Foodservice Firm Buys Less Beef, Cheese, Tropical Fruit to Cut Carbon Impact

April 6, 2009

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Foodservice provider Bon Appetit Management Co. has taken upon itself to reduce its carbon footprint.

The company has put into place a program that will exceed its 2009 goals for reducing supply chain carbon emissions and it will achieve a 25 percent reduction by April 2010, according to a press release.

Bon Appetit uses Earth Day, April 22, to promote its own Low Carbon Diet Day. Bon Appetit is telling its customers about the following initiatives, which will reduce carbon emissions throughout its supply chain:

Bon Appetit is buying 25 percent less beef, by offering other options such as turkey and vegetarian burgers.
It is purchasing 10 percent less cheese.
It is cutting its tropical fruit purchases in half by emphasizing seasonal fruit instead.
It is cutting food waste 20 percent by educating chefs and prep staff about smart buying and preparation.

Bon Appetit estimates that the food waste reduction measure alone will remove nearly 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions weekly.

Bon Appetit says it serves an estimated 80 million meals a year in 400 locations at colleges, universities and corporations in 29 states.learn more about Bon Appetit’s low carbon diet commitments here. Bon Appetit is in the second year of its three-year carbon diet program.

Last year about this time, the company pledged to only buy meats raised in North America, to stop purchasing any air freighted seafood and buy only local or frozen-at-sea fish, to push for composting and less food waste; and to stop using imported water.

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Reader Comments

Great article! Thanks for helping us get the word out. A couple points of clarification: The Low Carbon Diet program takes place over three years, during which we’ve pledged to reduce the carbon footprint of our highest impact operations by a total of 25%. 2009 is year two and we’ve exceeded our goals in many areas—notably food waste. The 100,000 pound weekly reduction cited is due to a reduction and diversion of food waste alone, not the program as a whole. Also, we don’t actually tinker with the amount of beef in our burgers. Rather we offer a variety of other types of burgers (such as turkey and vegetarian burgers) in addition to beef burgers. Our chefs also tempt diners with a variety of seasonal, fresh, and creative menu options for all tastes, as a way to reduce total beef consumption.

maisie greenawalt | April 6th, 2009

This is a great initiative, doing something based on the company’s responsibility, not based on the client’s wants! Good for Bon Appetit.

Iain | April 7th, 2009

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