Bravo 2017 - Volume 1

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2017

SPRING

IN THIS ISSUE: BRAVO IS THE ALMOST QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF

BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY |

Banfield Doggies Say “Bone Appétit”

A Member of the Compass Group

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100 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 400 Palo Alto, California 94301 650-798-8000 www.bamco.com

Focusing on Safety PAGE 26

LEARN HOW FOOD CHOICES AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNITY,

Celebrating African-American History Month

AND YOUR WELL-BEING AT www.cafebonappetit.com

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VOL 1

INDEX

Adobe 75, 80, 83 Albion College 6, 35, 68 Art Institute of Chicago 35, 40-41, 67 Banfield Pet Hospital 7 Best Buy 73 Bon Appétit Management Company HQ 74 Brown University 42 Capital Café 73 Carleton College 6, 47, 69 Case Western Reserve University 82 CHS 65 Citrix 34 Claremont McKenna College 41 Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center 15 The College of Idaho 46, 57, 70 Colorado College 23, 63 Columbia Sportswear 20-21 Denison University 4, 44-45, 80 Emory University 31, 50-51, 70 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 78 Franklin Templeton 73 Fuqua School of Business 51, 81 Furman University 58-59, 82 Gallaudet University 59 The Garden at AT&T Park 5, 10-11 Gates Foundation 31 Google 54 Grifols 38 Grove City College 39, 90 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens 70 Institute of American Indian Arts 43 Johns Hopkins University 72 Lafayette College 64 Lewis & Clark College 55, 71 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12

Medtronic 52-53 Milliken & Company 71 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 28 Oberlin College 65, 71 Oracle 5, 16-17, 64, 82 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry 85 Pitzer College 88 Reed College 57, 84 Regis University 29, 32 Roger Williams University 42, 48, 72 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 89 Saint Martin's University 24-25 Samsung 71 Santa Clara University 47 SAP 6, 14-15, 83 Savannah College of Art and Design 29 Seattle University 67 St. Mary’s College of Maryland 19 St. Olaf College 55, 76 SurveyMonkey 18 Target 4, 29, 45, 64 Trine University 21, 81 Twitter 36, 62, 68 University of Chicago 56, 67 University of Portland 68 University of Redlands 72 University of the Pacific 84 VMware 37, 66 Washington University in St. Louis 37 Wheaton College 79 William Jessup University 22 Yahoo 37, 65

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from fedele

Our Relationships Matter

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e’ve had a couple incredible sales years. We’ve sold more business than I ever could’ve imagined — corporate, education, and specialty, all over the country. I’m incredibly proud of our growth and the high quality of our client list.

Recently, I was asked to present the secret behind our sales success. My first response? Relationships.

We operate in a very small universe. Higher education CFOs and student services professionals all know each other. Through professional associations, religious affiliations, and rankings, schools are well aware of what’s going on at similar institutions.

When we do a fabulous job for one school in a region or consortium, others hear about it — and usually they want the same for their campus. Conversely, should we ever under deliver, the disappointment will be felt beyond the walls of that account.

Luckily, our 99% retention rate tells me that doesn’t happen often and that when we do stumble, we work to fix our mistakes as quickly and transparently as possible, always cognizant of keeping the client informed and maintaining the foundation of trust they have given us.

The corporate world is a little more fractionalized. Across industries, there isn’t a lot of sharing of information, but within a market, everyone certainly knows what their competitors are offering. Also, job tenure is shorter, as people tend to move around more often than they do in education. However, that doesn’t mean relationships are any less important. If we do a great job for a facilities manager at one company, she’ll bring us along when she takes a job at a growing startup ready for their first café.

And that one café can become two, three, and even dozens as the company expands.

Of course you know I couldn’t end my remarks there in my presentation. I had to mention our leadership in socially and environmentally responsible practices. Our desire to create an ecological model for agriculture that is environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially equitable resonates with thought leaders on college campuses, millennials, and those trying to show that their institution — be it a college, corporation, or cultural venue — is a good local and global citizen. Our Dream dovetails with their mission.

Last but certainly not least: Food. The bedrock of our brand is fresh, seasonal food cooked from scratch and customized for every location. We’ve been preaching that for years, but it still sets us apart. Our expertise in retail environments and partnerships with celebrity chefs prove that we’re a restaurant company working in the contract space. And I don’t have to tell you that our success in food is also dependent on relationships — both external, with farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and purveyors, and the internal ones among our teams who work together tirelessly to turn those ingredients into meals every day for more than a million people.

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“All we’ve accomplished at Bon Appétit is because of the great food and service. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to our people who make us what we are.”

—B ON A PPÉTIT CEO F EDELE B AUCCIO AT THE

Compass Community Council, hosted at AT&T Park in San Francisco (SEE STORY ON PAGES 10-11)

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highlights | 2017

VOL 1

IN THIS ISSUE

14 01

04

From Fedele

39

25 21

Reflections

34

Celebrating African-American History Month Through Food

46

Chili Cook-Offs Spark Hot Competition

54

Events...in Brief

LIZ BALDWIN

64

Celebrations and Holidays

Focusing on Safety

80

Thank You, Bon Appétit

Snapshots of what “Safe In/Safe Out” means to Bon Appétit teams around the country

90

Bon Appétit MVPs

Our relationships matter

Trine grads brighten a dreary day

FEDELE BAUCCIO

SUSAN HARDEN

Bits & Bites

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Awards & Recognition

Showing love for spuds, puppies, coffee, and more

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Setting the Table Our first priority

08

Talking about Food Lettuce turnip the beet. (Louder.)

MAISIE GANZLER

From the Fellows 13

Baking My Way Through the Bon Appétit Fellowship

63

Kid Power

86

Breaking Through the Food Hub Hubbub

28

Lynna McNany loves a puzzle

CAROLINE FERGUSON

MAGGIE KRAFT

CLAIRE KELLOWAY

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bits & bites Target Says, This Spud’s for Us!

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mashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked — and Fried, Too! Target team members at the Minneapolisbased headquarters relished a special opportunity to purchase a copy of this new cookbook and meet its chef/author, Raghavan Iyer. While potatoes may seem an unlikely reason for excitement, if anyone can make spuds exciting, it’s Raghavan.

Born in Mumbai, Raghavan lives with his family in Minneapolis. The James Beard Award winner has many other cookbooks under his belt — including The Turmeric Trail and Indian Cooking Unfolded — and holds an IACP Award for Teacher of the Year; he has assisted Bon Appétit with culinary trainings for years.

“Never trust a person who doesn’t like potatoes,” Raghavan likes to joke. In his book, he describes the different kinds of potatoes and what each is good for, and offers 75 recipes for potato dishes most people have never imagined, such as cheesy tarragon tots and Moroccan potato stew with saffron biscuits. The Target guests at the recent signing eagerly had him personalize their copies.

Submitted by Kathy Vik, Operations Manager

Alexandria Nickles ’17 at the grand opening of DFuse, with Food Service Director Rick Poulos and Executive Chef Jonathan O'Carroll

Denison Student Spurs Creation of Snack and Smoothie Bar

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ast year, student Alexandria Nickles ’17 at Denison University in Granville, OH, saw her independent study project come to life with the launch of DFuse, the snack and smoothie bar at Denison’s Mitchell Center. The project first took shape the prior year, when Alexandria created “Eat to Perform: A Nutrition Manual for Denison Athletes” with guidance on foods that fuel athletic performance. The Denison Student Athletic Advisory Council encouraged her to take the project further, so Alexandria presented the idea to the Denison Dining Committee and to members of the Bon Appétit team. They helped make her dream of opening a snack bar in the university’s athletics facility a reality.

Since its launch, DFuse has served healthful options including made-to-order smoothies with fresh ingredients, meals to go, and snacks that help to promote a healthy lifestyle and optimal athletic performance. The university takes pride in this location, as it’s a great example of how academic work can create meaningful change. Denison University President Adam Weinberg even wrote to General Manager Paul Mixa to express his gratitude for all the new offerings. For its part, the Bon Appétit team is thrilled to have been able to support the dreams of Denison students in this way.

Author Raghavan Iyer with Executive Chef Royal Dahlstrom at Café Target during a signing for Raghavan’s newest cookbook

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Submitted by Paul Mixa, General Manager

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Cloud Café Supervisor Sara Hashemi and Chef/Manager Ani Baghoomian

True Brewmance at Oracle - Santa Clara

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hese days, visit your local coffee shop and the question is no longer as simple as “What kind of coffee would you like?” but “How would you like that prepared?” Between pour-over, French press, siphon pot, and airpot, getting the coffee from its brewing vessel into the cup has become an experience on its own.

A cornerstone of this trend is the Chemex, considered by some to be the undisputed king of the pour-over movement. The Chemex isn't exactly new — some may remember those groovy hourglass carafes from the ’70s! But it has recently enjoyed a comeback, with a whole new generation discovering that the method results in a stronger, bolder brew.

The Cloud Café at Oracle in Santa Clara, CA, spotlighted the Chemex in its recent Brewmance: Brew for Two promotion and coffee class hosted by Supervisor Sara Hashemi. The guests loved their brew class and coffee pairing. They raved about the coffee, calling it “strong and not too bitter” with a “nice smell” and “a smooth, low-acid flavor.” “A real workingman’s brew!” one added.

Submitted by Cara Brechler, Marketing Director

ROOTING FOR THE HOME TEAM: The chance to combine gardening education with Giants fandom is an irresistible proposition for most Bay Area children. “Today, I harvested, and it was awesome!” exclaimed this young visitor to the Garden at AT&T Park, a participant on a field trip by Palo Verde Kids’ Club, a community organization located in Palo Alto, CA. The turnips were so big, the children had to work in teams of two or three to pull them up out of the soil!

Submitted by Allison Campbell, Garden at AT&T Park Program Manager

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bits & bites

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SAP DEBUTS NEW PIN-UP MODELS: To celebrate Bon Appétit’s commitment to sourcing pork raised without dependence on gestation crates and eggs from cage-free hens, General Manager Melissa Miller of SAP in Palo Alto, CA, came up with the idea for these cute pins. Catering Manager Michele Brice ran with it. Everyone loves wearing them!

Submitted by Melissa Miller, General Manager

Albion Scores Big with Monthly Trivia Night

Q

uick — what’s the Roman name for the Greek goddess Hecate? If you knew it’s Trivia, you must be an expert in mythology...or a trivia buff! Trivia nights are more popular than ever, in restaurants, bars, and even on college campuses. They offer a much needed (and healthy) distraction from the daily pressures of college life.

Albion College in Albion, MI, is on top of this trend. One Thursday each month, Marketing Manager Shane Powers grabs a microphone in Baldwin Hall and poses trivia questions; students get prizes for correct answers. Questions usually touch on topics related to the history, heritage, and traditions of the college.

Prizes range from a free pizza to a free coffee from the Albion library’s coffee shop, amusingly named Read Between the Grinds.

On one recent trivia night, Albion senior Andy DiFranco was conducting a campus tour for the family of a prospective student. As part of the tour, the family participated in dinner service in Baldwin Hall. The family was delighted, with one family member remarking to Andy that their fresh, locally sourced meal, accompanied by the opportunity to learn additional fun facts about Albion College, made an incredible first impression.

Submitted by Shane Powers, Marketing Manager

Carleton Connects with Main Street Project

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s Climate Action Week approached, students at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, pondered ways to minimize their environmental impact. One way involves forging stronger connections to the sources of their food. This year, students learned more about Main Street Project, one of the College’s highly lauded Farm to Fork partners and the recipient of Bon Appétit’s 2016 annual gift on behalf of its clients.

Main Street Project Chief Strategy Officer Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin came to Burton Dining Hall to visit with students and Bon Appétiters and to present the model of a Main Street farm. Over a lunch featuring Main Street chicken, attendees listened as Reginaldo described the “closed nutrient cycle” in which farms are lined with hazelnut trees and elderberry bushes that chickens can forage from and fertilize in turn, helping both grow and thrive. Students left the talk exhilarated, filled with hope for the future of farming and enjoying a greater sense of connectedness to their food.

Submitted by James Harren ’19, Bon Appétit Sustainability Student Manager

Team Voice of Albion, winners of one of the trivia nights

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin from Main Street Project speaking to Carleton students 06 | BRAVO

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The Bon Appétit team at Banfield Pet Hospital invited employees to love their dogs on Valentine’s Day with special house-made “Bone Appétit” dog treats

Banfield Pet Hospital Says “Bone Appétit” to Canine Companions

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or many people, dogs are their significant other — and at Banfield Pet Hospital in Vancouver, WA, they get treated like it. The lucky employees at Banfield get to bring their dogs to work each day. For the Bon Appétit team at Banfield, seeing dogs in the workplace was an inspiration to launch “Bone Appétit” dog treats, a complete campaign that can be used at any Bon Appétit location, anytime. Whether pets are on campus or not, dog lovers can’t resist a treat for their best friend!

A canine companion at Banfield Pet Hospital enjoys a housebaked Bone Appétit dog treat

Regional Marketing Director Tonya Flashey and General Manager Lacey Marsolek decided that Valentine’s Day was a perfect day to start Bone Appétit and to show Banfield’s canine companions some love with house-made dog biscuits and “pup cakes.” Lacey chose easy recipes that guests could prepare at home and created recipe cards. Then her team prepared peanut butter– banana and sweet potato– apple “pup The team at Banfield Pet Hospital designed custom “Bone Appétit” labels cakes,” along with cheese, bar- for their house-made healthy dog treats, ley, and brewer’s yeast cookies. creating a cute package that’s a nearly Simple packaging and a custom irresistible purchase for dog lovers Bone Appétit logo created a fun boutique brand that is also highly giftable. Lacey beta-tested the recipes with visiting dogs before the promotion just to make sure she wasn’t barking up the wrong tree.

The team promoted the dog treats with an event listing on Cafebonappetit.com along with a Menu Mail campaign, feature header on the website, table communications, and posters in the café a week prior to the event. During the event, a table at the front of the café showcased the treats with a banner and “Rover,” a handmade paper dog made with recycled newspaper.

On Valentine’s Day, the smiles were infectious and the doggies were happy. The promotion ignited spontaneous conversations and lots of playful romping (by the canines, of course).

Submitted by Tonya Flashey, Regional Marketing Director, and Lacey Marsolek, General Manager

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talking about food | maisie ganzler

Lettuce Turnip the Beet.

(Louder.)

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alk of vegetables is hot. Phrases like “plant forward” and“plant centric” are showing up on the pages of Bon Appétit and Food & Wine magazines. Shirts that say “KALE YEAH!” and “Lettuce Turnip the Beet” are being donned by hipsters on Instagram.

To paraphrase the immortal words of LL Cool J: Don’t call it a comeback. We’ve been here for years. Beginning with our 2006 Healthy Cooking Initiative, which focused largely on international dishes in which meat is not naturally at the center of the plate and creating visual appeal without focusing on large portions, we’ve been talking about bringing vegetables forward in our cooking.

So, more than a decade later, why am I bringing this up again?

(And why is it suddenly cool to cook a cauliflower “steak”?) A cultural shift is happening on America’s plates: Gone are the days when reputable restaurants would begrudgingly add a formulaic vegetarian item to the menu. (Eggplant + Portobello Mushrooms + Carbs + ALL THE CHEESE = Shut up and eat, vegetarian.) Now, restaurants like Al’s Place in San Francisco, Bad Hunter in Chicago, and Commissary in Los Angeles are bringing plants forward without entirely eschewing meat — and they’re some of the hottest tickets in town.

At Bon Appétit Management Company, our chefs have a deep 08 | BRAVO

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history with plant-forward cooking. Driven (at least in part) by our Well-Being Commitments and Low Carbon Lifestyle initiatives, we’ve been creatively making plant-based dishes just as seductive to the palate as meat (if not more so!) for a long time. While we serve vegan and vegetarian options at every meal, we’re also acutely aware that many of our guests who want to eat more plant-based foods don’t identify as vegans or vegetarians.

