Bon Appétit Chosen to Serve Airbnb’s San Francisco and Portland Offices
World’s leading hospitality company entrusts local food service pioneer with key element of corporate culture
Nov. 2 (Palo Alto, CA) — Food service pioneer Bon Appétit Management Company is honored to announce that it will be partnering with Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, to deliver its pioneering “food service for a sustainable future” at Airbnb’s offices in San Francisco, CA, and Portland, OR.
Airbnb is known for its high-quality food program that celebrates local ingredients and international cuisine, using healthy and socially-responsible practices. As the company has grown, with more than 2,200 employees in the San Francisco and Portland offices, Airbnb needed to scale the food program while maintaining its standards and philosophy.
“Eating together has always been an integral part of our culture at Airbnb, and over the years we have built a unique program that not only nourishes but celebrates our community and local suppliers,” said Michael Merola, Airbnb’s Workplace Director. “We’ve decided to partner with Bon Appetit to run all aspects of our food operations in San Francisco and Portland. An industry leader in social and environmental responsibility, they also have a proven track record of offering high-quality food programs while encouraging entrepreneurship, all values that align with ours.”
Founded in San Francisco in 1987 by CEO Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appétit launched a revolution to disrupt contract food service — hiring trained chefs and giving them the freedom to serve restaurant-quality, from-scratch meals to their guests — that defined corporate food service as we know it today. Many of Silicon Valley’s best-known names have turned to Bon Appétit to fuel their productivity. Over the decades Bon Appétit has continued to innovate and iterate, keeping up with food and wellness trends, but one thing remains the same: no Bon Appétit location is alike. Each is a custom collaboration with its partner-clients — a track record and approach that appealed to Airbnb.
“An industry leader in social and environmental responsibility, [Bon Appétit has] a proven track record of offering high-quality food programs while encouraging entrepreneurship, all values that align with ours.”
Starting in 1999 with its Farm to Fork local-purchasing program, Bon Appétit has also led the industry in commitments to more sustainable purchasing, including its switch to sustainable seafood (2002), cage-free eggs (2005), humanely raised ground beef (2012), and pork raised without dependence on gestation crates (2016). It has also tackled food’s connection to climate change, the abuse of antibiotics in agriculture, and farmworkers’ rights.
“We are excited to be entrusted with nourishing the creative workforce at Airbnb and about collaborating with the members of Airbnb’s existing culinary team to grow the food program together, sustainably,” said Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio. “We look forward to sharing our decades of experience, sourcing systems, and our network of opportunities with Airbnb employees and the dining team.”
About Bon Appétit Management Company
Bon Appétit Management Company is an on-site restaurant company operating more than 1,000 cafés in 33 states for corporations, universities, and museums as well as more than a dozen public restaurants including The Commissary, Arguello, Public House, and STEM Kitchen and Garden in San Francisco; Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago; and The Restaurant at The Getty. Bon Appétit chefs cook from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. The Palo Alto–based food service company is a recognized industry leader in environmentally and socially responsible practices, receiving the Acterra Award for Sustainability as well as many previous awards from organizations including the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, and The Humane Society of the United States.
Bon Appétit media contact: Bonnie Powell, [email protected], (650) 798-8022
About Airbnb
Founded in 2008, Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where people can belong when they travel by being connected to local cultures and having unique travel experiences. Its community marketplace provides access to millions of unique accommodations from apartments and villas to castles and treehouses in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries. With Experiences, Airbnb offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests, while Places lets people discover the hidden gems of a city as recommended by the people that live there. Airbnb is people powered and the easiest way to earn a little extra income from extra space in a home or from sharing passions, interests and cities.
Media inquiries: [email protected].