Bon Appétit Management Company

Last week Bon Appétit Management Company cafés around the country celebrated 13th Annual National Farmworker Awareness Week (NFAW). As part of our efforts to make people think about who harvests their food, we asked students at colleges and universities to create a collage about why they support farmworker rights. Here’s how some thoughtful students from American University in Washington, DC; Goucher College in Maryland; and Emmanuel College in Boston finished this sentence: I support farmworker rights because…

As part of our focus on farmworker rights, Bon Appétit Management Company is proud to partner with Student Action with Farmworkers for the 13th annual National Farmworker Awareness Week (NFAW). Running from March 25 – March 31 (César Chávez’s birthday), NFAW aims to raise awareness about the conditions of the men, women, and children who harvest our food and to bring attention to their efforts to secure fair wages and benefits, and to form and join unions.

The student-run campus farm at Duke University in Durham, NC, had a successful first year. Students got involved to plant and harvest and the at Bon Appétit has enjoyed watching and cheering the progress of the farm — and of course, loved cooking with the beautiful produce — but one thing was clear to everyone at the end of the first year: a longer growing season would be wonderful.

Bon Appétit is proud to offer our congratulations to our Farm to Fork partners Melissa and Aaron Miller of Miller Livestock on being the first Food Alliance certified livestock farm in Ohio. The Millers raise grassfed beef and lamb, pastured pork, chickens and turkeys, and laying hens on 168 acres in Kinsman, Ohio — about 70 miles from Cleveland. Bon Appétit Dining Services at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland has long been buying the Millers’ pork, and the past year bought half of their hogs. On February 21, Bon Appétit announced a groundbreaking commitment to improving animal welfare practices. Part of that promise is to buy even more humanely raised meat from folks like the Millers who have taken the trouble to have their practices verified by a third party. That’s why our team at Case Western has encouraged the Millers […]

A few decades ago, when the majority of hogs lived outdoors and were able to eat whatever they wanted, pork was deliciously fatty and juicy. As industrial agriculture grew, pork became known as “the other white meat.”Director of Culinary Operations Bernie Laskowski from the Art Institute of Chicago would like to do something about this state of porky affairs.

Fresh herbs are an important part of Bon Appétit’s daily menus, finding their way into marinara sauces, condiments, sandwiches, salads, and side dishes. They also have a short shelf life, adding to kitchen waste and expense. The Bon Appétit team at Oracle- Broomfield in Broomfield, CO, is testing a way to grow all the herbs they need year round, using a small amount of indoor space — and hydroponics.

Writer Jessica Battilana spent a day trying to keep up with Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio for this in-depth profile that 7×7 Magazine published in its February food issue.

Bon Appétit celebrated Valentine’s Day last week at American University in Washington, DC, by hosting an event that focused on the best part of this holiday: Chocolate! But not just any old chocolate.

Today — and not for the first time — Bon Appétit Management Company is making history in the food service industry. In a joint announcement with The Humane Society of the United States, we are vowing to stop serving all pork produced using the cruel and inhumane practice of gestation crates and all eggs, including “liquid” ones (those removed from their shells), from hens confined to battery cages by 2015.

Students at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, are already well-versed about the importance of sourcing food locally, but it’s not often they get to actually visit one of the farms that supplies the café and see first-hand what it means to run a family farm.