Bon Appétit Marks 10 Years of Fellows Program with Student Activist Grant Contest
Food service pioneer gives back to campus changemakers with ten $1,000 grants
Palo Alto, CA (Sept. 10, 2019) — In 2009 Bon Appétit Management Company began hiring young people for a unique fellowship program that has become part real-world food-systems education and part idea incubator. Twenty-one Fellows to date have joined Bon Appétit as full-time employees, for stints of one to two years, to learn about what our vision for “food service for a sustainable future” truly means — and what goes into making it a reality. They then share that story in multiple ways.
Bon Appétit looks for recent graduates who were sustainability champions on campuses served by the company’s food services. Their backgrounds enable them to be credible peer-to-peer educators about where a college dining hall’s food comes from and why that’s important. In the past decade, Fellows have organized an estimated 200 field trips to local farms, ranches, and other food producers, 140 kitchen tours, 500 classroom guest lectures and discussions, and much more, reaching close to 70,000 people. They also participate in the company’s work to make change, by conducting in-depth research projects on important food system issues, creating guides for best practices, and making recommendations for new sustainability initiatives that keep Bon Appétit on the leading edge.
“The Fellows program is one of the most important things we’ve ever done. These young people are so smart and so passionate, they inspire everyone who comes into contact with them.”
— Bon Appétit CEO and cofounder Fedele Bauccio
“The Fellows program is one of the most important things we’ve ever done,” says Bon Appétit CEO and cofounder Fedele Bauccio, who created the program with Chief Strategy and Brand Officer Maisie Ganzler. “These young people are so smart and so passionate, they inspire everyone who comes into contact with them, including me.” (Read interviews with the past Fellows.)
In honor of the 10th anniversary of the program, Bon Appétit will give away ten $1,000 grants to student groups across the country with compelling projects to improve food system sustainability.
“We’re looking for the kind of projects that the Fellows themselves dedicated their free time to when they were students, such as funding a campus garden or a Food Recovery Network chapter — or something else entirely,” explains Nicole Tocco Cardwell. A former Fellow turned Bon Appétit’s manager of strategic initiatives, Tocco Cardwell oversees the Fellows program and the grant contest. “We wanted to give back, to water the seeds of change on our campuses.”
Applications are due October 1, 2019; learn more at www.bamco.com/grants.
About Bon Appétit Management Company
Bon Appétit Management Company (www.bamco.com) is an on-site restaurant company operating 1,000-plus locations in 33 states for corporations, universities, and museums. Bon Appétit chefs cook from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. The Palo Alto–based food service company is a recognized industry leader in environmentally and socially responsible practices, with awards from organizations including the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council, Acterra, James Beard Foundation, and many others.
Media contact: Bonnie Powell, [email protected]