Bon Appétit Partners with James Beard Public Market in Portland
Culinary nonprofit and food service pioneer join forces for community education and events space
Portland, OR (Nov. 5, 2014) – The James Beard Public Market, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and public-private partnership, announced today it has entered into a collaborative partnership with Bon Appétit Management Company, the award-winning on-site national restaurant company with extensive operations in the Portland metro area. Together we will develop and create programming for a state-of-the-art teaching and demonstration kitchen and event space in the James Beard Public Market.
“At Bon Appétit, we are tightly connected to our local communities, whether forging strong relationships with the small farmers who supply us or partnering with food banks for food-recovery programs.”
— Fedele Bauccio, cofounder and CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company
Set to open in the coming years, the James Beard Public Market will be a daily, year-round, indoor-outdoor marketplace showcasing Oregon’s bounty while promoting community health, rural and urban economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and tourism. Bon Appétit will lead the design and management of this space, which is planned to not only host high-profile special events, but also world-class chefs and locally based culinary experts who will offer educational programs for economically disadvantaged families. Working in the Bon Appétit JBPM teaching kitchens, chefs will address public health issues such as diabetes and childhood obesity through hands-on culinary demonstrations. Bon Appétit will also explore creating an edible garden on the rooftop of the market, similar to the one we unveiled in June behind center field at AT&T Park, home of World Series champions the San Francisco Giants.
“At Bon Appétit, we are tightly connected to our local communities, whether forging strong relationships with the small farmers who supply us or partnering with food banks for food-recovery programs,” said Fedele Bauccio, cofounder and CEO of Bon Appétit Management Company. “We believe that knowledge of cooking fresh, healthy foods is being lost, and that we have a responsibility to share our skills with those who need it. I am proud to collaborate with the James Beard Public Market to promote the importance of healthy, local, real food.”
Community Education Program
“The James Beard Public Market will work with Fedele and Bon Appétit on our extensive community education program,” said Ron Paul, executive director of the James Beard Public Market. “Bon Appétit’s goal of ‘food service for a sustainable future’ aligns perfectly with the Market’s long-stated goals of working with diverse communities in promoting public health.”
In Portland, Bon Appétit already operates cafés for Genentech and additional corporate offices; OMSI; and the University of Portland, Reed College, and several other colleges. A leader in environmentally sound sourcing policies, the company has developed programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, the food and climate change connection, humanely raised meat and eggs, and farmworker welfare. For this work, Fedele and Bon Appétit have received numerous honors, including the recent EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Award in the Services category in Northern California, an inaugural Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation, a Sustainability Pathfinder Award from Chefs Collaborative, and recognition from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, and The Humane Society of the United States among many others.
About Bon Appétit Management
Bon Appétit Management Company (@bamco) is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, and specialty venues. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit has more than 500 cafés in 32 states. Its clients include Google, Electronic Arts, eBay, University of Pennsylvania, the Getty Center, and the Art Institute of Chicago. All Bon Appétit food is cooked from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups.
Contact: Bonnie Powell, 650.621.0871, [email protected]
About the James Beard Public Market
Throughout the last several years, the James Beard Public Market has worked to establish Portland, Ore., as the only city in the country with the rights to name a market after the city’s most famous chef, James Beard. Often thought of as the father of American cooking, Beard was a Portland native. An early champion of local products and markets, Beard was a true food pioneer and his legacy includes the James Beard Awards – the “Oscars of the food world” and the most coveted honor in the culinary community. The James Beard Public Market is a project of the Historic Portland Public Market Foundation, which grew out of a citizen task force convened in 2000. Portlanders from many walks of life met almost monthly for more than two years to create a vision for a public market in Portland. To learn more, visit http://www.jamesbeardpublicmarket.com.
Contact: Cody Sanger, 503.546.7881, [email protected]