It’s an identity label that can be polarizing — something people either wholeheartedly embrace, or vehemently reject. In a nationwide survey we did of our guests, in which 660 college students and 2,700 professionals responded, 47% of college students and 39% of professionals said they limited their consumption of animal products in some way. The largest group of those identified themselves as “flexitarian (I eat animal products only occasionally), followed by “conscientious carnivore (I eat meat from certain sources only, for ethical or religious reasons),” then vegetarian, then vegan.

So, by bringing plants forward without abandoning meat entirely (or specifically ascribing an identity label to that type of eating), we can serve people who want to eat food that’s better for their health and for the environment without creating a landscape of deprivation. Our chefs are experts in this practice, and ahead of the curve on the plant-centric trend. We’ve been playing this jam on our mixtape for a solid decade, and it still sounds good.

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Building a better burger isn’t as simple as Less Meat + More Veg = Great! It’s a much more complex equation. Blending burgers in house means higher labor costs. It means changing the way we think about recipes, and changing the minds of our guests. And the conversation doesn’t end there.

Now, the question for me becomes: Is there still room on the plate for meat?

In my opinion, the answer is resolutely yes. But, I think how we’ll see meat on the plate in the future is a conversation that’s still unfolding, and one that we have an opportunity to pump up the volume on.

We can start turning it up by talking about the humble hamburger. A few years ago, the James Beard Foundation and the Mushroom Council spearheaded a contest (now called the Blended Burger Project) asking chefs across the country to replace a percentage of the meat in their burgers with mushrooms. The goal was to create a burger that’s better for the environment and for human health without sacrificing flavor. Chefs road-tested it in their restaurants, and winners were selected based on the number of times guests Instagrammed the “better” burgers. Executive Chef Tony Smoody of Bon Appétit’s Michelson and Morley restaurant at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland was among those who participated.

Could more of our chefs make a next-level burger with less (but higher quality) meat and vegetables that would satisfy even our most opinionated burger-loving guests? I have no doubt in my mind that they can. Don’t get me wrong.

What about meat analogues like the Impossible Burger? Do they deserve a regular place on Bon Appétit’s plates? Are there ways to cut the environmental impacts of the meat we do serve? Mindful Meats, a new Northern California–based Farm to Fork partner, is bringing retired organic, pastureraised dairy cows into the meat supply. Are there other innovators like them with which we can partner?

And, finally, how do we talk to our guests about these food choices? We recently participated in a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future about implementing Meatless Mondays in our cafés and learned that offering a variety of meatless choices and focusing on the culinary aspects of the food — not on the fact that it doesn’t have meat — increases participation by non-vegetarian guests.

Maybe the best tactic for moving meat away from the center of the plate and amplifying vegetables is to take the Fight Club approach: The first rule about plant-forward dining is you don’t talk about plant-forward dining. (Except when we’re doing an in-café event like Food for Your Well-Being — then we’re going to talk about it a lot!)

Right now, I have more questions than answers. But I’m sure about one thing: While the conversation has been going on for a long time, we’re staying engaged and we’re going to continue to lead it.

When it comes to talking about choices that are good for our guests and good for the planet, I say: Turn down for what?

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Compass Community Council Hits Home Run at AT&T Park Submitted by Cheryl Sternman Rule, National Marketing Manager

n a clear, temperate night after weeks of driving rain, hundreds of Bay Area–based employees from Compass Group’s many sectors hit AT&T Park for a gathering of the Compass Community Council (CCC).

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As a nearly full moon glowed overhead, Altogether Great honorees were recognized. Among them was General Manager Crystal Chun Wong at Mills College in Oakland, CA, lauded for her outstanding work at Mills and for exceeding revenue and profit projections.

The Compass Global Board kicked off the event, with Compass North America CEO Gary Green offering opening remarks. (As an accountant by training, he couldn’t resist lobbing a crack at the recent Oscars telecast, quipping, “I’m not sure this is going to be the worst performance of an accountant on stage in California!”)

He presented the evening’s agenda, which would include short presentations by other Board members offering a state-of-thecompany overview; a look into Compass North America’s impressive fiscal growth and strong industry positioning; and a recognition for the evening’s featured chefs and Altogether Great honorees, Be-A-Star winners, and longtime employees. He called out Bon Appétit Cofounder and CEO Fedele Bauccio early in his remarks, stating,“Fedele, you’re an icon, and what you’ve done at Bon Appétit has been amazing. Last year you broke $1 billion, which is just phenomenal.”

The reception that followed offered a sampling of diverse cuisines, from customizable poke bowls to Filipino chicken adobo wings to beautiful coffee-roasted carrots with candied pecans and yuzu crème fraîche. Brian helmed the Garden at AT&T Park’s station with Hannah Schmunk, manager of food education for children, and Allison Campbell, the Garden at AT&T Park program manager, offering artichoke flatbreads with ricotta, sorrel, and pistachio pesto; marinated beef kabobs skewered with olives, pickled sweet peppers, and crispy onions; and a playful Healthy Kids garden in a cup, with garden vegetables, beet hummus, and edible “soil.” A colorful display of Bakery 350 carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting lent a sweet finish.

Mills College General Manager Crystal Chun Wong (in dress) being recognized on stage along with other Compass associates

Fedele took the mic fourth. Before offering a market overview, he first noted the majestic setting, saying,“This place is magic for me” and explaining the history behind Bon Appétit’s work at AT&T Park. (Bon Appétit has been the premium-seats food service provider since the ballpark opened in 2000, manages food service for AT&T Park’s members-only Gotham Club, and partnered with the Giants to open the Garden at AT&T Park, a 4,320square-foot edible garden.) “We got this contract because of the job we were doing in other locations.... I’m very proud of what we do here.” He added that in two years, Bon Appétit will open a new arena in San Francisco for the Golden State Warriors in partnership with Levy Restaurants, another Compass sector.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the people of Bon Appétit who make us what we are,” Fedele continued. He reminded guests that San Francisco is a sanctuary city, and “a place where radical innovation happens that will change the world with the companies we serve.” A video followed, with Adobe - San Jose Executive Chef Brian West — Bon Appétit’s featured chef for the evening and a key driver of the Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen nutrition and culinary initiative — appearing on screen and on stage with his Compass counterparts.

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Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio addresses the crowd

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Hannah Schmunk, manager of food education for children; Brian West, Adobe San Jose executive chef; and Allison Campbell, the Garden at AT&T Park program manager

Healthy Kids garden in a cup featuring vegetables served with beet hummus and edible “soil” (shiitake and porcini mushrooms, black olives, and walnuts)

Carrot cupcakes from Bakery 350 with cream cheese frosting

Artichoke flatbreads with ricotta, sorrel, and pistachio pesto

Thank-you cards from children who enjoyed the Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen program

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MIT Chefs Visit Fish Vendor (and Industry Pioneer) Red’s Best Submitted by Nicole Tocco Cardwell, Manager of Strategic Initiatives

Red's Best’s headquarters at the historic Boston Fish Pier

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ewer than four miles from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's campus in Cambridge, MA, the 103-year-old Boston Fish Pier is home to the headquarters, processing area, and dock of Red’s Best, a local Fish to Fork vendor that aggregates catch from more than 1,000 small, independent New England fishing boats. Several Bon Appétit chef/managers at MIT, along with Manager of Strategic Initiatives Nicole Cardwell, recently journeyed across the Charles River to tour the site.

It’s a hectic place. The Red’s Best floor manager told the group, “Working at Red’s Best is a little like sticking your face in a popcorn machine. Eighty percent of our inventory is in from boats and then out for distribution within six hours.” But even with a fast-paced business that requires quick turnaround to ensure the freshest product, Red’s Best avoids many problems common to the industrial fishing industry, such as the general lack of traceability, fishing “in the red” (at a loss, incomewise), and generating lots of wasteful bycatch.

Instead, Red’s Best upholds numerous best practices: Setting a Floor Price.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Red’s Best Operations Manager Robert Chandler, Bon Appétit Chef/Managers Richard (Chip) Coller, Stephen Drysdale, Bill McComiskey, and Roland Trottier, and Red’s Best Director of Sustainable Seafood Jamey Lionette

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In the seafood industry, it’s not uncommon for fishermen to head out without knowing what price the species they catch will ultimately

fetch. Red’s Best addresses this by setting a guaranteed floor price for each species so fishermen never need to“fish in the red.”

If the market price exceeds that floor, the company passes the difference on to the fishermen. They also buy the “entire boat” from their fishermen, helping them find a market for everything they catch, rather than picking and choosing only the most profitable species.

Traceability. After a few years of growth, founder Jared Auerbach created software that provides traceability in the form of a code. This means that each box of seafood Bon Appétit chefs purchase is coded with information about the fisherman who caught it, when it was caught, and how much the catch cost.

This information may be printed and shared in-café.

Seasonal Seafood. Many chefs and managers are accustomed to ordering a specific fish species far in advance, regardless of the potential abundance of other similar seasonal varieties — white fish in particular. Red’s Best therefore created a“white fish” program specifically for colleges and universities through which chefs can order a certain amount of a white-fish fillet in advance, leaving the decision about which species to supply up to the company. For Bon Appétit chefs, of course, they only provide species that have been rated Best Choice (green) or Good Alternative (yellow) by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. This initiative means that chefs are cooking not only with fish Red’s Best live scallops that’s fresh and sustainable, but seasonally abundant as well.

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from the fellows | caroline ferguson

Baking My Way Through the Bon Appétit Fellowship

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hen I was a student at Seattle University, a poem by Ignatian priest Pedro Arrupe became part of the campus culture. Jesuit schools are funny like that — old Catholic sayings can suddenly catch on and spread like wildfire among a bunch of largely secular college kids. The final line of the poem presents a simple directive: “Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

Of course, being a priest, Arrupe isn’t talking about romantic love. He’s talking about finding your calling, that thing that makes you want to jump out of bed every morning and get to work. I figured out a while ago that for me, that thing is food: studying it, writing about it, talking to others about it, and above all, making it (okay, eating it isn’t half bad, either).

Before I started the fellowship I had dabbled in several roles, each of them offering a different entry point to food: I was a baker, a food writer, and I even worked short stints volunteering in a children’s kitchen, and living and cooking on a sheep farm in France.

When I landed the Bon Appétit fellowship, I was thrilled, but also a little worried. It was a sustainability fellowship, after all, and I hadn’t majored in environmental studies.

Instead of covering fossil-fuel divestment for the campus newspaper, I wrote restaurant reviews. Would my eyes glaze over during long conversations about compost? Would I secretly wish I were in the kitchen working on a loaf of sourdough instead? In the year since graduating, I’d been lucky enough to fall in love with my work, and I hoped I’d be able to stay in love.

Washington University in St. Louis’s unique bakery headed

by Pastry Chef Starr Murphy, my Fellow events have never strayed too far from the kitchen. I even attended a heritage grains conference in January to meet some of the bakers, brewers, farmers, and policy makers revitalizing the Pacific Northwest’s grain economy.

During my fall visit to Seattle University, some awesome student volunteers helped me execute what may have been my favorite Fellow event of all: a screening of an episode of Michael Pollan’s Cooked, all about sourdough bread. A baking Q&A immediately followed. Students even got to take home their own sourdough starters! As we snacked on a loaf of sourdough I’d made and students brimmed with questions about how Bon Appétit supports local farmers and artisan bakers, I fell more in love with my work than ever before.

I sometimes miss baking professionally, but this work has given me the opportunity to connect others to where their food comes from and how it is made, something I never could have done if I had stayed in the kitchen.

Participating in a cracker and flatbread demo taught by Dawn Woodward, owner of Evelyn’s Crackers in Toronto, at the Cascadia Grains Conference

Luckily for me, those worries were quickly put to rest. After meeting the rest of the Fellows, I realized what an incredible diversity of experience they represent. Everyone has a different passion and point of view. Not only was it okay for me to have a specific interest in cooking and baking — it was encouraged.

So I took my passion and ran with it. From organizing a hands-on cooking class and participating in a panel on affordable, sustainable eating at Seattle University, to visiting

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A zest for flavor

SAP Gets Zesty with Cooking Is an Art and a Science Demo Submitted by Melissa Miller, General Manager

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AP employees in Palo Alto, CA, may now start thinking twice before tossing out their citrus peels, thanks to a recent live-action citrus zesting demo by the Bon Appétit team at all three SAP cafés. The event was part of Bon Appétit’s new Cooking Is an Art and a Science marketing promotion, which features 19 culinary techniques. Guests loved the educational, interactive experience, calling the demonstrations entertaining, fun, and thoughtful.

Three of the team’s culinary masters offered up uses for the oft-neglected peels: Café 3 Chef David Duron grated zest atop duck confit and Café 8 Chef/Manager Robert Perez offered it atop black bass. Meanwhile, Café 1 Chef Janet Vicens discussed zest’s overall versatility with guests and offered free samples of fresh lemon zest seasoned with salt and black pepper to take away, plus tastings of an oil made with lemon zest, arbol chili, garlic, and herbs, and two compound butters — one with blood orange zest and juice, cilantro, and chipotle, and a classic lemon zest compound butter made with garlic and herbs.

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Zest-filled compound butters and free take-away samples of lemon zest with salt and pepper ready for guests

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OPENING

Bon Appétit Opens Café at New Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center Submitted by Amanda Mass, Marketing Manager

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n early March, Bon Appétit opened a café in the new Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center. The Bon Appétit team is proud to have the chance to play a role in this new center.

The café serves breakfast and lunch, complete with panini, smoothie, salad, soup, and action stations. Three large screens and eight tablets feature the daily specials and marketing materials about wellness and sustainability. The café is expected to feed about 185 employees and visitors each day.

Duck confit with blood orange zest

In addition to the opening of the café, the Bon Appétit teams at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Botanical Garden collaborated to cater a VIP event honoring the opening of the new Taussig Cancer Center. More than 250 guests were in attendance, including members of the Cleveland Clinic Board of Directors; Taussig Cancer Center leadership; and David Griffin, general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Attendees enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres such as asparagus wrapped with smoked salmon and entrées such as braised chicken thigh with poblano grit cake and tomato jam.

The Bon Appétit at Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center team Grill Cook Gerardo Lemus zests an orange over a dish of black bass and lentils

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Oracle - Redwood Shores Guests Enjoy High-End Dining at Chef ’s Counter Submitted by Cara Brechler, Marketing Director

A third course of guajillo-braised short ribs with the day’s tasting menu

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very Friday at lunchtime, the pasta bar at the 300 Café on the Oracle campus in Redwood Shores, CA, transforms into a communal dining experience led by Culinary Director Tim Hilt. He and his team delight guests with a four-course tasting menu that showcases peak-season products.

The counter can accommodate up to eight guests per seating, with two seatings (11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.) each Friday. Each service lasts one hour, with a half-hour table changeover between seatings. Guests, who pay $16.95 for their lunch, are now able to reserve spots via a special online tab with OpenTable. The special lunches regularly sell out thanks to enthusiastic word of mouth.

A winter lunch not too long ago featured a first course of uni and oyster on brioche with avocado, yuzu, radish, shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice mixture), ponzu sauce, and jalapeño. Chanterelle mushrooms starred in a second course along with red miso in orange broth with komatsuna (a 16 | BRAVO

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Oyster with ponzu, jalapeño, and yuzu and uni on house-made brioche with avocado, radish, jalapeño, shichimi, and yuzu

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Oracle - Redwood Shores Chefs Cook with Martin Yan and Visiting Sichuan Master Chefs “San Francisco and Chengdu are two cities that share many similarities — first of all for our love of culture and arts, technology — but most notably our food scene,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, welcoming a visiting cultural delegation from the capital of southwest China's Sichuan province on a “Friendship City” exchange. Established more than 2,300 years ago, Chengdu is the cradle of Sichuan cuisine, one of China’s four major styles of cooking. Chengdu’s cultural significance is profound: It enjoys a reputation as the “Land of Abundance” and “City of Gastronomy.”

