Bon Appétit Management Company

As a chef, when award-winning San Francisco chef Traci Des Jardins asks you for a favor, it’s hard to say no. Even when it’s to do a 300-mile, 3-day bike ride!

When I enter a new classroom or forum, I often ask, “How many people know where their food comes from?” Later, another question arises, “Each time you pick up a piece of produce at the store, do you consider the hands that picked that produce? Those that handled that piece of nutrition, and eventually passed it along to you?” Most students will answer no. I would have too, before I became a Bon Appétit fellow. In the United States today, about 40 percent of our produce is harvested by hand. The farmworkers who carry out this labor work in the most dangerous employment sector in the country, and do not enjoy the same protections that workers in all other sectors do. A child of just 12 years old can labor for eight hours in a scorching hot field, while they would never be […]

For the third year, Bon Appétit at Lewis & Clark College hosted Food Corps’ volunteer orientation, serving not only food, but also ideas about sustainability that volunteers can take back to the communities they serve.

What if you could make a difference in the world just by eating lunch? If you’re one of the many thousands of guests eating at a Bon Appétit Management Company café, you already are!

The recently refurbished, beautiful T. Furth Center for Performing Arts and Ryan Concert Hall, at Trine University in Angola, IN, now hosts world-class performers for its performing arts events — and the Bon Appétit team at Trine enjoys being given the opportunity to cater them with elegance and flair. Trine University, with the help of many donors and supporters, repurposed the nearly 100-year-old, crumbling Angola Christian Church into the gorgeous venue thanks to a close to $8 million renovation. The grand opening of the center brought country legend Lee Greenwood to the stage, and since then the calendar has been dotted with other special events. A recent popular performance included a visit from country star Charlie Daniels. With his Southern twang, he delighted the guests with stories from the road of his long career. The Charlie Daniels Band performance, of […]

What’s in the knife bag and on the restaurant list for this chef on his first-ever trip to New York City.

A screening of the film Food Chains for National Farmworker Awareness Week at St. Edward’s University sparks a moving discussion from College Assistance Migrant Program student panelists.

As this year’s Farmworker Awareness Week approaches, hundreds of Bon Appétit cafés around the country are preparing to spread the word about how few pennies per pound farmworkers earn for commonly picked produce items, and 20 locations are hosting a screening of the documentary Food Chains.

Cooking for the President of the United States

The first Garden community program — with 20 kids from the YMCA and Boys And Girls Club Tenderloin locations — was a huge success … and a lot of fun for the grownups involved, too!