BAMCO Partners with Chef Loretta Keller and Exploratorium for New Cafés

Exploratorium Partners with Bon Appétit Management Company and Executive Chef Loretta Keller at New Waterfront Site in 2013

Palo Alto, CA (May 15, 2012) — Today Bon Appétit Management Company announced its agreement with the Exploratorium, in partnership with acclaimed San Francisco chef Loretta Keller, to create seasonal and sustainable fare at the museum’s new Pier 15 site on the Embarcadero at Green Street, when it relocates in 2013. Under Ms. Keller’s direction, the award-winning, Palo Alto–based food service group will procure and prepare all of the food for the new museum site, including the sidewalk café on the west side of the pier off the Embarcadero and the waterfront café on the east side, in the all-glass Bay Observatory Building.

Rendering of the proposed new Exploratorium, looking east

Rendering of the proposed new Exploratorium, looking east

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about what we expect to be a wonderfully creative collaboration with Loretta and Bon Appétit,” said Silva Raker, the Exploratorium’s Director of Business Development. “Along with providing delicious, sustainably produced food for our cafés and some very fun food carts, Bon Appétit will be a fabulous option for catering private events.  In the spirit of revitalization that has taken hold along the Embarcadero, we expect our new facility to be a spectacular San Francisco venue for event rentals.”

Ms. Keller, a 2009 James Beard Foundation Award Finalist for Best Chef in the California/Pacific region, said, “I’m looking forward to partnering with Bon Appétit Management Company at the Exploratorium.  This is an opportunity to surprise and satisfy museum-goers by applying the spirit of the Exploratorium — notions about perception, place, curiosity and the human senses — to the food service program. That’s exciting!”

All food in Bon Appétit’s more than 400 cafés in 32 states is cooked from scratch, including sauces, stocks and soups. A pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, Bon Appétit has developed programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, the connection between food and climate change, farmworker welfare, and more. In February, the company committed to sourcing 100% gestation-crate-free pork and battery-cage-free eggs by 2015. Fedele Bauccio, CEO and co-founder of Bon Appétit, was recently described in The Atlantic as “wielding a mighty big fork,” responsible for “the most sweeping anti-cruelty policy in the food service industry.”

More information

The Exploratorium (www.exploratorium.edu) is located inside the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco’s Marina District. Museum admission is as follows: Members free; Adults (18-64) $15.00; University students (with ID) $12.00; Senior citizens (65+) $12.00; People with disabilities $12.00; Youth (13-17) $12.00; Children (4-12) $10.00; Children under 4 free. First Wednesdays of the month free. Exploratorium hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10am–5pm. Open first Thursday of the month for adult evening hours until 10pm. Close Mondays, except for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day. In 2013, the Exploratorium relocates to its new home on the waterfront in Pier 15. It will remain open in its current home through early January 2013. Hours for the new location will be determined.

Contact: Linda Dackman (415) 561-0363, Leslie Patterson (415) 561-0377, [email protected]

Loretta Keller is known for her use of high-quality, small production ingredients in menus heavily influenced by the flavors of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. She worked with Jeremiah Tower — who with Alice Waters is credited for the birth of California cuisine — for several years at Stars and Stars Café. Her restaurant COCO5OO in the dynamic South of Market district has become a regular fixture in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Top 100” restaurants. Ms. Keller established a new standard for museum dining in San Francisco with the launch of the Academy Café and the Moss Room Restaurant in 2008 at the California Academy of Sciences.

Bon Appétit Management Company (www.bamco.com) is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, and specialty venues, including eBay, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Getty Center. The company has received numerous awards for its work from organizations including the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation, Chefs Collaborative, Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, The Humane Society of the United States, and Food Alliance.

Contact: Bonnie Powell (650) 621-0871, [email protected]