Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder
[Download high-resolution photo here]
When Fedele Bauccio cofounded Bon Appétit Management Company, he set out to revolutionize the food service industry by bringing fresh, made-from-scratch food to the contract market.
Fedele began his career in food service as a dishwasher in 1960 with Saga Corporation's Education Division, while a student at the University of Portland. In 1972, he transferred to Saga's Business Food Service Division, where he held many positions including Divisional President, President of Saga's Specialty Foodservices Group, and president of the Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Cattle Company restaurant chain.
After more than 25 years in the industry, he knew institutional feeding was ready for something better. In 1987, Bon Appétit Management Company was born. For the first time, real executive chefs were put in charge of the kitchens of colleges, universities, corporations, and cultural centers. Fedele’s dream of a company committed to culinary expertise was a reality — and customers noticed, fueling quick growth for the small, San Francisco-based company. Now headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit serves more than 120 million meals a year at over 400 locations in 31 states.
In 1999, Fedele led his team to once again raise the bar for on-site food service by making a commitment to socially responsible food sourcing, starting with the launch of its Farm to Fork program. Today, Bon Appétit spends tens of millions annually on food from small, owner-operated farms within a 150-mile radius of each café, and uses only sustainable seafood, turkey and chicken raised without antibiotics as a routine feed additive, natural beef burgers, rBGH-free milk and yogurt, and cage-free shell eggs. In 2007, the company debuted its Low Carbon Diet, the first program to make the connection between food and climate change, and in 2009 partnered with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to become the first food services company to implement a Code of Conduct for how Florida tomato growers treat their workers. (See full list of milestones.)
From 2006-2008, Fedele served on the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that brought together leaders in veterinary medicine, agriculture, public health, business, government, rural advocacy, and animal welfare. Together they conducted a fact-based and balanced examination of how farm animals are raised in this country, and in April 2008 the commission issued a comprehensive report of its findings as well as recommendations for the industry and for policymakers. He is currently a board member of Compass Group North America; Maria Maria, Inc. in San Francisco; and the President's Advisory Council of the University of Portland.
Fedele's work has been honored by many nonprofit and industry groups: among them, the James Beard Foundation recognized his contributions with one of its inaugural Leadership Awards, along with First Lady Michelle Obama and eight others, in 2011; Chefs Collaborative named him its Sustainability Pathfinder of 2011; the Natural Resources Defense Council chose him for its first Going Green Award, in 2009; and Seafood Choices Alliance named him a Seafood Champion of 2007. Bon Appétit has also received the 2008 Innovator of the Year from Nation's Restaurant News; the Golden Chain Award for Excellence from Nation's Restaurant News in 1998; and the 1992 "Ivy Award" from Restaurants & Institutions.
Fedele graduated from the University of Portland with a master's degree in business administration (1966) and a bachelor's degree in economics (1964). He is a 1985 graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Portland in 2004 and from the University of Redlands in 2010.
See 7x7 Magazine's profile of Fedele: "Fedele Bauccio: The Man Who Cooked Up 136.5 Million Sustainable Meals Last Year," February 22, 2012
Fedele regularly contributes opinion pieces to national media outlets. Some samples:
-
"Another View: Pork Growers: Don't Ignore Customers," Des Moines Register, April 1, 2013
-
"Redefining Sustainability - or Practicing What We Preach," Sustainability: A Journal of Record, February 2013
-
"Thomas Keller Has a Responsibility - To Set the Record Straight," Huffington Post, May 29, 2012
-
"Safe" Food Isn't Our Real Problem," Huffington Post, June 17, 2011