Bon Appétit Management Company

Longtime Bravo readers may remember Hunter Amlie, the cool 4-year-old with the sunglasses featured on the cover of spring 2009. And now, Hunter is Bon Appétit’s youngest Farm to Fork vendor!

A farm visit offers firsthand knowledge of how supporting a sustainable food system means being more than just willing to pay a higher price.

I first fell in love with Bon Appétit as a student and campus farmer at Washington University in St. Louis. I was part of a ragtag bunch of students growing vegetables with little experience — and yet, with every delivery of a few pounds of arugula or cherry tomatoes, the chefs and mangers at Washington University showed support and gratitude. However, a few professors and fellow students dismissed our work. They thought our efforts were “cute” and questioned why we chose to attend such a world-class university to grow string beans. All the while, our Bon Appétit team cheered us on for engaging in the production of our own food and thinking critically about our agricultural system. From attending potlucks at the garden to advocating for us in administrative matters, Bon Appétit had our backs. This relationship with our chefs and managers meant […]

Most milk has to travel hundreds of miles to arrive at a processing facility to be transformed into yogurt. At Country View Dairy, a Bon Appétit Farm to Fork partner, milk travels less than 200 feet from cow to yogurt cup.

During my college visit road trip, I visited Farm to Fork partner White Mountain Farm, which grows quinoa in the gorgeous San LuisValley of Colorado. Ernie New was my tour guide. White Mountain claims to be the only successful large-scale quinoa operation in North America, and Ernie gets more orders than he can fill. (Seriously, he was hesitant to let me visit because he didn’t want me to do any advertising!) Here some of the quinoa truths and myths we discussed.

Small, organic farms and bikes attract the same sort of fans, it appears — both are undeterred by inclement weather. Despite chilly rain, over a hundred students and community members came together for a bicycle-powered celebration of local farms, the second annual Farm Bike Tour, in Northfield, MN,

The team members at Albion College in Albion, MI, were ready to focus on expanding their Farm to Fork program. Midwest Fellow S.K. Piper spent a few days there teaching the team how to enroll Farm to Fork vendors.

On Tuesday, September 24, all of our 500-plus cafés will offer a 100% local meal — everything from oils to grains to spices and sweeteners must be sourced from within 150 miles. The only foreigner allowed is salt. Some locations get a little loco and offer a 100% local menu — multiple all-local dishes!

In an effort to make “the highest quality local food available to the widest audience at the lowest prices possible,” farmer Scot Laney collaborated with other sustainable Oregon producers to start a local distribution program, Eat Oregon First.

In 2010 the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians came together to set up the Salmon Marketing Program. The program buys fish caught by tribal members on tribal land, pays the fishermen a sustainable living wage, processes the fish at a facility owned and operated by the community, and then distributes the products itself to ensure the integrity of the process. The program has expanded to new markets — and Bon Appétit is proud to be a customer.