Café 300 Sous Chef Andrea Cesca and Culinary Director Tim Hilt plate a special Chef’s Counter lunch

Marketing Intern Stephanie Matute offers Japanese cheesecake

Following a two-week festival celebrating Chengdu's arts and cuisine, the 10 top Sichuan chefs were joined by Chef Martin Yan, star of the long-running television show Yan Can Cook, on a Bay Area exchange tour at several Silicon Valley luminaries. Oracle - Redwood Shores Culinary Director Tim Hilt and Café 600’s Chef de Cuisine Hai Le were excited to work with Martin and the Chengdu chefs to host a special lunchtime meal and demonstration.

Together the two groups of chefs prepared classic Sichuan dishes, such as mapo tofu, tea-smoked duck with glutinous rice, and “husband and wife delight,” a beef specialty. “It is such a rare privilege to work side by side with a team of top-notch chefs who’re on the cutting edge of Sichuan cuisine,” said Martin. “The impact of their historical visit to the Bay Area will be felt long after they return home.”

Submitted by Cara Brechler, Marketing Director

Japanese mustard spinach). A third course of guajillo-braised short ribs came with plantain, tatsoi, red onion, Fresno chilies, and cilantro. Japanese cheesecake with persimmon and shiso finished off the meal in a light and flavorful way.

Oracle - Redwood Shores Chef de Cuisine Hai Le, Culinary Director Tim Hilt, and Yan Can Cook superstar Martin Yan

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OPENING

SurveyMonkey Guests Go Bananas for Good Food Submitted by Janine Beydoun, Regional Marketing Manager

The SurveyMonkey opening team in front of a colorful backdrop featuring its whimsical logo

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Shanghai noodle stir-fry from SurveyMonkey’s opening

urveyMonkey has made new neighbors and new friends this spring. In February, this expanding Silicon Valley company moved from Palo Alto, CA, to a custom LEEDcertified building of its own design in San Mateo — and introduced Bon Appétit as its new food provider.

The fully subsidized food program at Tree Tops Café — housed in a whimsical state-of-the-art building — focuses on healthy choices for the company’s 400 employees. Chef/Manager Michael Luchi, originally from Hawaii, brings a laid-back island approach to the artful presentation of his down-to-earth small plates.

One of the café’s key features is a stage. It’s frequently used during lunch service for special programs (including presentations on sustainability, for example) as well as for cooking demos by in-house as well as guest chefs.

During the grand opening, SurveyMonkey guests were treated to a Lunar New Year festival complete with a Chinese dance performance and themed treats from Bon Appétit’s Bakery 350 in San Francisco. Guests reveled in the new space and enjoyed a special menu of dishes including Chinese-style steamed cod, Shanghai noodle stir-fry, and winter vegetables with black bean sauce, to complement the festive vibe.

The comment cards from guests have raved about the quality and freshness of the food and noted how friendly the service has been. The Bon Appétit team is excited to be a part of such a fun and engaging community.

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St. Mary’s Students Get Schooled on Sustainable Plant-Based Cookery Submitted by Claire Kelloway, Fellow

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alentine’s Day is for lovers...of innovative cooking techniques and nutritious plant-based foods! In partnership with the St. Mary’s City, MD, campus Sustainability Office’s Living Workshops series, new St. Mary’s College of Maryland Sous Chef Eldon Blosser offered an information-packed Valentine’s Day cooking demonstration on plant-based proteins and how to transform vegetables into hearty, easy meals.

Bon Appétit Fellow Claire Kelloway kicked off the event with a short lesson on the environmental benefits of reducing one’s meat consumption and on different sources of plant-based proteins. The cooking demo featured two recipes: a vegetable and grain salad with hummus dressing, and an entrée of cauliflower steak marinated in garlic oil.

Each dish integrated innovative and approachable culinary techniques that students could apply to make many other simple, delicious meals.

Samples of kale and quinoa salad with hummus dressing — a bite complete with vitamins, grains, and plant-based protein

The grain salad demo showed students how to upcycle any medley of leftover vegetables and hummus into a complete dish, as well as how to save kitchen scraps to make stock for more flavorful steaming. The cauliflower demo focused on the vegetable’s versatility as a substitute for dairy, as a binding agent, and even as its most popular use at the moment — as “rice.” The St. Mary’s culinary team plated samples for guests to enjoy.

Eldon also shared wide-ranging tips on everything from seasoning a cast-iron pan and making quick pickles to the culinary and conservation value of heirloom grains and seeds, such as benne seeds. Every person who attended learned something new. In fact, most participants lingered after the demo to ask for more cooking tips and sustainable food trivia.

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OPENING

Bon Appétit Leaps into Action at Columbia Sportswear Submitted by Tonya Flashey, Regional Marketing Director, and Kristen Redshaw, General Manager

Cook Alex Winchester at Trails End’s FUEL station

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ew brands invoke the great Pacific Northwest outdoors like Columbia Sportswear. When Bon Appétit signed on the Portland, OR, company as a partner, the anticipation and excitement among the opening team were infectious. Led by District Manager Joanne Diehl, General Manager Kristen Redshaw, and Executive Chef Joe Dougherty, along with a number of tremendous support personnel, the team revamped two locations on campus, Trails End Café and Fuse.

Trails End Café underwent an impressive transformation. It now features a made-to-order omelet bar with fresh, nutrient-rich ingredients; a new FUEL station offering healthy performance bowls; a soup and salad bar; market deli; and delicious entrées at Mainstreets. Partnering with Stumptown Coffee, the espresso bar pours local coffee and espresso, as well as house-made smoothies with fresh ingredients.

Next door, the team opened its newest full-service restaurant: a rustic space complete with natural light, a gorgeous bar, and fantastic energy. The Sriracha menu offers steaming made-to order bowls of flavorful pho and vermicelli rice noodles with healthy ingredients. Side Streets, inspired by the food truck movement, offers a variety of both familiar and new-to-many tastes including kathi rolls, lotus buns, and street tacos. In the afternoon and early evening, guests can enjoy the Side Streets menu with a glass of wine or local beer on tap.

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reflections

Trine Grads Brighten a Dreary Day Submitted by Joseph Gentile, General Manager

A healthful vermicelli rice noodle bowl at Sriracha

Sriracha Chef Garet Clemenson

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he members of a food service team have the unique opportunity of touching the lives of their guests. At Trine University in Angola, IN, Café Supervisor Susan Harden recently shared some thoughts that touched and inspired General Manager Joseph Gentile and her other colleagues: I just wanted to tell you all about the day I had. I woke up this morning feeling grumpy. I looked out at the first snow of the year, thinking: “Here we go again, with another busy catering day.”

Stumptown cold brew and Vietnamese coffee at Columbia Sportswear’s Fuse

Chicken kathi roll

The guest feedback has been enthusiastic. “The team is awesome and the food is great,” wrote one, continuing, “Kristen, I definitely see that you care for your team, and it shows in their performance. The team is always upbeat and helpful. Joe, thank you for the power bowls; they are amazing!”

Commented another:“Thanks for making the café change an easy transition. The healthier options and reasonable serving sizes have been a great improvement...Keep up the good work, and thanks for making getting lunch on a busy work day so easy!”

But when I got here, a group of guys who’d been some of my favorite students and who’d graduated a couple years ago walked in. They were so happy to see me . . . and I them! They wanted to get our permission to have a plaque made for the cashier stand in honor of our sweet, sweet Georgia [Inman, a much-loved cashier who passed away a few years ago]. Next thing I know, a graduate from two years ago walked in. In her short lifetime, she has battled cancer nine times. She’s now in remission and gainfully employed and HAPPY. Minutes later another graduate from last year tapped me on the shoulder. He’s now an engineer for General Mills in Detroit and doing so well.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: We touch these kids.

We are as important to their time here as the professors are. They take care of their minds and we, in some way, are here to take care of their nourishment. Remember: It’s not just their bodies we nourish, but their spirits, too.

I guess I needed to be reminded of this today of all days.

Susan Harden, Café Supervisor, Trine University

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g William Jessup University Racks Up Awards

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wards season isn’t just for the Oscars and the Grammys, and William Jessup University’s Crossroads Café in Rocklin, CA, should know. It was recently honored with several awards of its own: the 2016 Rocklin Small Business Excellence Award, the 2016 Best of Rocklin Awards for Cafés, and first place in the 2016 Roseville Celebrity Chili Cook-Off. The Rocklin Small Business Excellence Award recognized the café’s service to customers and the community. The award is earmarked for “exceptional companies [that] help make the Rocklin area a vibrant and vital place to live.” The Best of Rocklin Award is bestowed based on popular vote. Voters recognized the café’s amazing food, great customer service, and its overall appearance and dining atmosphere. The Roseville Celebrity Chili Cook-Off raises money for Point Break, a local antibullying program. Executive Chef Davin Klippel’s chili, which he serves in Crossroads, won first place!

Submitted by Dana Paduraru, Marketing Director

General Manager Harvey Smith, Executive Chef Davin Klippel, and President of William Jessup University Dr. John Jackson posing with the Roseville Celebrity Chili Cook-Off first place trophy Café Supervisor Antonio Davila holding the 2016 Best of Rocklin Award

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Colorado College Enjoys Five-Star Reviews from Wedding Website

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hen planning a wedding, choosing a caterer can be overwhelming. Stakes are high as everyone wants perfect food and seamless service on their special day. Betrothed couples in and near Colorado Springs, CO, though, have a five-star option in their backyard: the caterers at Colorado College.

The Bon Appétit catering team at Colorado College has earned the coveted five-star quality of service rating from Weddingwire.com. Caterers are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 in several categories: responsiveness, professionalism, value, flexibility, and quality. Over the past year, the "wedding" (catering) team has received 5s across the board!

The reviews from happy clients include the following highlights: The chef at Bon Appétit is incredibly creative and welcomes brainstorming ... Their creativity outpaced other caterers we considered. The quality of ingredients and commitment to sustainability stand out tremendously — possibly number one in the state.

From day one to day of the wedding, Catering Manager Maura Warren was professional, communicative, reliable, and just simply a wonderful person to have at our wedding to ensure the details of the reception meal went smoothly. Hands down, I would recommend any of my friends looking for a wedding caterer in Colorado Springs to choose Bon Appétit.

If you want to make your wedding easier, call Bon Appétit.... It's one-stop shopping.

Executive Chef Ed Clark and Maura [Warren] are creative, reliable, and budget-flexible. They prepared incredible food, the cake was one of a kind, the flowers exquisite, and the staff amazing.

Submitted by Maura Warren, Catering Manager

If you want to make your wedding easier, call Bon Appétit...

A colorful array of distinctive cakes

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Saint Martin’s Welcomes High-Profile Chefs for Brazilian-Themed Gala Submitted by Carole Ann Beckwith, General Manager

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pping the ante on an already successful event isn’t easy, but each year Saint Martin's University in Lacey, WA, has managed to outdo itself. For its 11th Annual Saint Martin’s Gala, the university welcomed three-time James Beard Award–winning TV personality and chef Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods franchise, and head chef Ligia Karazawa of Eataly Brazil’s Brace restaurant in São Paulo.

This year, the annual black-tie celebration of hospitality, community, and elegant food — themed A Taste of Brazil — raised $1.1 million for student scholarships!

Before the main event, guests had the opportunity to sample such “bizarre foods” as raw geoduck, edible bugs, marinated beef hearts, and char-broiled octopus. Andrew later offered a live auction item: he would eat country-fried squirrel on stage.

On stage, Ligia showed how to make the dishes for the gala’s menu, inspired by different culinary regions of Brazil. The execution of the dinner for more than 600 guests was handled by Bon Appétit Management Company teams from around the Northwest region. The five-course menu featured fried tapioca and crab crostini; hearts of palm salad with white beans, bacon, and oranges; coconut seafood stew; grilled picanha (a Brazilian cut of sirloin); coconut mousse; and Brazilian cocoa brigadeiro (a bonbon). As usual, Bon Appétit chefs performed like shining stars, executing each course meticulously.

Members of the board of trustees were both thrilled and grateful for the support, writing to District Manager Buzz Hofford to express their “heartfelt and gracious thanks to the Bon Appétit Team for their ongoing and generous support of our students here.” They added: “Without the amazing support of Bon Appétit, the brand and success of our event would simply not be the reality that it is today.” They further acknowledged the talent, commitment, and passion necessary to pull off such a large, well-orchestrated event so successfully.“You ALL amaze us!” they exclaimed.

Guests watched the show on stage as they enjoyed their meal

The Bon Appétit team at Saint Martin’s is proud to support this signature fundraising event and grateful for all the regional support.

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Coconut seafood stew

LEFT TO RIGHT: District Manager Buzz Hofford, Executive Chef Amanda Cherniske (Zulily), Executive Chef Anthony Clark (Amazon), General Manager Carole Ann Beckwith (Saint Martin’s University), Executive Chef Matt Talavera (Reed College), featured chef Ligia Karazawa, Executive Chef Beth Lafond (Saint Martin’s University), Regional District Manager Micah Cavolo, and Sous Chef Eduardo Cott of São Paulo

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setting the table | liz baldwin

Our First Priority Adobe - San Jose Executive Chef Brian West cuts safely

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s Bon Appétit hurtles toward its 30th birthday, I've been reflecting on many things. Our tremendous successes, our innovations, the accomplishments of our people, and the sense of family we have maintained in the face of our growth and good fortune all impress me as important parts of our story. Against this historic threedecade backdrop lie the challenges of meeting the ever-changing regulatory landscape, providing a safe and rewarding work environment for our people, and keeping pace with advances in technology — all while exceeding the expectations of our customer.

staff handle this with grace, but the onslaught can be mind-boggling. Our teams are tasked with the responsibility of not only staying creative and offering wonderful food and service, but also providing our client a great experience…every day. Our teams need to manage client expectations, hit financial targets, produce accurate and timely operating statements, support and train a changing workforce, address customer needs, understand ever more complex food systems, deal with the impact of social media on the business, and even fill in as cooks or dishwashers if that is the priority that day. Whatever it takes…

Imagine the impact of harming a guest with the food we serve, or losing an employee to a serious or fatal accident as a result of ignoring our safety policies. We are not the kind of people or company that would so easily recover from that.

There are times when I am a bit overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of running our business.Then I remember that I am surrounded by the most energetic, dedicated and capable folks I have ever known.

On the front lines, life can be hectic and requests come from every conceivable direction. Our managers, chefs, and hourly

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With requests and demands coming from all points, how do we find order, establish priorities, and keep our eye on the ball? Further, how do we know which things we must prioritize over all else? In the moment, everything seems A-list, and one’s ability to manage in the heat of the barrage can be really tested.

As I thought about this, I remembered an old definition of the

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term“management”:“Getting the right things done through people.”

OK, fine, but how does one decide the right things?

I got my answer on a recent conference call. Our Safety Director Steve Samuelson and I are working with operations leaders at units that are struggling with safety or experiencing avoidable accidents. On the calls we have the general manager, executive chef, and other appropriate unit personnel, as well as district managers and the regional vice president. The purpose is to learn from the incident, avoid future occurrences, and share what we learn with the rest of the business.

After one such call I spoke with the regional vice president to see if this approach was helpful. Does this help frame unit safety as a priority? The answer was, "It's a priority while we're on the call... after that, the priority may change."

With all we do, with all our operators do, how do we prioritize?

We ask our people to be nearly perfect in everything they handle. We don't want to be late serving meals to our customers, miss any of our performance targets, fail to motivate and retain employees, forget to collect our receivables, lose a bank deposit… Any of these things could negatively impact our business or client relationships, but from those, I feel we would be able to recover.

serve, or losing an employee to a serious or fatal accident as a result of ignoring our safety policies. We are not the kind of people or company that would so easily recover from that. Try to forget for a moment all of the financial and legal

consequences, and instead imagine how you would feel if our negligence brought such harm.

