University of Connecticut
OP-8: Sustainable Dining

UConn Dining Services sponsors a Farmers Market, located at the center of campus, that runs from May through September. At the Farmers Market you will find fresh local produce, including items from UConn’s Spring Valley Student Farm, baked goods from the UConn Bakery, local honey, and many other local products each week.

CrossRoads Café offers plant-forward options that will satisfy meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans alike. Our goal is to serve healthy, wholesome cuisine that nourishes the body, feeds the soul, and helps the planet.” The high-profile location of CrossRoads Café, located in the Wilbur Cross Building, makes it the perfect venue for UConn Dining to showcase the fruits of our sustainability initiatives.

One Plate Two Plates is a restaurant in the Student Union that focuses on using local, sustainable, and healthy foods. “One Plate, Two Plates” was conceived with the philosophy that our menu options will be made from non-processed foods. We realize there are individuals on campus looking to strive for a healthy balanced diet with natural foods versus foods made with artificial ingredients. We hope that creating a menu based on preparing real, locally sourced food, made daily from scratch, will meet the needs of our community.

Food for Thought, a sustainability themed food truck, offers local ingredients with particular emphasis on plant based and meat alternative cuisine. Food for Thought participates in many special events on campus and is a great resource for educating our community on nutritional mindfulness and the impact of our food decisions on our own health and that of the planet.

Whitney Dining Hall is UConn Dining Services flagship Local Routes destination. The goal of the Local Routes program is to develop interest in locally produced foods among the university community. By holding Local Routes Fairs and encouraging the use of local foods through on-campus food service operations, the Department of Dining Services will focus on supporting and promoting the use of local and sustainable foods. Through education and interaction, the Local Routes Program will encourage the support of local food producers and businesses that sell locally grown foods.

UConn Dining Services purchases products and services from local SMEs whenever possible. Our partnership with Mountain Dairy is a great example of the successful implementation of this strategy. Since 1871, the Stearns Family Farm has prioritized simple from-the-farm values for delivering high quality, great tasting milk families can afford. They continued the tradition of delivering Mountain Dairy milk with minimal handling and utmost care through a simple farm-to-bottle process that all takes place on their family farm in Storrs, CT. It is relationships like this that help to make UConn Dining Services stand out in the college food service industry.

Every April, the Department of Dining Services hosts a Zero-Waste Barbecue as part of UConn’s Earth Day Spring Fling celebration. The barbecue features a fully vegan menu including burgers, hot dogs, brats and “salad on a stick.” No utensils are needed, all plates are reusable, and all napkins are compostable. There are several waste stations manned by volunteers to direct students to compost and recycle correctly. The creation of events like the Zero-Waste Barbeque is the direct result of the the culture of UConn Dining Services and their participation in organizations like Menus of Change. The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative(MCURC) vision is to create a dynamic, invitational network of leading university-based scholars, foodservice business leaders, and executive chefs that collaborate on research and education in support of culinary-centric, evidence-based food systems innovation within and beyond universities. This initiative leverages the unique position of UConn to advance healthier, more sustainable life-long food choices among students—who will soon be parents and adult decision-makers—by connecting a diversity of insights from academic programs, dining services, and athletics (performance dining).

UConn Dining Services has won gold in the NACUFS Best Vegan Recipe Contest and received a “Vegan Friendly” rating from PETA’s Vegan Report Card. Out of 9890 recipes in our food pro information system, 300 are vegan. In addition, there are many options on bars (i.e., grain bars) that are vegan, but are not included in this number as individual entrees. Every lunch and dinner there are at least 1 to 2 vegan recipes offered. In addition, Dining Services is expanding its vegan offerings at breakfast as with vegan french toast, vegan pancakes, and mung bean eggs.
We are proud to offer vegan options in every one of our facilities on campus including:
• Eight residential dining halls
• All coffee shops & cafes
• Union Street Market
• One Plate, Two Plates
• Earth Wok & Fire
• UConn Catering
We are a proud user of many vegan based proteins and were 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 options 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”
• Eggplant Caponata w/ Focaccia Crostini
https://dining.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2022/07/Vegan-Vegetarian-
Companies.pdf

All eight dining halls on campus are Green Restaurant Certified, and signage is present in each of the dining halls informing patrons of the certification. A brief description of the sustainability objectives encompassed by the Green Restaurant program is also included.
Our current GRA Ratings are:
• Buckley Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2019
• Gelfenbien Commons: 4 Star – 2023
• McMahon Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022
• North Campus Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022
• Northwest Marketplace: 4 Star – 2022
• Putnam Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2018
• Rome Commons at South: 4 Star – 2023
• Whitney Dining Hall: 4 Star – 2022

All food items throughout our operations are labeled with allergens and nutritional values while locally grown products, sustainably harvested seafood, and non- conventionally raised meats that are served in our dining halls are labeled as such. There are video monitors that stream sustainability and wellbeing information for the community throughout our operations, as well as messages highlighting environmental issues related to food, like the harmful effects of pesticides on bees and the importance of bees in food production.
You can find complete ingredients and nutrition information for all dishes at http://dining.uconn.edu/

UConn Dining Services utilizes state-of-the-art software to track food orders and waste generated, using the data collected to develop reduction strategies.

