting facility for processing or is taken to a Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester facility that is built on the campus landfill.

At the Coffee House, ten three-compartment waste receptacles in the dining room collect "landfill", "mixed recycling" and "compost". Compostable waste (post-consumer) is collected in compostable bags and placed in a compactor, which is picked up and emptied every three weeks. 95% of the disposable-ware is compostable.

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:
All dining commons utilize reusable service ware for "dine in" meals. Most retail eateries utilize recyclable or compostable service waste for to-go meals, with the exception of a few meal products. All food facilities are composting facilities.

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:
All dining commons and retail eateries have a composting program in place. A majority of supplies used by the food facilities are recyclable (paper, cardboard, plastics #1-6) or compostable (BPI and ASTM certified compostable). The supplies selected are based on campus recycling and compostable acceptance standards.

In special events, sometimes to-go containers are used to pack lunch boxes for event attendees. In these cases, composting bins are normally available during the events and the containers are compostable containers (commonly wax-lined paper 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:
Discounts are provided to customers who use reusable drinking or food containers when purchasing coffee or soda in food service facilities on campus. For example, customers get a $0.25 discount at all Coffee House operations for providing their own cup, mug, bowl or plate.

At all Peet's locations, customers get a $0.10 discount for providing their own cup or mug.

Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related initiatives not covered above:
Quarterly front-of-house waste audits are done in all three Dining Commons as a way to educate patrons on food waste reduction. When patrons come to the dish return they are asked to sort their waste into four categories: edible food waste, non-edible food waste, liquid waste & napkin waste. Results are shared the following week along with tips on how they can reduce their individual food waste. Results and feedback on menu items served that day are shared with the chefs so they may alter their recipes.

The Coffee House also has a "Pay it Forward" program that allows patrons to purchase specific food items at each register to donate to the student pantry. For example, a customer purchasing pizza would be asked at the register if they would like to purchase an extra slice of pizza to donate. If the customer does purchase an extra slice, a voucher gets sent to the student pantry where students in need can collect food vouchers to redeem at the Coffee House.

Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Further information about the sustainable dining programs is available in below web links. https://housing.ucdavis.edu/sustainability/
https://coffeehouse.ucdavis.edu/sustainability/

Vindyani Jayasinghe, a visiting Humphrey Fellow with the Office of Sustainability, assisted in compiling this credit response.

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.