Seen through this lens, safety must be seen as our first priority, a non-negotiable cornerstone of all of our operations. It is by creating and maintaining safe work environments that we make possible the magic that all of you bring to our customers each and every day.

In the next few pages, you can read submissions from a sample of our teams that have made safety a key part of their workplace culture. We know it’s not easy when you have so many competing demands, but it can be done. And I promise you will never say at the end of the day,“I wish we hadn’t spent so much time on safety.”

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Focusing on Safety Snapshots of what “Safe In / Safe Out” means to Bon Appétit teams around the country.

Café Modern Team Continues Its Astonishing Accident-Free Run s of late March, the Bon Appétit team at Café Modern at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas had gone 3,000 days without an accident. Everyone from Safety Champion / Catering Manager Sarah Krueger to Bartender Megan Arrigunaga (pictured) deserves credit for that amazing number, says General Manager Adrian Burciaga — it’s a team project and the most important duty in their operation. “We focus on quality of local ingredients and first-class service of excellence, but we need to be safe first in order to deliver the rest of our goals,” explains Adrian. “Every member of our team is an owner of our safety program and we look forward to add more safe days in our operations, one day at a time.”

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Submitted by Bonnie Powell, Director of Communications

The Café Modern team

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District Manager Lou Lathon (far right) joined the Regis University team to celebrate their 365 days accident free

SCAD - Savannah’s Super Safety Record

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o mark two years with zero accidents in the Byte Café at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Savannah, GA, location, the whole team was given custom-designed T-shirts proclaiming “Safety Starts with ME!” That message of personal responsibility is the main driver that got the team to their two-year goal, and will see them through many more.

Among the other things that have helped drive safety at SCAD: • Hanging Safety Director Steve Samuelson’s posters of different fun safety memes •

Choosing a different employee to thank personally in front of everyone during 10@10 morning staff meetings for practicing a safe or helpful behavior, like breaking down boxes, cleaning up someone else's station or a common area, or using call-outs

•

Updating the safety board every day with how many days the café has gone incident free, announcing that number at 10@10s, and letting the team know other records on the campus and in their region. (It's nice to know they’re doing better than some, but even more inspiring to know some people in Bon Appétit have gone multiple thousands of days accident free!

•

Conducting multiple safety walk-throughs, with AM and PM crews involving a different supervisor, committee member, or manager every day so that there are lots of people conducting “safety management by walking around” (a.k.a. SMBWA) each day, all day.

•

Adding a personal story to each topic so they seem more relevant and memorable. Executive Sous Chef and Campus Safety Champion Allison Vanderburg writes a weekly safety email for all the campus’s unit managers, so they will hopefully always be on the same page and share a similar message with their teams.

Celebratory cupcakes

Regis Celebrates 365 Days Accident Free

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65 days! Besting last year’s safety record of 363 days, managers from Regis University in Denver celebrated with employees at all four café locations. To make the occasion feel even sweeter, the bakery team produced some delicious cupcakes.

District Safety Champion Adrianne Barnhart received a special shout-out for her efforts, which contributed to the team’s overall safety success. “Adrianne has brought a new energy and passion to both the in-house and district safety champion roles,” said District Manager Lou Lathon. “She has the knack to anticipate hazards and follow through to neutralize them quickly in a positive way. Her safety meetings are inclusive and productive, as is her weekly messaging to the district.”

Submitted by Letina Matheny-Leix, General Manager

HITTING THE SAFETY BULL’S-EYE: The employees at Café Target in Minneapolis recently celebrated one year accident free with certificates and cake.

Submitted by Allison Vanderburg, Executive Sous Chef and Campus Safety Champion

Submitted by John Mensen, Café Manager

LEFT TO RIGHT:

Executive Sous Chef and Campus Safety Champion Allison Vanderburg, Supervisor Tracy Wyman, Pizza Cook Cody Warren, Front of House Michelle Phoenix, Grill Cook Sherldine Wolfork, Baker Michelle Hampton, Cashier Tammara Barnes, and Server Tasha Simmons

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Fake Safety Vs. Real Safety

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t a recent meeting for Southeast/Midwest district managers, marketing managers, and human resources representatives, Regional Vice President Randy DeMers was intent on driving home the message that safety must be foremost in their minds and in those of every manager under their supervision. “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge,” he reiterated.

To that end, he had asked several attendees ahead of time to prepare 1-minute skits about how to teach aspects of safety culture. Among them, District Manager Jason Rose enthusiastically acted out a new program called “Take 5,” which was about taking five minutes every hour to look around you and clean up any potential hazards, while District Manager Bryan Bruin showed off a few signs in American Sign Language for communicating about knife safety in a loud kitchen or when you don’t want to embarrass the offender by telling them to put on a cut glove out loud (say, in front of a client or guest).

And District Manager Dave Viveralli, who will be assisting Regional Safety Champion and Grove City College General Manager JonErik Germadnik with raising the profile of safety in the region, gave a thoughtful presentation about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to embedding safety in a unit’s culture.

Dave’s list of Top 10 Signs of Alternative Safety — “things that look like safety practices but do not keep people safe” — elicited quite a few rueful chuckles.

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Surface safety: Looks good on appearance, but drill down and it has major gaps.

Poster prophet: Lots of beautiful posters up on the walls, but no actual culture. No one calling out “behind” or “corner,” no one knowing their number of accident-free days.

Dry lab master: Fills out every form...from their desk.

Talking the talk: Saying all the right things, but not actually following through on doing any of them.

Driving in a bubble: Drives safety with only the safe people, doesn’t check to make sure everyone knows the practices.

Selfish safety: Follows good safety practices themselves, but ignores the unsafe behaviors of others.

Magic chef: “Do as I say, not as I do” — a chef who is above safety himself/herself (for example, cuts with no cut glove or touches food with bare hands).

PPE perfection: Has all the personal protective equipment — in the box, unopened, on a shelf.

Simon Says manager: Preaches safety while not doing shouts and wears street shoes in kitchen.

Luck: Years of accident-free days purely by luck, with no culture responsible for it.

Real safety culture, by contrast, is visible and audible, Dave continued. Leaders are actively and positively influencing the staff, like Emory University Resident District Manager Kellie Piper and her managers handing out “safety bucks” on a regular basis (see “Are You Getting Rich?” box, right). In the Southeast/Midwest region, Randy, Dave, and JonErik want to see safety become infused in every hire from day one (starting with new orientation practices), for everyone to know their number of days accident free, for every kitchen to be filled with safety shouts as a matter of normal business practice, for the safety board to be completely current and actively maintained, and for all audits to be held to the highest standards.

High bars? Indeed. But not too high when the health of Bon Appétit’s employees and guests depends on these practices.

Submitted by Bonnie Powell, Director of Communications

A Bon Appétit safety buck for Emory University dining employees

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“Are You Feeling Rich?”

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hat’s what Resident District Manager Kellie Piper likes to ask Emory University dining employees as she hands them one of these “safety bucks,” a special form of currency imprinted with the face of Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio — a fun practice she brought with her to Atlanta from her previous account, SAP in Palo Alto, CA. Kellie and her management team hand out the bucks when they observe a team member doing something safely, whether that’s lifting a heavy box off the floor using their legs and not their back, or reminding a colleague to put on a cut glove. It’s somewhat of an honor system — associates can also tell a manager after the fact about something they did that would have earned them a safety buck if a manager had been present to see it.

At the end of each month, those who have accumulated the most safety bucks — the “richest team members” — get to choose between a movie bundle or a gas card. Kellie and her team also run 30-, 60-, and 90-day campuswide safety targets with flat-screen televisions as prizes, and quarterly drawings per unit for gift cards. “The prizes help, but the important thing is that we’re talking about safety constantly and reminding everyone what’s safe and what’s not,” says Kellie.

Submitted by Bonnie Powell, Director of Communications

Gates Foundation Goes Almost 1,500 Days Accident Free

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afety Champions Royson Chow (catering operations manager) and Whitney Gerlach (catering coordinator) have done an incredible job promoting a culture of safety at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, and as of February 28, 2017, the team had gone 1,480 days accident free, according to a submission to Bravo.

And then came the email: “Hold the presses!!!! We have had a recordable accident. Not serious fortunately. Actually quite minor,” General Manager Daniel Roberts emailed the Bravo editors. It all came crashing down — literally — when a hotel pan fell off a speedrack onto someone’s foot, and the team member needed to go to the doctor to have it checked.

The Gates Foundation team still has some useful safety-culture tips to share, however. First and foremost, the leadership team works hard to follow the long list of safety expectations, taking advantage of meetings, committees, signage, posters, “safety management by walking around” (SMBWA), providing and encouraging the use of personal protective equipment, communications, trainings, and more. It’s not just one initiative but many integrated efforts that contribute to the safe environment the entire team enjoys.

Ultimately, though, it boils down to this: The Bon Appétiters at the Gates Foundation all care about one another. When someone seems to be walking a little differently, a colleague will ask, “Are you OK?” If he or she answers “I hurt my back,” the response would never be, “It didn’t happen at work, did it?” Instead, the listener will make sure that the person can work safely and that he or she gets any help needed. That means that team members aren’t afraid to ask for help when unsure if they can do something safely — and they’re comfortable speaking up when they see something unsafe.

This kind of doubly safe environment will serve the team well as they reset their accident clock.

Submitted by Daniel Roberts, General Manager

Cox Hall Utility Worker Alaska Booker, a member of Emory University’s safety committee

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Regis Sushi Guru Honors Hawaiian Heritage, Creatively Submitted by Larisa Gavrilyuk, Office Manager

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hen it comes to poke, sushi, and burritos, only one thing could rival this trio’s popularity in the collective foodie consciousness: wrapping them all up in a single dish! Such innovation often inspires Bon Appétiters at Regis University in Denver, who constantly strive to take their offerings to the next level. Cook Peg LaPointe — whom Executive Chef Glenn Babcock calls Sushi Guru, as she runs the sushi bar on a weekly basis at Claver Café — joined forces with Glenn to feature a special of sushi rice and poke (ahi yellowfin tuna with wakame seaweed salad) rolled in a seaweed wrapper.

Peg is half Hawaiian, and she explains, “Growing up in a Hawaiian-cultured household, poke was a large part of our lives.” Her family frequently hosted luaus at home, complete with hula dancers and pigs roasting in the backyard. Culinary specialties such as poke were common, too. Though Peg’s mother wanted her kids to appreciate their heritage and culture, as a child and young adult, Peg shied away from what made her Hawaiian culture distinct, and preferred to meld with her peers. But as she got older, that changed. One day recently she was thinking of all the past gatherings, her late mother, and how to tie in her Hawaiian origins into what she does now.

The idea of a poke “burrito” came to her. Peg says this would definitely have made her mom proud. It certainly pleases the students, who love when this menu special appears. It’s one of the most popular offerings!

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Cook Peg LaPointe proudly presents her poke sushi burrito

A closer look at the fresh, vibrant poke sushi burrito

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Doughing Behind the Scenes at La Boulangerie de San Francisco Submitted by Jill Koenen, Regional Marketing Director

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nyone who has ever fallen in love with a perfect croissant knows the special bond residents form with their neighborhood pastry shop. So when French baker Pascal Rigo opened the first of what would later become several outposts of La Boulange in San Francisco in 1995, there was much delight citywide.

Then in 2012, the company was sold to Starbucks (and Pascal and his team went with it), only to close again in 2015. Pascal and his crew then reopened several of the original locations under a new name, La Boulangerie de San Francisco.

Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio is a huge fan of La Boulangerie, and he recently joined several Northern California chefs and managers on a tour and tasting at La Boulangerie in South San Francisco. La Boulangerie Partner Nicolas Bernadi showed the team the impressive facility where they bake bread, pastries, tarts, and other flaky treats.

Fedele and the chefs all happily“carbo loaded” — trying all of the delicious creations and making lists of which bites they wanted to introduce to their guests.

Northern California–based chefs and managers tour La Boulangerie in South San Francisco

A huge variety of beautifully presented fresh pastries

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Celebrating African-American History Month Through Food This year’s celebration of African-American History Month (or Black History Month, as some accounts prefer) across Bon Appétit included inspired homages to culinary icons and familial influencers, with menus ranging from comfort food classics and soul-food favorites to dishes with roots in Creole, Ethiopian, and Caribbean cuisines. And that’s just the beginning. Creative Bon Appétiters took this year’s theme of partnership and collaboration to heart, working closely with clients, campus and employee groups, and one another to listen and learn — all in service to celebrations that honored the many cultural touchstones that reflect wide-ranging African-American foodways.

Citrix - Raleigh Honors Seven Influential Chefs

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hy honor two or three chefs when you can celebrate seven? Executive Chef Toby Pace went all-in when devising his Black History Month celebration for Dillon’s Café at Citrix in Raleigh, NC. Toby dove deep in his research, identifying seven chefs whose biographies and recipes he wanted to showcase at the comfort foods station on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month. Employee entrance menu signs and the whiteboard at the café entrance promoted the honorees, whose framed bios and photos accompanied a description of the menu items they inspired. Toby even strove to present the food in the same manner as it appeared in the photographs he found.

The first honoree: Executive Chef JJ Johnson of The Cecil and Minton’s in Harlem, NYC, whose recipe for piri piri shrimp with roasted sweet potato flapjack and collardgreens salad started the series off strong. Next up was television personality, chef, and restaurateur Carla Hall, of ABC’s hit show The Chew and Carla Hall’s Southern Kitchen in Nashville, TN and Brooklyn, NY. Her beer-braised beef brisket was served alongside buttery cheddar-garlic smashed potatoes, orange-sautéed local red cabbage, and sautéed carrots. Las Vegas Chef of the Year Jeff Henderson of the Bellagio (who also stars in the Food Network hits Family Style with Chef Jeff and Flip My Food and is a frequent Bon Appétit guest chef) was spotlighted third, with a menu highlighting sugar-brined pork chops with baconinfused local collard greens and lima beans.

Citrix guests eagerly anticipated the Tuesday and Thursday specials and inquired at breakfast what they could look forward to at lunch. The late chef Patrick Clark, who led a generation of Americans to embrace a new style of casual but sophisticated French cooking, was honored through Toby’s thoughtful preparation of his Moroccan barbecue salmon with couscous and sautéed vegetables. Restaurateur, author, and fashion icon Marcus Samuelsson, the Ethiopianborn, Swedish-raised, New York–based chef (and the youngest chef to receive a three-star review from The New York Times) was fêted via a dish of Swedish roast chicken quarters with apple spiced vegetables and rice and sautéed local broccoli rabe.

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The food of two true icons — Leah Chase, considered New Orleans’ Queen of Creole Cuisine, and Edna Lewis, recipient of the first-ever James Beard Living Legend Award in 1999 — held sway during February’s final week. Chase, who at age 94 is still a strong presence at her legendary Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, made a special impression on the Citrix team last year: Station Cook Treisha Hall had the honor of meeting and even getting a kiss from her culinary icon. When Toby presented his version of Chase’s baked pit ham served with red beans and rice plus Cajun-spiced green beans in the café, Treisha served them all with great pride.

Diners flocked to the comfort foods station for fried catfish served with hushpuppies, potato salad, and vinegar-based coleslaw, in honor of Edna Lewis, one of the first black female celebrity chefs. The promotion sold out!

Citrix staff tweeted and Instagrammed throughout the month in appreciation of both the promotion and Dillon’s Café. Tuesday and Thursday guest check averages were also up, lending a profitable edge to what was at heart an educational — and unquestionably delicious — month of February.

