Bon Appétit Management Company

Something magical is happening at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH. No matter how small or dark or drafty the location, the vegetables and herbs planted by Bon Appétit Sous Chef Chris Brunst just keep growing and growing, producing food for Dascomb Café.

Executive Pastry Chef Ian Farrell (right) was first bitten by the sourdough bug about five years ago, when he grew a wild yeast starter from the skins of organic grapes. Now he lives his passion for hand-crafted wild yeast breads daily at Oracle in Redwood Shores, CA. Almost all the breads, sourdough or otherwise, for every café on this campus are made from scratch daily at the Oracle Bakery.

While Bon Appétit makes a big fuss on Low Carbon Diet Day to call our diners’ attention to the five foundations of a planet-friendlier diet, our chefs practice these principles every day. Whether it’s Monday or Wednesday, patrons can always find plenty of locally sourced, vegetarian options or dishes with meat such as chicken and pork, which come from lower methane-emitting animals than cows.

The conditions that farmworkers face in the everyday course of trying to do their jobs are grueling, often dangerous, and sometimes even abusive. It’s the age-old “if a tree falls in the forest” riddle: if these problems are invisible to most Americans, do they really exist? The answer is yes, of course they do. And I am proud to have worked on a 65-page report about farmworker employment issues that documents them.

By Cara Brechler, Marketing Manager In the early fifth century, when some monks were busy inventing Shaolin Kung Fu, other German monks took a vow of deliciousness instead and created the pretzel. Last week, in honor of National Pretzel Day, the chefs de cuisine at one of our Silicon Valley campuses celebrated this humble concoction with freshly baked twists as well as crusts and breading using the dough, bringing the pretzel to new dimensions of tastiness. Kevin Means at the Paradise Café offered a pretzel-encrusted pork loin, a bratwurst dog in a pretzel bun, and freshly made warm pretzels sprinkled with a Tuscan-infused salt (rosemary, chili pepper, lemon, and garlic). Over at Café 17, Octavio Barrera had a line all through service for his Pork Loin Schnitzel with creamy whole-grain mustard gravy. Jorien Schulze from Lakeview Café made fresh pretzels with two dipping […]

What’s the shortest route to a reporter’s heart? Through her stomach of course! We believe the best way to deliver the fundamental Bon Appétit story, that we cook everything from scratch using fresh, often local, as-sustainable- as-possible ingredients, is to feed it to people — literally. To that end, we invited a select group of local media and VIPs and Diet for a Hot Planet author Anna Lappé to join us for an informal discussion over dinner cooked by one of our stellar teams. Anna is one of the leaders of the food movement — she was born into it, as the daughter of Frances Moore Lappé, whose 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet became a best-seller and the first handbook for eco-conscious eaters everywhere. Anna interviewed Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation Director Helene York for her own book. […]

The food-truck craze has taken the U.S. by storm, and Bon Appetit at University of Pacific in Stockton, CA, wanted in on the action — and to solve the problem of feeding students in out-of-the-way part of campus. Students love Bon Appetit’s new bright-orange food truck called e.a.t., which rolls up 20 minutes away from the other campus eateries.

One doesn’t usually think of the hills in San Jose, CA, as being prime hunting grounds for wild edibles, but Yahoo! Surf’s Café Supervisor Jen Takara and her crew in Sunnyvale struck green gold on a hunt for wild edible nopales (cactus paddles).

By Tatianna Losk, Marketing Manager Author and Penn alum Kim O’Donnel with Houston Market Executive Chef Christopher Smith The University of Pennsylvania has friends in high places. The Penn Bookstore invited three food-focused alumnae back to their Philadelphia alma mater to talk about their work and share their experiences fostering a more sustainable, but still deeply satisfying and celebratory way of eating. First up was author and chef Kim O’Donnel. Flavorful meat-free recipes from her book The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook were offered in Houston Market’s Hemisphere Station, much to the enthusiasm of the author, who hasn’t had much opportunity to experience her recipes executed by other chefs. During the lunch period, Kim spoke to students and passed out samples of dishes. Students were excited to meet her and taste the food. Later that evening, she signed books at the […]

We recently gave a small donation to help the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) send 30 farmers and farm advocates to Capitol Hill. The group was being gathered to defend sustainable agriculture programs from drastic cuts as Congress worked toward a budget deal. Farmers met with multiple congressional leaders and leaders of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as the press.