LeanPath 360 is a robust, food waste tracking system that includes a built-in scale, camera, and touchscreen user interface. Food waste photography is a game changer: illuminating waste reasons, staff training opportunities and waste data validation in a way simple numbers can’t do. Combined with deep data analysis, LeanPath 360 brings high visibility to food waste and engages our staff at the same time.

FoodPro is our primary procurement application, and by incorporating waste data from LeanPath, our managers can hone forecast modeling to greatly reduce overproduction of menu items.

Additionally, Dining Services is studying post-consumer waste in the largest Dining Hall on campus to develop a baseline level of waste per transaction. Once the baseline is established, Dining plans to study the effectiveness of various strategies to
reduce post-consumer waste.

Lastly, Dining Services supports sustainability education. Staff members have recently attended educational events, where, for example, they have learned more about acceptable practices for the reheating and reuse of food, allowing them to identify additional opportunities for waste reduction. The departments Project/Sustainability Manager attended the 2020 Waste Expo where he was immersed in the latest technology and trends in sustainability and continues to engage the topic fervently.

UConn Dining Service is 100% trayless!
Additionally, McMahon dining hall serves pre-portioned food in individual servings to promote healthy portion sizes, and actually reduces the amount of food waste that is generated as a result of students putting too much food on their plate.

In partnership with UConn Dining Services and UConn Community Outreach, Food Recovery collects and delivers surplus food to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic, CT. This food includes leftover sandwiches from the cafes that are delivered multiple times per week. UConn Dining Services also conducts a Food Sweep at the end of each semester where all of the perishable inventory that would spoil over break, is collected and donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen.

Yellow grease (used cooking oil) is stored on site in a modern, convenient, safe (double-hulled) containment system, installed at all of or our locations in 2018. Mahoney Environmental collects and renders this yellow grease as part of a biodiesel production program.

100% of food waste is separated, stored, and shipped to Quantum Biopower to be included in a large scale, commercial anaerobic digestion program. Quantum uses the methane collected to generate clean electricity that is then used to power homes in Southington, Connecticut.

UConn Dining Services has a pre-consumer composting program in which food waste is being sent to Quantum Biopower in Southington, CT, where it is anaerobically digested and converted into renewable biogas. The remaining co-product is used for livestock bedding, compost, and fertilizer.

UConn Dining Services utilizes the Quantum Biopower program mentioned above to handle post-consumer food waste as well. Post-consumer food waste is processed for all eight dining halls and catering operations, and the byproduct of anaerobic digestion, compost, is used for a variety of agricultural and industrial uses.

All dining halls utilize ceramic plates, metal utensils, plastic bowls, and plastic cups that are returned and washed in energy efficient dish washing machines.

All “to-go” containers used throughout UConn Dining Services operations are from the Eco-Products brand. Depending on the item, Eco-Products are produced with either 24% post-consumer recycled office paper or 100% renewable energy. For Earth Day Spring Fling and Arbor Day Celebration, food is distributed on compostable plates with compostable forks.

The Green Piece program is a reusable to-go container that can be purchased and used at locations in the Student Union: Union Street Market (USM), Earth, Wok & Fire, and One Plate, Two Plates. Using a reusable to-go container helps Dining
Services to cut back on buying paper containers, decreases our carbon footprint, and reduces waste.
Details about the program:
•Any UConn faculty, staff, or students can enroll/use the Green Piece container
•Your enrollment in the program never expires
•Every time you use a Green Piece container you save .50 cents* off your
Green Piece meal
•Containers are: 100% BPA free polypropylene, microwave safe for re-
heating, NSF certified, and can eventually be recycled (#5 of recycle chart)
• The process is incentivized and convenient because when you are done with your meal you drop the container in the return bin near the Union Street Market and dining services takes care of the cleaning

Infrastructure:
UConn Dining Services invests significantly in sustainability infrastructure projects year after year. Here are some highlights:
• Dish Rooms: Ultra-efficient Meiko flight-type dish machines that use as little as 20 gallons of water per hour are the standard specification. All garbage disposals and freshwater scrapping systems have been removed and replaced with custom stainless-steel workstations with integrated food waste separation/containment.
• Commercial Cooking Equipment: Energy Star is our standard as we move toward full electric modality.
• Refrigeration: All of our modular & remote refrigeration meets the Energy Star Standard with Hydrocarbon Refrigerant.
• L.E.D. Lighting Upgrades throughout our operations.
• Highly defined, monitored, and documented operation-wide faucet/pre-rinse aeration program.
• LEED: all UConn Dining major renovation projects are designed to meet
LEED Silver or higher standards.
•Living Walls: UConn Dining Services has Living Walls in two of our dining halls. The herbs grown are used in recipes and remind our customers of the important role plants play in our health and the health of the planet.