Submitted by Bill Allen, Director of Catering

Dillon's Café entrance whiteboard honored African-American chefs

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african-american history month Inspiration Cafe volunteers Cook Curtis Kim, Chef de Cuisine Charles Haracz, and Cooks John Henry and Andy Suarez

Art Institute of Chicago Volunteers Nourishment at Inspiration Cafe

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n timing that dovetailed nicely with the team’s Black History Month celebrations, Bon Appétiters at the Art Institute of Chicago banded together to give back to the community by volunteering at Inspiration Cafe, cooking and artfully plating Southern-style food for the homeless and those at the lower end of the income spectrum.

Part of the Greater Chicago Food Depository Network, the nonprofit Inspiration Corporation was founded by police officer Lisa Nigro in 1989. It provides food service job training to the homeless and low-income individuals and allows students to train with professional chefs at Inspiration Kitchens. The program also helps attendees secure their first entry-level position in the food service industry.

Chef de Cuisine Charles Haracz and his team prepared Louisiana stewed gumbo and Southern turkey melts. The meal was a hit, and those at Inspiration Cafe can’t wait to have them back again. “The dedication the team has to each other is amazing,” said Inspiration Corporation Volunteer Coordinator Dakota De Corah. “I watched [them] all pitch in and help each other to meet the goals” for the dinner. She added that she was impressed at how they all worked together “to make that night such a success!”

“Food connects us all,” said Cook Andy Suarez. “I wanted to find a way to give back to the community. I decided to do so through food.”

Submitted by Nicole Nicolas, Special Events Marketing Coordinator

Albion Ups the Volume with Motown Classics

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he Supremes, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5... What better way to break the routine of student life than by blaring tunes from classic Motown artists? The Black History Month celebration at Albion College in Albion, MI, included a rousing “sing for your supper” contest. When the music started, the café filled with song as volunteers braved nerves to belt out selections from a playlist of 25 Motown songs.

Freshman Jontay Wallace II gamely kicked things off. He grabbed the mic, selected Stevie Wonder’s classic hit “Superstition,” and sang his heart out!

Several more students then took turns, making the karaoke-style evening a rollicking good time.

Later in the month, the Bon Appétit team partnered with the Black Student Alliance to cater the annual Albion Soul Food Dinner. New Orleans sausageand-shrimp gumbo, Gunthorp Farms fried chicken, crate-free smothered pork chops, white-cheddar-and-chive grits, and Executive Chef Ken Dixon’s amazing Creole corn skillet were all featured on the menu.

Submitted by Shane Powers, Marketing Manager Albion College Freshman Jontay Wallace II singing Stevie Wonder's hit “Superstition”

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african-american history month

Blackbirds Group Helps Make Twitter's Celebration Sing

Guest chef Bryant Terry with his son signed copies of his books

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o prepare collaboratively for Black History Month celebrations at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, the Bon Appétit team (Café Manager Douglas Ambrose, Assistant General Manager Anjelica Baker, Executive Chef Martin Levison, and General Manager Kevin McConvey) met with the Blackbirds — the Twitter black employee resource group — to plan and implement a successful event series together.

The group decided that the celebration should include both foods with cultural resonance and those that might hold personal meaning. Bon Appétiters suggested dishes that meant something special to them. For example, Back of House Manager Jeffery Cotton recalled eating his mother’s shepherd's pie, and that dish made it onto the menu. The planners reached out to Twitter employees and received recipe suggestions from them as well.

Chef de Cuisine Esther Paek and her team helped create the recipes, and featured them throughout the cafés.

Each dish was credited to the Tweep or Bon Appétiter who’d recommended it, and their short bio and photo, as well as a few words about the dish, accompanied the special items. Everyone loved learning more about the foods and the people behind them.

Lois Porter, owner of Mamie & Makhi's Sweet Potato Pie in Berkeley, CA

And that’s not all: Three guest chefs were invited to participate in the celebration! They each discussed their favorite foods and what role those foods played in their early years.

First up: restaurateur and Executive Chef Tanya Holland of Brown Sugar Kitchen and B-Side BBQ in Oakland, CA. Tanya featured a cornmeal waffle and fried chicken dish and gave away signed copies of one of her cookbooks.

Lois Porter, owner of Mamie & Makhi's Sweet Potato Pie in Berkeley, CA, delighted guests next. She showcased a crustless sweet potato pie — so even gluten-avoiding guests could enjoy the treat. Bryant Terry, the chef-inresidence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco and author of several vegan cookbooks including Vegan Soul Kitchen, appeared third, offering his tofu curry with mustard greens over coconut rice with harissa. He, too, gave away signed cookbooks.

The celebrations were hits, and the Twitter Blackbirds seemed pleased to play such a key role. Guests learned that what’s traditionally considered soul food is but one slice of a much larger, vaster — and more highly personal — culinary culture when it comes to black history and foodways.

Submitted by Kevin McConvey, General Manager

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Back of House Manager Jeffery Cotton with his wife, Jessica, six-month-old son Trey, and mother, Dawn (whose sheherd’s pie recipe was among those featured)

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african-american history month

WashU Nods to Famous and Familial

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VMware Features Diaspora Dishes

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on Appétit collaborated with VMware in Palo Alto, CA, to celebrate Black History Month throughout the cafés and on-campus catering. Guests enjoyed an array of tastes, including ham hock–braised collard greens and chicken and waffles, plus dishes rooted in West Africa and the Caribbean such as Jamaican steeldrum jerk chicken with red beans and rice, topped with mango salsa. Soul food, barbecue, Cajun favorites, and Creole flavors rounded out the many offerings.

Submitted by Lauren Antoni, Assistant General Manager

hefs have a rich variety of heroes to admire, and Black History Month is one occasion to pay homage to those who have been inspirational. In honor of chef, author, and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson, Executive Chef David Rushing of Washington University in St. Louis prepared a classic Ethiopian chicken dish, doro we’t.

The team also paid homage to other black chefs who have had an impact on their culinary careers. Some are famous and others are equally — or even more — influential family members and home cooks. Every Sunday in February, the team at the Village highlighted a family recipe, telling the story of the food they served.

Dishes included Southern-style chicken and dumplings, braised celery and carrots, and house-made cornbread; and pot roast, sautéed cabbage, and hot-water corn cakes. Throughout the rest of the month, chefs at the South40 and the Danforth University Center highlighted famous black chefs such as Leah Chase and Edna Lewis. The Washington University team created dishes that moved them in some way, including shrimp gumbo, butter cake, braised greens, country-fried steak, and sweet potato pie.

Submitted by Kristi Baker, Marketing Manager Marcus Samuelsson’s classic Ethiopian chicken dish doro we’t, as interpreted by WashU Executive Chef David Rushing

AN ISLAND INFUSION AT YAHOO: The Bon Appétit team at Yahoo in Sunnyvale, CA, served dishes rooted in several Caribbean Islands.

Drawing from the food of the broader African diaspora, the team exposed guests to flavorful dishes like Trinidadian oxtail stew, Cayman Islands pineapple spice lemonade, and Saint Thomas stuffed eggplant (pictured).

Submitted by Samantha Reyes, Café Manager

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OPENING

Bon Appétit Gives Grifols E Café an Infusion of New Blood Submitted by Kaitlyn Futch, Marketing Manager

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he Bon Appétit family warmly welcomes Grifols E Café to the client roster. This Emeryville, CA–based campus of Grifols, which specializes in blood transfusion technology, global healthcare, and blood and plasma therapies, offers one main café for the roughly 120 employees.

A farmers’ market and Meet the Chef cooking demonstration helped ring in the opening, giving guests a feel for what was to come. The quick renovation included repainting, new artwork and digital signage, and upgraded stations that now provide a rotating array of hot specials. The Bon Appétit team, helmed by new Bon Appétiter General Manager Jennifer Eckard and longtime Bon Appétit Executive Chef Jaime Dominguez, also added two new café stations — global and comfort — to provide a wide variety of options to meet all dietary preferences.

Grifols Executive Chef Jaime Dominguez

Guests can now enjoy breakfast, lunch, and express items throughout the day. Breakfast offerings include a yogurt bar, omelets made to order, and other morning classics. All five stations are open during lunch. The most popular options include the fresh-daily salad bar and the new taqueria bar.

The wide array of healthful, filling choices has already proven popular in a short time.

A lunch special offered corned beef, cabbage, and roasted carrots and potatoes

A sample sandwich tempting guests at the deli bar

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Meet Bon Appétit’s Youngest Farm to Fork Rancher Submitted by Bonnie Powell, Director of Communications

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att McNany has “basically been farming since he could walk,” says his mother, Lynna McNany, who is Bon Appétit’s operations manager at Grove City College (see page 90). “When he was little, like 6 or 7, he came to me and said. ‘I want to buy turkeys. I want to raise them and sell them at Thanksgiving,’” recalls Lynna with a smile in her voice. She and her husband staked him, and Matt paid them back and “made enough money to buy his own fourwheeler that year!”

The middle son, Matt grew up on the family farm a few miles outside of Grove City, PA. The McNanys raised horses and cows and chickens, and always sold “freezer beef ” (whole animals direct to consumer). Their kids were big into 4-H and rodeos. But Matt embraced the farming side a lot more than his two siblings, and in fact has made it his business since he was 16.

young man, and the relationship is phenomenal,” says General Manager JonErik Germadnik.

Matt always comes to the college on Bon Appétit’s Eat Local Challenge Day, setting up a table and talking to students his own age about farming.“Students don’t think about where their meat comes from, but when they talk to him, they really get it,” says Lynna proudly. “And he loves seeing them enjoy his beef.”

Partnering with Bon Appétit has been a dream come true, says Matt: “Farming has always been a passion of mine and being able to work with Bon Appétit has turned that dream into a reality.”

In 2011, when he was 16, he again came to Lynna and said he wanted to get a job. Pickings were slim, and“he’s not the kind of kid who could work at a fast food restaurant,” she explains.

Grove City College’s then–executive chef was looking to expand his Farm to Fork roster, particularly in locally raised meat, and suggested that maybe Matt could expand the McNanys’ beef herd. Lynna and her husband had a serious talk with Matt about the responsibility, and he was game. 5M Farms was born.

There was a learning curve. Not only did Matt have to grow his herd fast in order to supply the volume the college needed, but he had to get liability insurance on the farm and a vehicle to transport the cattle. He had to get inspected, and he had to figure out how to keep his herd healthy without antibiotics and fatten them without added hormones, to meet Bon Appétit standards. Lynna and Matt called their vet for help, to teach them about different feeds and ways to treat the calves when they have runny noses.

Just two years later, when Matt turned 18, he graduated and took over the farm full-time. He raises 15 to 20 head at a time, keeping track of where each is in its growth cycle so he can deliver about 500 pounds of ground beef a week, and bones that the Bon Appétit team uses to make stock. He also still sells freezer beef, and when he has extra, he supplies local restaurants.

“Matthew has been the driver of the company. He’s a great

Grove City Operations Manager Lynna McNany with her son Matt, who runs 5M Farms, a Farm to Fork supplier to Grove City

Executive Chef Ryan Trask and Matt on Eat Local Challenge Day a few years ago

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A view of the dining room

Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago Undergoes Sleek, Elegant Refresh Submitted by Olivia Miller, Marketing Manager

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erzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago has completed a redesign that provides a sleek new setting for Chef/Partner Tony Mantuano and Bon Appétit Chef Di Cucina Carolina Diaz’s Mediterranean-inspired, locally sourced cuisine. Offering remarkable views of Millennium Park and the Chicago skyline, visitors to the city and locals alike are now able to enjoy an updated design and menu.

“With our location in one of Chicago’s most iconic buildings, Terzo Piano’s design has always been an integral part of the guest experience, whether it’s serving as the backdrop for a daily lunch outing or noteworthy private event,” Tony said.“As we continue to evolve as a restaurant, the timing just seemed right to bring some of the best creative minds back together to elevate our look and feel.”

Terzo Piano’s original architect, Dirk Denison, was tapped once again to lead the refresh. A new reception area features an elongated bar top made of statuary white marble, accented by an Eileen Gray Tube Light. A welcoming, warm color palette includes textured slate-gray walls, benches of 40 | BRAVO

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Smoked salmon tartine with avocado mousse, radish, pickled red onion, cucumber, 63-degree egg, and sesame toast

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Weighing the Waste at Claremont McKenna Submitted by Caroline Ferguson, Fellow

white with warm gray leather, slate-gray and oak Moroso Mathilda chairs by Patricia Urquiola, and plum Arne Jacobsen stools to line the bar and translucent tables. David Adjaye’s Knoll Washington Skeleton chairs grace the terrace. The space continues to feature movable elements that allow for expanded private/semiprivate dining and special events within the new configuration.

Tony recently brought Carolina on to develop new menu offerings while remaining true to Terzo Piano’s dedication to showcasing the Midwest’s best farmers, purveyors, and distillers. Diners have been seeing a broader selection of house-made pastas, tartines, and entrées complementing Terzo’s select signature dishes. And Wine Director Cathy Mantuano continues to pour delicious Old World and New World wines, ideal for daytime sips.

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on Appétit Fellow Caroline Ferguson joined Claremont McKenna College dining staff and students from Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Responsibility (SPEAR) to conduct a Weigh the Waste event. This was the first in a monthly series of waste audits SPEAR hopes to hold in the dining hall to track student progress on waste reduction.

Students were very patient and inquisitive as the team helped them scrape their plates into a bucket for weighing. In all, they tracked 97 pounds of solid food waste and 42 pounds of liquid food waste from 649 guests served. They look forward to their next Weigh the Waste to see if those numbers go down!

Photos: Anthony Tahlier Photography

SPEAR members Jenny Fang (far left) and Ellen Broaddus (far right) with Bon Appétit Fellow Caroline Ferguson and Utility Lead Nancy LaGue

A welcoming palette includes textured slate-gray walls, benches of white with warm gray leather, and slate-gray and oak chairs

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A Trip Inside RI Mushroom Company Submitted by Nicole Tocco Cardwell, Manager of Strategic Initiatives

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n addition to getting access to the freshest, most flavorful local ingredients, one of the perks that Bon Appétit chefs enjoy through the Farm to Fork program is the chance to get out and visit their suppliers. With RI Mushroom Company recently coming on board, it was only a matter of time before everyone wanted to check it out.

Manager of Strategic Initiatives Nicole Tocco Cardwell joined a group of chefs and managers from Brown University (both Bon Appétit and Brown Dining culinary team members) and Roger Williams University for a trip to the mushroom mother lode in West Kingston, RI.

The company’s owners, Mike Hallock and Bob DiPietro (“Chef Bob”), met at a farmers’ market about four years ago, and started growing mushrooms in an 8-by-8-foot room in the basement of nearby Sweet Berry Farm and selling them at Sweet Berry’s farm stand. (That’s when they first met Roger Williams Executive Chef Jon Cambra.) Soon they started RI Mushroom, which is now the largest specialty mushroom farm in New England.

The group learned a lot of interesting tidbits. The mushrooms grow so quickly that each “greenhouse” had to be harvested two times a day. Although RI Mushroom is USDA Organic Certified, they don’t sell most of their products using the Certified Organic logo because of the additional cost associated with its use. The wooden planks the mushroom logs sit on are made of hemlock, which is a natural fungicide and one of the ways the farmers avoid chemical use. To

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The fungi folks, left to right: Kirby Doius, Brown Dining culinary manager of retail operations; Josh Hennessy, café manager at Roger Williams; Jessie Curran, Brown Dining dietitian; Tara Ward, Brown Dining cook; Bob DiPietro, co-owner of RI Mushroom Company; Jeffrey Hoit, Bon Appétit director of operations at Brown; Jon Cambra, executive chef at Roger Williams; Gerald Furtado, Bon Appétit chef/manager at Brown; Derek Jolie, executive sous chef at Roger Williams; and Mike Hallock, co-owner of RI Mushroom Company

grow mushrooms, you try to trick them into thinking it’s spring or fall by controlling heat, humidity, and light so that they’ll reproduce. White button mushrooms are the same fungus as cremini and portobello: Mushrooms get their coloring from exposure to light, and white button mushrooms are just grown in the dark!

