University of Connecticut
OP-7: Low Impact Dining

It begins with bid writing with our vendors and establishing expectations up front with our signed contracts. An inventory is provided by our vendors. Third party certifiers come at an additional cost. We have built a data base within our food operating system (Food-Pro) and identify items in our inventory that meet the criteria of sustainable food and beverage.

The University of Connecticut, Department of Dining Services has continuously been voted one of the elite eight vegan friendly colleges and universities in the country, voted number 1 in 2013. Out of 11360 recipes in our food pro information system, 1520 are vegan. This calculates to 13% of total recipes are vegan based. We are proud to offer vegan options in every one of our facilities on campus to include: • Eight residential dining halls • Eight Coffee shops/cafes • Union street market Food Court • Farm to table restaurant “One Plate, Two Plate” • Chuck and Augie’s Restaurant • UConn Catering We are a proud user of many vegan based proteins, and was one of the first Universities in the Country to use a pea protein based product-called “Beyond Meat” which is a non GMO, Organic, Gluten Free meatless alternative. A majority of our Vegan option are prepared on site from scratch. Some of our most popular vegan options are: *Sweet Potato Kale Burgers *Vegetable Pakoras *Falafel * Moroccan Vegetable Tagine *Korean Japchae, *Curried Chickpeas *Brazilian Vegetable and Bean stews. *Farro “risotto” *Rigatoni with white bean ragout *Eggplant caponata w/ focaccia crostini We also host our annual “Animal Friendly” Dinner on campus in our Whitney dining facility. This is a 100% vegan dinner promoting the vegan friendly lifestyle.

UConn purchased $587,133.85 worth of cases of Coleman Chicken last year. It has no antibiotics, hormone free, and is vegetarian fed. UConn’s “Farm Fresh Market” sells local produce and produce from our student-run gardens and has resulted in an increase of $7,000 in revenue. 100% of all fish purchased is currently sustainable. There is no external certifier. Sysco internally, certifies procurement with a third party audit. Dining Services’ sustainable mission statement is: • To operate UConn Dining Services in a way that recognizes the central role that food service plays in the structure of society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life of people, animals, and the environment. • To reduce our environmental footprint through sustainable practices, waste reduction, insightful procurement practices and working with partners that have sustainable practices where contributions focus on the preservation of the planet. • To distribute and sell the finest quality of ethical and cruelty free related products in a wide variety of categories and operate Dining Services a good stewards as a food service provider.

Dining Services is committed to pursuing Green Restaurant certification for all of its dining halls, starting with Buckley Dining Hall in 2013 and continuing with Whitney Dining Hall and Gelfenbien in 2015. All UConn dining halls are tray-less. 4 dining halls use E-Correct in-kitchen decomposers to reduce food waste by 80%. Putnam Dining Hall is using a waste-to-water digester system as a way to reduce waste. DDS also recently purchased 3 EVs for all on-campus catering and other deliveries. DDS has an on-campus Farm-Fresh markets once a week in the summer and fall months and the DDS Local Routes program makes UConn the largest purchaser of local produce in the State of CT. DDS funds staff to help advise and manage student-run organic farms on-campus (EcoGarden and Spring Valley Student Farm).