Williams College
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.72 / 6.00 |
Temesgen
Araya Dining Director Dining |
Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on products that are sustainably or ethically produced:
Percentage of total annual food and beverage expenditures on plant-based foods:
An inventory of food and beverage purchases that qualify as sustainably/ethically produced:
A brief description of the methodology used to conduct the inventory, including the timeframe and how representative samples accounted for seasonal variation (if applicable):
The college used the Real Food Challenge methodology to inventory food purchases in two representative months (September 2018 and February 2019), research their sustainability attributes, and tag them accordingly. Food items could be tagged as Local/Community-based, Ecologically Sound, Fair, and/or Humane. They could also be tagged as Not Real Food or Disqualified. Two Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives Interns conducted this work following the end of the 2018-2019 academic year. More info about the Real Food Calculator can be found here: https://calculator.realfoodchallenge.org/help/howtoguide
The plant-based inventory was conducted separately for the Cool Food Pledge for all Dining Services' food purchases for FY19 (July 1 2018-June 30, 2019).
Website URL where the institution’s validated Real/Good Food Calculator results are publicly posted:
Which of the following food service providers are present on campus and included in the inventory/assessment?:
| Present? | Included? | |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by the institution | Yes | Yes |
| Dining operations and catering services operated by a contractor | No | No |
| Student-run food/catering services | Yes | No |
| Franchises (e.g., regional or global brands) | No | No |
| Convenience stores | No | No |
| Vending services | Yes | Yes |
| Concessions | Yes | No |
Total annual dining services budget for food and beverage products:
A brief description of the institution’s sustainable food and beverage purchasing program:
Dining is continuing to develop relationships with local producers (Peace Valley Farm & Highlawn) to increase our purchase of sustainable foods. We have also added locally grown hydroponic leafy greens to our food procurement processes as well as added more robust purchasing from food coop purchases with Marty’s Local. Dining also continues to purchase coffee from Deans Beans.
More information about Williams' Real Food Challenge program can be found here: https://sustainability.williams.edu/food/real-food-challenge/
Website URL where information about the food and beverage purchasing program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Methodology for calculating plant-based percentage:
Zilkha Center interns recently compiled total Dining Services' food purchases for the 2019 fiscal year by weight.
After consulting with AASHE STARS staff, we then used the price per weight conversion factors from this ReFED report, which AASHE recommended, to calculate total expenditures for all food categories.
https://refed.org/downloads/ReFED-U.S.-Grocery-Retail-Value-to-Weight-Conversion-Factors.pdf
Methodology for calculating plant-based percentage:
Zilkha Center interns recently compiled total Dining Services' food purchases for the 2019 fiscal year by weight.
After consulting with AASHE STARS staff, we then used the price per weight conversion factors from this ReFED report, which AASHE recommended, to calculate total expenditures for all food categories.
https://refed.org/downloads/ReFED-U.S.-Grocery-Retail-Value-to-Weight-Conversion-Factors.pdf
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.