The Bon Appétit team at Roger Williams currently buys a wide variety of mushrooms, including blue oysters, shiitakes, and Jon’s personal favorite, pioppino mushrooms. Bon Appétit Director of Culinary Operations at Brown University Ty Paup was so impressed by the variety and flavor that he immediately began planning for RI Mushroom Company to supply all mushroom needs across campus. “I was amazed with their attention to detail with the quality of mushrooms,” he said. “Their grow houses were impeccably clean. It’s also great how willing they are to work hand in hand with chefs to grow and procure a great product.”

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IAIA Sushi Demo Fills Seats — All of Them!

Submitted by Guido Lambelet, General Manager

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t the first of what will be monthly demonstration classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM, Executive Chef Josh Anglin and Retention Specialist Nicole Lovato joined forces on a sushi-making demo and community dinner. Nicole works with the Student Success Center (SSC), which provides IAIA students with academic, emotional, and physical assistance and support during their educational journey. In collaborating, Josh and Nicole had a two-part goal: to build bridges between students, faculty, and Bon Appétiters, and to make sure healthy food is accessible to everyone.

Executive Chef Josh Anglin explaining the finer points of nori

Staff, faculty members, and students are all invited to attend the demonstration classes. Though these particular classes will occur monthly, they’re part of a larger initiative that the SSC hosts weekly. Every Thursday, Nicole and a group of student volunteers prepare and host a “talking circle dinner” to build community and enjoy a collaborative meal. Nicole does outreach to campus groups to promote the spirit of the dinners and boost attendance.

Attendees loved Josh’s and Nicole’s recent sushi-making demo and communal dinner that in addition to sushi featured an alllocal salad of watermelon radish, daikon radish, and carrots dressed with rice vinegar. Not only was it well-received, but it also represented the first time all semester that Nicole had a full table at an SCC talking circle dinner!

Class participants enjoying a post-demo sushi dinner

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Denison’s Vegan Cook-Off Team Squashes Competitors Submitted by Lia Crosby, Sustainability Supervisor

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utternut squash is a winter pantry staple, yet thinking of innovative ways to use it can be challenging, especially for those unaccustomed to bringing forth the gourd’s culinary potential. At a recent competitive cook-off, however, students at Denison University in Granville, OH, happily tackled this challenge head-on — even though they didn’t know until the competition began that they’d be cooking with squash!

Three teams of students, each paired with a Bon Appétit chefadvisor, competed to create the best dishes featuring butternut squash from Farm to Fork partner Bird’s Haven Farms. Each team prepared an entrée plus either an appetizer or a dessert. A panel of guest judges, including Vice President of Student Development Laurel Kennedy, Dining Committee member and academic administrative assistant for Denison’s psychology department Jill Uland, Bon Appétit General Manager Paul Mixa, and owner/farmer Tom Bird of Bird’s Haven Farms, sampled the creations, grading them on presentation, taste, creativity, 44 | BRAVO

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sustainability, and use of the spotlight ingredient.

The judges said they were so impressed with the quality and creativity of the students’ creations that they had a very hard time selecting a winner. After much deliberation, however, they chose the team made up of Leah Hansler ’18, Emma Kopp ’18, Erin Stevens ’17, and their advisor, Sous Chef Megan Block.

This group’s butternut-squash soup and deconstructed squash pie pleased the judges with their use of sustainable ingredients, including local maple syrup, as well as the creative use of the same flavors in different ways for both dishes. Perhaps most impressive, though, was that the dishes were entirely vegan — like the creators themselves! As a grand prize, each team member received a gift card for the dining halls. In addition, Megan prepared the vegan butternut squash soup for lunch in Curtis Dining Hall the following week so the whole student body could enjoy the winning dish!

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OPPOSITE: The judges give feedback to one of the teams during the entrée round of the competition. Clockwise from left: Bon Appétit General Manager Paul Mixa, Owner/Farmer Tom Bird of Bird’s Haven Farms, Vice President of Student Development Laurel Kennedy, Dining Committee member and academic administrative assistant for Denison’s psychology department Jill Uland, Executive Chef Jonathan O'Carroll, and students De'Von Fulton Jr., John Yim Jr., and Graham Blehart.

Target Cohosts Fundraiser for FamilyFocused Foundation Submitted by Kathy Vik, Operations Manager

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ollaborative efforts serving a single mission-driven cause can achieve higher-impact results than when any one party goes it alone. Café Target at Target headquarters in Minneapolis was honored to be a part of a special fundraiser cosponsored by Target Corporation and the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a collaboration of organizations and schools partnering with families in North Minneapolis to prepare children to graduate from high school college-ready, and end multigenerational poverty in the neighborhood.

Raising over $75,000 for NAZ, the benefit featured Target CEO Brian Cornell and Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer Laysha Ward, as well as New York Times journalist and best-selling author Thomas Friedman, who served as the keynote speaker.

Participant Cierra King browns wontons to accompany her team's squash soup for the appetizer round

The evening kicked off with festive libations — craft cocktails, local craft beers, and wine — along with a wide array of passed and buffet appetizers. Guests raved about the local butternut squash risotto fritter stuffed with mozzarella and served with sage-pecan pesto; smoked whitefish with chive crème fraîche; seared tuna with avocado aioli on a petit Simply Balanced rice cracker (a Target-branded cracker, of course!); and smoked Gouda macaroni and cheese with fried leek straws. The macarons made by Baker Laura Conzemius added a final sweet touch that was much appreciated.

Emma Kopp, Leah Hansler, and Erin Stevens plate their deconstructed squash pie for the dessert portion of the contest

Café Target’s beef tenderloin slider with crispy radish slaw

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Chili Cook-Offs Spark Hot Competition Bon Appétiters are a competitive bunch. They love going head to head on everything from safety (number of days accident free) to culinary challenges. Chili cook-offs have become a popular way to channel that energy into a fun, camaraderie-building, and delicious event.

The rules are simple: Decide your teams, cook your favorite chili (whether an old family recipe or a newfangled one; beans or no beans), host a tasting, discuss, and count the votes (usually beans). The winner gets glory, and everyone else a warm, satisfied bellyful of yum.

Dark Horse Sweeps College of Idaho Cook-Off

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f the six Bon Appétiters signed up for the Chili Cook-Off at The College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID, there was one who was not quite like the others. The five cooks were joined by one front-of-house employee, Mahaday Sulong, an international student employee from Songkhla, Thailand.

Even in a competition that was full of international flavors, Mahaday surprised everyone by whipping up a green chicken curry chili served over steamed white rice — and winning! “Green curry is one of the famous Thai foods that most foreigners know. It contains many tastes in the same dish, such as sweet, salty, and spicy,” explained Mahaday, when asked why he thought his dish won. “Thai food has a very unique style of cooking, and it is my pleasure to make Americans know more about Thai food. Green curry is just only one of them.” Guests tasting his chili couldn’t get enough and were extremely excited that his chili would be featured in the café the next day.

Kitchen Supervisor Robert Woodby took second place with his creative, robust recipe featuring beef, stout, Portland Roasting coffee, and chilis. Third place went to Cook Rene Balderaz, who prepared his grandmother’s Mexican chili. His delicious chili contained bacon, pinto beans, cilantro, jalapeños, and Mexican spices, and was topped with a fried jalapeño for garnish.

Bakery Lead Ben Little featured a char siu pork chili with ginger, chilis, and green onion; Cook Edwin Lara, a turkey yellow-curry chili; and Cook Wil Witkopf, a vegan power chili.

The fierce competition ended in smiles, handshakes — and a newly crowned international chili champion!

Submitted by Crystal Rideau, General Manager

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The College of Idaho’s 2017 Chili Cook-Off Champion, Mahaday Sulong

Mahaday's green chicken curry chili

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SCU Has a Beef with Boring Chili

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ometimes it’s the old standby that triumphs. Sous Chef Raymond Volis’s meat lover’s chili won by a landslide at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA. But wait! This was no beef-and-beans boringness. Ray combined ground beef, seasoned grilled steak, Italian sausage, and bacon with a sauce made of seven different fire-roasted chilis, fresh oven-roasted Roma tomatoes, onions, and spices. He beat out Catering Chef John Ilagan’s Drunken Pig (all pork), Sous Chef Enrique Camacho’s traditional-with-a-twist meat chili with lime and crème fraîche, and Executive Sous Chef Mauricio Vallejo’s classic meat lover’s chili.

That makes Ray the champ three years in a row!

What’s his secret? He never rests on his beans. “I always try something very different each year,” he says, adding that he wasn’t expecting to triumph again. The most incredible part? “I have been a pescatarian for 23 years and to win this contest without even tasting my own chili is pretty cool!”

Ray’s entry was featured as the soup special for students to enjoy all the following week.

Submitted by Kaitlyn Futch, Regional Marketing Manager

Participants with Bon Appétit student managers, from left: Olivia Sterling-Maisel, Lon Hutchinson, Mallory Mintz, Zack Considine, Claire O’Brien, and Trish Hare

Carleton Students Warmly Praise Fifth Annual Chili Cook-Off

W Sous Chef Raymond Volis proudly holding his winner's certificate

hat warms up a wintry, snowy day better than chili? A competition!

Over dinner one night earlier this year, two teams of students shared their special chili recipes with fellow students dining at Carleton College’s East Dining Hall, overlooking the snowy banks of Lyman Lakes. Claire O’Brien and Trish Hare of the Good Chili team made a black and red bean chili with garden vegetables, while Zach Considine and Mallory Mintz of Baby It's Chili Outside went with a turkey and quinoa chili bowl. Both distributed their samples with avocado, cheese, and tortilla-chip strips available as toppings.

Around 200 students and staff gave their input using dried red beans as their ballots, and by the end of dinner, the people had spoken: Good Chili had won over the crowd. Students Claire O’Brien and Trish Hare’s recipe was later shared in both dining halls and Sayles Hill Café.

Written by Jerrilyn Goldberg ’18, Sustainability Student Manager

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Roger Williams Honors Pokanoket Tribe Submitted by Stephanie Keith, Marketing Manager/Controller

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hen Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, built a new sailing center, the university’s representatives kindly offered to dedicate a room in the center to Bon Appétit to mark the long relationship between the two organizations. The Bon Appétit team was flattered but decided to suggest that the plaque should instead honor the Pokanoket tribe in recognition of the tribe’s historic importance to the area.

Sachem Cedrick Cromwell of the Pokanoket tribe — sachem is an honorific — attended the dedication dinner and shared some perspective on a key moment in America’s history: Legend has it that the Pokanoket were part of the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims.

The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was actually a military operation as the chief had gathered 90 warriors to investigate the sound of cannons and guns. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the Mayflower Pilgrims were actually celebrating their first successful harvest. The warriors then hunted deer and gave them as gifts to the Pilgrims. (The feast did not immediately become an annual event; Thanksgiving as we know it developed a few hundred years later.)

Regional Manager Paul Bulau, RWU Vice President of Student Affairs John King and his wife, Jocelyn King, and Regional Vice President Elaine Smart prepare to feast.

Bon Appétit Regional Vice President Elaine Smart addressed the group as well, speaking to the connections and shared values between the Pokanoket tribe and Bon Appétit, including caring for our land and communities, celebrating seasonal offerings, and paying respect to the plants and animals that nourish our bodies. Vice President of Student Affairs John King congratulated Bon Appétit on making the dining program at Roger Williams a nationally recognized success story.

Executive Chef Jon Cambra worked with Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center’s Food and Beverage Manager Sherry Pocknett to write a menu that reflected foods that would have been available during the first Thanksgiving. Dishes included fisherman’s stew; johnny cakes with honey-glazed apples; three sisters rice with corn, squash, and beans; venison with mushroom sauce; maplerum brined turkey, and more. Cranberry crisp and blueberry slump finished off the meal sweetly.

Venison with mushroom sauce

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A Cracking Good Visit to Stiebrs Farms Submitted by Maggie Kraft, Fellow

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s Bon Appétit Fellows Maggie Kraft and Caroline Ferguson zipped themselves into full-body white suits, donned hairnets, and slipped elasticized shoe covers over their sneakers, they were filled with excitement about checking out the egg production at Stiebrs Farm, a few hours south of Seattle.

Bon Appétit Fellows Caroline Ferguson and Maggie Kraft

A family-run outfit started by Latvian immigrants Jan and Zelma Stiebrs, the farm provides Bon Appétit at Seattle University, Cornish College, Gates F oundation, Nordstrom, Saint Martin’s University, Starbucks, and several others with all of its precracked (liquid) eggs, which is quite unusual — most are supplied through a national companywide contract with a much larger vendor (also Certified Humane and cage free).

The Fellows started their visit in the liquid egg facility, a sterile area with white walls and gleaming stainless-steel equipment. Yany Stiebrs, the founders’ grandson, walked them through the process of cracking, homogenizing, and packaging the eggs. A USDA inspector works on site each day to ensure that everything is clean and sanitary.As eggs are checked at the grading plant, any considered too big or too small for cartons are sent to the liquid facility to be put to use.

As Maggie and Caroline watched the eggs go through the process of being washed, candled (checked for blood spots in the whites or other defects), and cracked, they were amazed that it all took under a minute. They also got to see the eggs being packaged into bags, a process that took just three seconds per 30-pound bag!

The packaging room’s negative air pressure keeps bacteria out before the bags are sealed.

Technology to increase efficiency and optimize sanitation was in use all over the farm, including in the chicken barns. Stiebrs raises about 750,000 chickens in multiple barns spread over roughly 1,000 acres. They raise a mix of breeds including white Leghorns and Rhode Island Browns. Some are fed conventional feed, while others are fed Certified Organic feed that’s milled on site.

Inside the egg-washing, candling, and packaging facility

Stiebrs was the first egg producer in Washington state to be Certified Humane by Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC).

Maggie and Caroline learned more about what that means in practice when Yany took them into one of the barns. In a barn housing about 17,000 chickens, the animals clucked, perched, and scratched in the dirt. When a farm is Certified Humane, part of that certification process is ensuring that animals can act out natural behaviors such as these. And while it’s required for there to be particles on the floor for the chickens to scratch in, the barn was otherwise incredibly sanitary. Yany explained that lowpowered fans dry the birds’ manure, which is removed via conveyor belt or by workers.

The barns are temperature- and light-controlled, too. Lights turn on and off each morning and evening to mimic the pattern of the sun, a process that helps the hens maintain natural behaviors.

According to HFAC, hens often lay eggs in the morning and dust-bathe in the later afternoon. Each day, the Stiebrs’ farm managers do a walk-through to check for sick hens and“floor eggs” — those laid outside the nest. When the flocks range outside, the hens also need to be herded back inside each night.

The Stiebrs family is deeply involved in all facets of their operation, and their commitment to maintaining happy and healthy hens was clear. Their values — raising healthy animals humanely — falls squarely in line with Bon Appétit’s values and commitments. It was great for the new Fellows to see firsthand the Certified Humane standard being met, and both were incredibly proud to be part of a company that supports a producer like Stiebrs.

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Oxford College of Emory Rings in the New Year with a New Dining Hall Submitted by Valencia Jackson, Marketing Manager

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tudents, faculty, and staff at Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, GA, now have an exceptional new dining hall in which to gather. The as-yet-to-be-named hall pairs a clean, crisp aesthetic with Executive Chef Duke Walsh’s ever-changing menu available weekdays for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and on weekends for brunch and dinner. The stations include Greens, Sweets, Herbivore, Deli, Stocks, Chef ’s Table (a new expo station), Grill, Classics (offering comfort food), and Trattoria (featuring pizza and pasta bakes).

Faculty and staff were thrilled by the offer of a free meal in the new café at its opening. This excitement has been sustained since then, with guest satisfaction at an all-time high.

