Low-Carbon Food Service
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Bring up low-carbon lifestyle choices for consumers, and skeptics will roll their eyes. There's no way one grain of sand can turn the catastrophic hourglass around, right?
How about 80 million grains of sand?
Bon Appetit Management Company serves up 80 million meals a year through its restaurant and catering operations at more than 400 corporate and university sites around the country.
Two years ago, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company launched a program called the Low-Carbon Diet. The goal: reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its food service operations, while teaching its staff and customers how food contributes to climate change.
What are the goals of the Low-Carbon Diet?
They're quite specific. The company has made public commitments to:
- Reduce packaging by 10%;
- Reduce use of cheese by 10%;
- Reduce use of beef by 25% and source all meats from North America;
- Source all vegetables, non-tropical fruits and bottled water from North America;
- Eliminate air-freighted seafood;
- Reduce food waste by 25% and implement composting at all possible sites;
- Reduce coffee purchases by 10% and introduce more shade-grown and organic coffees;
Now two years into the program, the company is well on its way. Bon Appetit cafs are purchasing 33% less beef. Cheese purchases have been reduced by 10%. And the company has virtually eliminated all air-freighted seafood.
Why bother?
Scientists estimate that growing, processing and transporting food contributes about a third of the world's greenhouse gases.
Hard to believe? Well, just remember those 80 million grains of sand.
On one hand, if you serve 80 million burgers (at about 21 pounds of CO2 per pound beef), you emit roughly 525 million pounds of carbon dioxide. (Why? Visit a feedlot, and sniff: cows = methane.) On the other hand, if you serve 80 million lower-carbon burgers (say turkey or veggie) that emissions number falls fast.
But can a company change how its customers eat?
It's all about making subtle menu changes, which offer diners plenty of options. The company works closely with its chefs (about 500 in all) to promote chicken, vegetarian and pork dishes. They make substitutions on their menus, replacing beef satay with chicken satay, for example.
Hamburgers are still available for those diners who want them, but lower-carbon burger options (such as turkey) are always available. And Bon Appetit chefs have found that 4 oz. of natural beef, raised without added hormones or antibiotics, cooks down to the same size hamburger as 5 oz. of standard beef, due to less water loss.
Using just the right amount of the most flavorful ingredients is another key step. A small amount of feta cheese can do as much to flavor a pizza than twice as much mozzarella.
Bottom line, the goal is to make the low-carbon foods more appealing.
What can other companies do?
But what if your company runs its own cafeteria? The new Green Dining Best Practices, covering everything from how to select sustainable seafood to what kind of cleaning products to buy, can help.
Last month, EDF and Restaurant Associates (owned by Compass Group, which also owns Bon Appetit) released this comprehensive set of cost effective, science-based recommendations for the food service and dining industry. Early testing at two of Restaurant Associates' client locations in New York City Hearst Corporation and Random House has shown measurable environmental improvement, improved customer satisfaction and cost savings at participating facilities.
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Michael Kroon 03pm July 24 By the way: do you think we can call this low carb' diet "Environmental Atkins?"
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