Highlights include the new action station and pizza oven.

The Chef ’s Table station, where guests can interact with 50 | BRAVO

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Sous Chef Suzanne Hinson, offers build-your-own fajitas and sports a flattop Evo grill, a small Mongolian grill, and induction burners. Even the salad bar has a built-in demo area, perfect for onsite prep and station-specific pop-ups. It’s all about visibility and engagement.

Prep Cooks Tanieka Simpson and Mia Wallace

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OPPOSITE: FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT:

Diet Tech Breeanna Williams, Salad Bar Rachel Briney, Executive Chef Duke Walsh, Community Partnerships Coordinator Samantha Lenard, Line Server Ana Ascencio, Line Server Tara Bostic, Grill Cook Yvez Ledbetter, Cook Janelle Gibson, Admin Sheryl Vojtesak, Pizza Cook Kwanzaa Lee, Catering Manager Natallia Mazol, General Manager Jason Hall. MIDDLE ROW: Sous Chef Suzanne Hinson, Utility Quindarius Bell, Prep Cook Edgar Del Toro, Prep Cook Tanieka Simpson, Line Server Sharon Soltau, Pizza Cook Jamesha Minor, and Prep Cook Jessica Belcher. BACK ROW: Assistant Manager Undrey Bostic, Cook Antonio Capel, Line Server Cherie Edwards, Sous Chef Jason Dumek, Cashier Creshandra Humpheries, Cook Bennie McMullen Jr., Baker J'von Clark, Utility Travis Blowe, Line Server Cheryl Ray, Utility Patrick Griggs, Prep Cook Mia Wallace, Sous Chef Mike Murphy, Line Server Sheryl Pearson, and Cook Erica Hawes.

Fuqua School of Business Sweetens Dessert Duel with Cash Prize Submitted by Jesse Smith, Director of Catering

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little competition can be sweet! In January, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in Durham, NC, held a Dueling Desserts promotion. The prize? Cold, hard cash. (Okay, it was $1...but with bragging rights in the mix, the prize became priceless!)

General Manager Michael Mahony was inspired to launch this battle after a recent regional managers’ meeting. A former chef, Michael wasted no time challenging Executive Chef Joseph Drummer to be his competitor.

Oxford College of Emory University’s new dining hall

Cooks Erica Hawes and Janelle Gibson put Oxford’s new pizza oven through its paces

The planned event was held over lunch, with more than 200 guests enjoying free samples as they watched the battle. They then voted for their favorite dessert by placing a token (a mini chocolate-peanut-butter cup) in a jar at the matching station. A single vote separated the champion from his runner-up, with Joseph taking the win! His red velvet and chocolate cake balls on a stick dipped in a choice of dark, white, or red chocolate and topped with assorted sprinkles eked out a victory over Michael’s red velvet cheesecake shooters with Oreo cookie crumbs.

The 18,535-square-foot café also features a spacious vegetable receiving area equipped with special equipment for cleaning produce from the Oxford College farm and other local sources.“The new dining hall provides more stations to utilize food from our Farm to Fork vendors, and we’re excited to find new ways to feature local and sustainable products for students and staff,” said Community Partnership Coordinator Samantha Lenard.

General Manager Jason Hall added, “The Oxford College of Emory University now has a beautiful dining facility that matches the level of academic excellence. Our staff and the Oxford students are equally excited about the new café. This café is a perfect fit with the Bon Appétit culture of scratch cooking and locally sourcing ingredients!”

Guests considering which treat merits their vote

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Medtronic Hosts Persian Chef Hoss Zare for Hands-On Culinary Training Submitted by Bob Johndrow, Regional Marketing Director

Bon Appétit chefs and cooks from the Central Region gather around their Persian creations

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hort of traveling to its country of origin, there’s no better way to learn the fundamentals of a cuisine than through hands-on immersion with an expert. That’s exactly what Bon Appétit’s culinary trainings aim to provide. Overseen

by Director of Specialty Culinary Programs Jim Dodge, previous trainings have focused on the fundamentals of Indian, Mexican, and Chinese cuisines. Now it’s Persia’s time in the limelight!

Jim and Chef Hoss Zare recently visited the Minneapolis campus of Medtronic where, with support from Executive Chef Brandon Canfield and his team, Hoss taught about 30 Bon Appétit chefs from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa the art of Persian cooking. Teams were split up into six groups and prepared four to six dishes per group, with items ranging from breakfast fare to soups and entrées, as well as some beverage items and desserts.

Hoss shared stories about the cultural significance of some of the recipes, including those passed down by his mother and grandmother.

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Persian condiments: Roasted lemons (which provide a contemporary take on omani, dried limes), and yogurt, dill, and rose petal sauce

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Enjoying the guest chef demo (left to right): Medtronic Senior Facilities Director Bruce Williams, Bon Appétit Executive Chef at Medtronic Brandon Canfield, Best Buy Headquarters Executive Chef Christian Pieper, Bon Appétit Assistant General Manager Elizabeth Bergquist, and Medtronic Vice President of Global Facilities, Construction, Energy & Engineering Jim Driessen

Guest Chef Christian Pieper’s Molecular Gastronomy Demo Wows Medtronic Holy molecular gastronomy, Medtronic! Employees at this Minneapolis-based medical technology giant enjoyed a special visit from Executive Chef Christian Pieper of Best Buy for an amazing molecular gastronomy demo.

Christian was there as part of the Bon Appétit Central Region’s guest chef series, in which chefs with unique skill sets from nearby accounts visit cafés in other locations and offer demonstrations, sampling opportunities, and specialty cuisine throughout their host café for a day.

After starting the day with a cooking demonstration, Hoss then spent time working with each group, providing pointers and suggestions as they prepared the dishes. When the groups finished cooking, they sat down to sample their creations. Favorites included dolmas, Persian vegetable frittata, the large lamb meatball, Persian chicken with pomegranate and walnuts, and spicy fish and herb stew.

Everyone was grateful to Jim and Hoss for coming to Minneapolis to provide this hands-on teaching, and left inspired to incorporate new flavors and dishes into their daily offerings.

Molecular gastronomy, a subdiscipline with a food science focus, seeks to investigate and highlight the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients during cooking. Christian set up a demonstration table at the café entrance where guests could observe him prepare a confit Maple Leaf duck leg with goat cheese mousse, walnut powder, butternut squash gel, and a capsule of sour cherry demi-glace.

Guests opting in to Menu Mail by signing up on iPads were eligible to enter a drawing. The prize? A gift basket complete with a molecular gastronomy cocktail kit, Bon Appétit coasters, and other accessories.

Submitted by Bob Johndrow, Regional Marketing Director

A molecular gastronomy feast starring confit Maple Leaf duck leg with goat cheese mousse

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events in brief Google - Portland and University of Portland Join Forces for Local Shelter

Seasonal salad and pudding cups

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cross Bon Appétit, many teams engage in food recovery, donating excess edible food to local nonprofits that serve the hungry. As satisfying as those efforts are, it can be even more satisfying to cook a special meal just for those in need. The Bon Appétit team at Google’s Portland, OR, offices recently did just that, coordinating with the University of Portland to prepare a nutritious meal for the West Women’s and Children’s Shelter, which provides an array of services including clothing, support groups, and safety planning for approximately 50 women and children.

With the help of District Manager Marc Marelich and Google - Portland General Manager Annie Weil, Catering Supervisor Tom Seible and Catering Attendant Kristina Davis delivered and served a nutritious meal featuring chicken breast in garlic sauce, colorful roasted vegetables, seasonal green salad, and a variety of desserts. The women, children, and shelter staff showed their appreciation by heading back for seconds with smiles on their faces.

The effort arose from a program that Annie created to enable Bon Appétit chefs to give back to the community. Each month, a different Bon Appétit account will cater a dinner at the shelter, providing the women and children with a delicious meal as well as nutrition information.

Submitted by Annie Weil, General Manager

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Catering Supervisor Tom Seible, District Manager Marc Marelich, Catering Attendant Kristina Davis, and General Manager Annie Weil at the drop-off

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Lewis & Clark’s plant-based protein information display

Lewis & Clark Exalts Plant-Based Proteins

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hanks to a substantial population of vegans and vegetarians on campus, members of the Lewis & Clark College community in Portland, OR, are no strangers to the benefits of plant-based diets and nonanimal proteins. Even so, students were especially pleased to learn more at a recent Bon AppĂŠtit plantbased proteins display, part of the Food for Your WellBeing promotion series.

Sous Chef Derek Sandlin Webb made a delectable build-a-bowl station for the event. Using local ingredients, he prepared white-bean cassoulet with quinoa pilaf, cherry-glazed carrots and parsnips, and braised greens with bell peppers and cipollini onions. Harissa, Oregon blackberry vinegar, salsa verde, and candied seed clusters were available to top off the custom bowls. Herbivores and omnivores were equal fans of the creative plant-forward offerings!

Submitted by Bonnie Von Zange, Dining Room Manager

LOOK OUT, FRIDAYS!: Wellness Wednesdays are gaining in popularity at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, thanks to special pop-ups like this one, offering plant-based dishes replete with healthy fats. Sous Chef Sue Nielsen and Banquet Server Toni DeGrood served edamame hummus with crispy tortillas and smoked salmon guacamole.

Submitted by Traci Quinnell, General Manager

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events in brief CATERING SHOWCASES BLOOM AS SPRING APPROACHES Winter’s thaw gives way to a flurry of fresh catering possibilities companywide.

UChicago Team Introduces New Catering Options

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he Bon Appétit catering team at the company’s new partner, the University of Chicago, formally introduced itself to the community with a lavish and sophisticated springtime open house. The goal: to alert potential clients to the team’s skill at hosting memorable events, tastefully and with great style. More than 100 guests enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres — including chicken satay and spinach- and risotto-stuffed mushrooms, among others — as well as a carving station and top-flight displays of desserts, fruit and cheese platters, and box lunches. Three sample table settings were displayed: a University of Chicago theme with a maroon-and-gray color scheme and square plates; a formal one with silver linens, fine glassware, and silver-lined dishes; and a rusticchic version, with a live-edge table, ivory dishes, and a live greenery table runner. The showcase offered a solid sense for how the catering team approaches events, complete with linen and floral arrangements.

Greenery and flowers freshen one of the three sample table settings

Catering Director Mary Pat Dorner and Catering Operations Manager Colleen Maul began planning for the open house months in advance. Although the catering department had already executed many campus events, including a brunch for 2,000 guests and biweekly Saturday Night Social Club dinners, the open house represented a different type of opportunity.

“Mary Pat and I put a lot of thought into the planning of the open house,” Colleen said. “We wanted to make sure every guest could envision using our catering services for their events. Every last detail was carefully thought out, from the invitation to the flow of the room to the favor we offered them on their way out the door.”

The little gift packets of assorted herb seeds (basil, rosemary, etc.) had a tag, attached with twine, that said “Grow with us!”

The event generated positive feedback almost immediately. In fact, that very evening, new catering orders began flooding in!

Submitted by Ashley Phillips, Marketing Manager

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An on-brand tricycle directed guests to the showcase

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Reed Catering Team Flexes Its Creative Muscle

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idwinter weather can be trying. While some might choose to hunker down, others see an opportunity to gather! Bon Appétiters at Reed College in Portland, OR, recently hosted a Mid-Winter Seasonal Expo, inviting everyone on campus who orders catering throughout the year to check out new options.

The event showcased the team’s culinary talent beyond the scope of the catering guide. Executive Chef Matthew Talavera and Sous Chef Kris Vetter worked together to present dishes such as quinoa croquettes with aji amarillo aioli, hoisin porkbelly skewers, rockfish, and even chocolate fondue, along with local beer, wine, and cider. The event enjoyed record attendance — close to 60 guests — and all agreed it was the best expo yet!

Submitted by Lindsey Leisinger, Catering Director

Tuna poke wonton crisps are a new (and already popular!) menu option

Strawberry bellinis featured at the bar

The College of Idaho Showcases Catering Creativity

Vegetarian appetizers included quinoa croquettes with aji amarillo aioli

The College of Idaho’s spring catering expo went off in grand style, thanks to Catering Manager Ashley McKinnon! At the Caldwell, ID, campus, guests drew inspiration from sample catering events, room setups, and innovative menu offerings including Executive Chef Barry Korte’s popular tuna poke wonton crisps with avocado, green onion, and wasabi aioli. Even the bar offered fresh ideas, such as strawberry bellinis with sugared rims. Clients and guests loved all the inventive possibilities — including the assorted charcuterie beautifully laid out on an Idaho-shaped cutting board. They can’t wait to implement new ideas inspired by the expo at their upcoming events.

Submitted by Crystal Rideau, General Manager

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Bon Appétit is the Belle of the Ball in South Carolina Submitted by Bonnie Powell, Director of Communications

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n less than a year since opening at Furman University in Greenville and at Milliken & Company in Spartanburg, Bon Appétit has made quite a splash in South Carolina.

The regional publication celebrating local food Edible Upcountry made Bon Appétit the cover story for its Winter 2017 issue, and devoted a 2,300-word feature to praising the company’s ethos and from-scratch approach.

The story caught the eye of Jamarcus Gaston, the host and producer for the Studio62 weekday morning show on Carolina’s the CW62 channel, who happens to be a Furman University alum. Jamarcus invited Edible Upcountry Publisher Samantha S. Wallace to come on the show, and Samantha brought Furman University Director of Auxiliary Services Becky Vuksta as well as Bon Appétit Executive Chef Chris Harris.

“Going to Furman, I always thought the food was kind of good, but you guys are changing the game over there!” said Jamarcus.

Becky talked about the 14-month-long selection process and how “we wanted something that was going to be a little bit different, more sustainable and healthier.” They selected Bon Appétit because the company’s from-scratch cooking based on fresh local ingredients, not on corporate recipes, would deliver that.

“It’s truly a chef-driven company,” said Chris. “I get with my chefs every week, we see what’s available from the farm, and we decide what our menus will be.” Chris’s team relies heavily on Furman’s garden, which he said they think of as the Furman Farm because of how much it produces for them.

Chris had brought along house-made pickles, which were a big hit on the set, as well as tomatoes and lettuces from one of Furman’s Farm to Fork partners, Natural Farms of the Carolinas. “It was fun to talk about them, as well as getting a chance to talk about our ongoing and growing relationship with Furman Farm,” said Chris. “Our use has actually pushed them to develop an aquaponics section, where the students can learn another side to the sustainability issue of farming, and we get the benefit of fresh year-round produce as well as the freshwater prawns that they will be growing there. Pretty cool stuff!”

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Studio 62 Host Jamarcus Gaston (a Furman University alum), Bon Appétit Executive Chef Chris Harris (who brought the house-made pickles in the foreground), Furman University Director of Auxiliary Services Becky Vuksta, and Edible Upcountry Publisher Samantha S. Wallace on set

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“The Dining Hall Comes Of Age” An excerpt from Edible Upcountry’s Winter 2017 cover story by Rebecca McKinney

...Chef Derek Morgan (Daniel Dining Hall Manager) and Chef Chris Harris (Campus Executive Chef) also are committed to engaging the student body, which at Furman means working with a more progressive and fitness-conscious group than most. I ask a few students what they think about the new menus. One student shares that as a vegetarian, her choices used to be limited to fries and salad. Now, every day, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available. The students also appreciate the focus on quality and the reasonable portion sizes. If a student asks for two helpings of a dish, the dining hall staff encourages him/her to come back for a second helping only after finishing the first. That practice reduces both waste and waists.

The improvement in the food is only one element of the transformation. The chefs and manager often meet with prospective students and their parents to work with special dietary needs and allay any concerns. In fact, the entire staff is conscious of major allergens and focused on either identifying the ingredients clearly or eliminating them entirely. They also examine labels carefully and drill down to areas where allergens may be hidden — in cooking spray, for example. These practices are discussed each morning at the staff meeting, along with safety reminders and customer service topics. The atmosphere is professional but congenial; everyone is actively listening. And everyone is wearing purple gloves.

When I mention the level of attention to detail in branding (Furman’s colors are purple and white), Michael Brownlee, Bon Appétit’s Resident District Manager, laughs — actually, the glove color is just a coincidence.

The chefs mention an upcoming meeting with Student Council. This isn’t a required meeting, but rather a time to sit down together to see what students need and want: what could Bon Appétit do to make them happier?

The chefs’ openness and receptiveness to input — from students as well as their own staff — is refreshing.

Gallaudet Gets Eco To-Go Program Submitted by Claire Kelloway, Fellow

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hanging habits can be hard. During lunch at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, Bon Appétit Fellow Claire Kelloway set up an information table to raise awareness about the campus’s new eco to-go container program. The initiative was started in spring 2016 with the help of a student government ballot measure. Claire asked students to estimate the average number of disposable to-go containers they used in a week, and then revealed how many containers that adds up to over the course of a school year — and how tall that stack of containers would be. For example, using “just” two containers a week would still create a stack as tall as a giraffe!

A few guests contended that despite the waste, they still prefer the disposable boxes for convenience, while others shared a perception that the new eco containers might be dirty. Claire welcomed the opportunity to push students to re-envision their individual environmental impact and to clear up confusion about the cleaning and sanitation process for the containers.

The majority of students were actually excited and motivated by the waste stats. They asked how to expand the eco container program to other cafés and to students who live off-campus. In the end, the table made for an engaging lunch period that was both fun and productive. Claire and the students were able to learn tips from each other that can make the program stronger as it grows.

Although Bon Appétit has been a part of the Furman family for less than six months, everyone has noticed the transformation and growth in the dining hall staff. They take pride in what they’re doing because they’ve been given creative freedom and positive feedback. If someone says, “Could we make...?” or “What would you think about changing this dish to include...?” the answer is yes.

That atmosphere creates a sense of ownership and pride....

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/edibleupcountrybamco

The eco to-go container information table at Gallaudet

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Chefs Alleviate Food Insecurity Through Community Partnerships Submitted by Maggie Kraft, Fellow

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ver 42 million Americans live in food-insecure homes. Without regular access to healthy, affordable food, they may depend on federal assistance, community services, or soup kitchens for some of their meals. Across the country, Bon Appétit teams assist the food insecure in their communities by donating excess food on a regular basis. The company has committed that 80 percent of accounts will donate regularly by 2018. They may even donate in partnerships, with the support of student groups, nonprofits, or other businesses.

and Genentech work with Chefs to End Hunger, while in Los Angeles, Dreamworks, Soka University, and Marymount California University are among those that do. Overall there are close to 90 Bon Appétit accounts that donate through Chefs to End Hunger!

Bon Appétit Fellow Maggie Kraft recently got to witness how donations move from kitchens through the warehouse to the nonprofits. She also spoke with those who are directly impacted by the food.

In San Francisco, drivers for nonprofit partner Hope 4 the Heart took their refrigerated truck to an early pickup at the SF Specialty warehouse, where about seven pallets of donated food awaited. Boxes filled with whole grains, breads, fruit, vegetables and even some packaged grab-and-go items like salads or sandwiches were ready to be picked up and dropped at Hope 4 the Heart. Its warehouse has a large parking area that acts as the nonprofit’s physical structure, and on that day, about 10 volunteers quickly unloaded the pallets and designated boxes for various shelters and soup kitchens around the region. Executive Director Victoria Popinjay explained that Hope 4 the Heart does not serve any food on-site; rather, it works as an aggregator and distributor on behalf of other local organizations. This allows it to reach a larger swath of the community through multiple shelters and soup kitchens. The food it distributes provides about 12,000 meals each month.

A towering stack of food earmarked for distribution

LA & SF Specialty, a California-based food distribution company, is one such food recovery partner. In 2012, LA & SF Specialty piloted a food recovery program called Chefs to End Hunger, which helps chefs in restaurants, hotels, and food service“easily and efficiently donate food to those in need.” Each day, LA & SF Specialty drivers deliver their produce orders to Bon Appétit accounts throughout the greater Bay Area and Los Angeles regions; they also pick up “kits” filled by our chefs with leftover food, which go back to the warehouse and are then picked up and distributed around the region by nonprofit partners such as Hope 4 the Heart (Bay Area) and The Midnight Mission (Los Angeles).

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Donations of prepared food through food recovery programs like LA & SF Specialty’s Chefs to End Hunger are particularly helpful for shelters that cannot prepare food on-site.

A visit to the LA Specialty warehouse and its Los Angeles nonprofit partner, The Midnight Mission, proved equally impressive. A 100-year-old organization in the heart of Skid Row, Midnight Mission runs several programs to benefit the local community, from daily meals to a drug and alcohol treatment program to an overnight shelter. Volunteer Manager Joey Wienart graduated from their treatment program and personally understands the significance of this work.

A kitchen tour began with lunch. Chefs to End Hunger boxes from that day’s donation were set out on the countertops. The Mission serves three meals a day to the homeless community

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A truck belonging to Bay Area food recovery partner Hope 4 the Heart

and those enrolled in the treatment program. It serves about 900,000 meals a year with a full-time staff of only four people in the kitchen, relying heavily on volunteers. Several employees spoke with great appreciation of the program. The health and wellness coach at the treatment center explained how health was integral to the men’s treatment program, and how having donations of food that includes whole grains, vegetables, and fruit allows program participants to experience delicious and wholesome food, not simply to learn about it. The Mission even has a reputation for having the best food on Skid Row. Through collaborations with its food recovery partners, it’s clear that Bon Appétit contributes meaningfully to these California communities — far outside the confines of the cafés we operate.

Each time Bon Appétit chefs donate through Chefs to End Hunger, they positively impact the lives of thousands of people thanks to these partnership relationships. One donated meal — or even 1,000 — may not eliminate food insecurity entirely, but by keeping leftovers out of landfills, raising awareness around food waste, and distributing food to those in need, a hunger-free future is one step closer.

Pastries ready for donation

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Twitter Hosts Celebrated Japanese Chef for Authentic Ramen Feast Submitted by Kevin McConvey, General Manager

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hrough fortuitous circumstances, Bon Appétit found a way to bring celebrated Japanese chef and Twitter superuser Tomoharu Shono to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters recently. Chef Shono opened his first ramen shop in 2005. He now owns and operates seven shops in Tokyo, all with unique and original themes, menus, and homemade noodles. In 2016, he opened his first ramen shop outside of Japan: Mensho Tokyo, in San Francisco.

Late last year, District Manager Joseph Alfieri bumped into a man named Abram Plaut in San Francisco. Plaut turned out to be not only Chef Shono's business partner, but also the brother of Spencer Plaut, Bon Appétit’s primary client contact at Yahoo. Joseph suggested to Abram that the next time Chef Shono came to San Francisco, the two of them should stop by the Twitter kitchen for a guest chef event.

And with a lot of strategizing, it happened! General Manager Kevin McConvey, Executive Chef Martin Levison, Chef de Cuisine Brett Villarmia, and the rest of the Bon Appétit team were giddy with excitement, honored that this incredibly skilled ramen master would be spending the day with them and making tori paitan ramen. This dish is described on the restaurant’s website as a “rich and creamy chicken soup with pork chashu [braised pork belly], duck chashu, menma [bamboo shoots], kale, burdock, and katsuobushi [dried bonito] sauce.”

When Chef Shono and his team arrived, they began the amazing process he is so well known for in Japan. He had his broth already cooked, so it just had to be reheated, and then he began working on the #sqwok station — which normally serves as the noodle bar — to prep the rest of the dish with Bon Appétit Station Lead Chaichana “Noom” Faksuwan and Line Cooks Minera Preciado and Dominique Pree.

Ten minutes before lunch service, the line at that station was already 60 deep. Chef Shono cooked each portion of noodles almost to order, handling every single dish to ensure each piece of ramen was coated with broth. He then personally presented the dish to each customer with the pride and passion one would expect of a master of any art, especially one that is so technical and delicious.

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Celebrated Japanese chef Tomoharu Shono puts the finishing touches on a dish of tori paitan ramen at Twitter

The line lasted for almost 90 minutes and never dropped to fewer than 100 people until close to the end of service. Some guests were happy to wait again — to get a second helping of this liquid gold.

Even with Twitter’s strong track record in hosting over 70 top name chefs over the past five years, including luminaries like Michael Mina, Jacques Torres, and Tanya Holland, this event was exceptionally well-attended.

Chef Shono enjoyed it so much, he and his team discussed making the visit an annual affair. He is, of course, welcome any time at Twitter.

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from the fellows | maggie kraft

Kid Power

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’m Chef Caroline — and I like oranges!” a voice next to me peeped.

“Oranges? My favorite is strawberries!” another voice said as a mini toque fell to the floor.

A meeting of slightly disheveled professional kitchen staff?

Not quite. A meeting of future chefs? Definitely.

Carefully chopping apples for smoothies

red cabbage to pickled red onions. Ed, Sous Chef Jackie Lovecchio, and I walked among the tables, admiring colorful tacos and newly learned knife skills. The kids moved to fruit smoothie prep, and each one focused deeply on the task at hand, barely acknowledging our presence as they carefully chopped apples and strawberries.

As I snapped photos, I found myself reflecting on how the Healthy Kids program is about so much more than food and cooking: It’s about trusting kids. It’s about guiding them, but it’s also about respecting their choices.

Elementary schools students spend so much time working toward goals set by adults — getting a gold star or an A. Following directions, eating vegetables, practicing piano “because we said so” or “because it’s good for you.” Adults have lived longer; we are more knowledgeable. Yet we tend to make assumptions about the abilities of those younger than us. We worry about knives and hot stoves and whether a child will choose an apple over a candy bar. We don’t, however, always teach the skills to deal with those potential dangers or make an informed choice.

I’ve hosted many cooking classes over the past four years and been involved with three Healthy Kids events, including this one. Cooking with kids was a weekly event in my former role as a FoodCorps service member, yet I continue to be amazed by the children’s excitement around food. Students practically danced as they shouted out different plant parts, so eager to show their knowledge and to move on to the main event of vegetable tacos and fruit smoothies.

The Healthy Kids program is different. It provides guidelines for using knives and knowledge about choosing fruits and vegetables, allows students to decide what to create with the food in front of them, and instills confidence to explore and revisit their likes and dislikes. There is no “right” way to create a vegetable taco; the ingredients are presented, and the students drive the process. Allowing and trusting students to make responsible choices around food will create benefits likely to impact them positively throughout their lives.

We gathered the kids around the table to explain the different ingredients, several of which were new to them. Ed encouraged them to try one new food on their tacos — and then they were off, piling tortillas high with everything from

Kids enjoying their tasty fruit smoothies

I was surrounded by 12 young chefs outfitted in hats and aprons, all eager to cook. We were attending a Healthy Kids event at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO, and had an afternoon of tacos and smoothies ahead of us. The students were visibly excited — bouncing on their toes as they ogled the ingredients Executive Chef Ed Clark had laid out.

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C E L E B R AT I O N S From Lunar New Year to Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras, Bon Appétit teams love the chance to pull out new decor and dream up the right dishes to make a day feel special to our guests.

Lafayette Scores Touchdown with Big Game Snack Stadium

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he Super Bowl inspires much more than football fandom. With intense cheering, enthusiastic commercial-watching, and top-flight halftime entertainment, it also inspires creative snacking. This year, the Bon Appétit team at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, outdid even itself, upping the ante on its 2016 cardboard “snack stadium” to create a new wooden version to house this year’s snacks. The team wanted to go the extra mile (or yard!), as students always appreciate the creative presentations.

The stadium offered separate compartments for pretzel nuggets, ruffled potato chips, and crispy round corn chips. Three colorful house-made dips — pico de gallo, guacamole, and French onion dip — filled the central compartment. On the Friday before the game, the snack stadium was offered during lunch service for students to enjoy. Go, Team Lafayette!

Submitted by Alexa Rossi, Marketing Coordinator The dip and chip–filled snacking stadium earned major points with Lafayette students

POPCORN PARTY, NO MOVIE REQUIRED: In honor of National Popcorn Day, the Bon Appétit team at Café Target in Minne-apolis offered a build-your-own-bag-of-popcorn extravaganza. Team members lined up to fill Target-red bags with multiple popcorn varieties: caramel, Parmesan garlic, cheddar cheese, ranch, barbecue, and Cajun. Everyone loved the promotion — except maybe the team member who had to clean up all the spilled popcorn!

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OH, MY...OH, PI! Bon Appétiters’ love for pie is infinite, especially when Pi Day rolls around. Oracle - Redwood Shores and Oracle - Santa Clara, both in California, went all-out with (clockwise from top left) blueberry and pecan pies from 300 Bakery; pie “fries” with house-made mixed berry compote, enthusiastically promoted by Baker Derek Brown and Barista Marilou Malanzo; pecan hand pies made in-house in Santa Clara; and blueberry slab pie!

Submitted by Cara Brechler, Marketing Director

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MARDI GRAS

Guest Chef Shaun Holtgreve Brings Authentic Cajun Cuisine to CHS

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ew can resist the siren call of a thick gumbo, a zesty jambalaya, or a house-smoked andouille sausage — and guests at the farmer-owned cooperative CHS in Inver Grove Heights, MN, were no exception. CHS employees always look forward to special café events, but they were especially excited about Target Executive Chef Shaun Holtgreve coming to prepare a Cajun feast for Mardi Gras. The well-promoted guest chef event drew eager guests who wanted to check out the lunch specials and meet Shaun, who happily shared family recipe secrets and his experiences with Cajun cuisine.

Shaun grew up in southern Louisiana, where he learned at a young age that food was more than just a basic need. Food was a passion, an art, and an inspiration. He began working in restaurants in the French Quarter and throughout New Orleans, then received the Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France.

OBERLIN GETS JAZZY FOR MARDI GRAS: This year for Fat Tuesday, Oberlin College students in Oberlin, OH, enjoyed the rich flavors of gumbo, crawfish pizza, king cake, and more (including Hurricane-style mocktails) during a Mardi Gras–themed dinner at Dascomb Café. Guests took in the sounds of fellow students from Oberlin’s renowned Conservatory of Music as they played Louis Armstrong tunes in a New Orleans–style jazz trio during service. Pictured: Giveton Gelin (trumpet), Michael Spearman (trombone), and Jacob Swedlow (drums).

Submitted by Eric Pecherkiewicz, Marketing Manager

A variety of Cajun-inspired classics — including gumbo, Creole shrimp salad, Louisiana fried chicken, and jambalaya — featured prominently throughout the café during Mardi Gras. (Guests raved most about the house-smoked andouille!) The café enjoyed a 16 percent increase in participation and a 24 percent increase in sales compared to a typical Tuesday. Guests opting in to Menu Mail by signing up on iPads were eligible to enter a raffle to win a gift basket of Cajun food products and a Cajun cookbook. The good times certainly rolled at CHS!

A YAHOO PORTAL TO FAT TUESDAY: The Bon Appétit team at Yahoo in Sunnyvale, CA, celebrated Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday all across campus, with three cafés and six coffee bars festively decorated for the holiday and plenty of New Orleans cuisine on hand.

Bon Appétiters even handed out beads, boas, hats, and masks to further up the celebratory spirit!

Submitted by Samantha Reyes, Café Manager

Submitted by Bob Johndrow, Regional Marketing Director

Guest chef (and Target Executive Chef) Shaun Holtgreve with CHS Executive Chef Justin Cromett

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LUNAR NEW YEAR

Happy Year of the Rooster!

Lunar New Year is a popular event that many Bon Appétit accounts across the country love celebrating, year after year. There are endless opportunities to get creative with the changing theme, to feature dishes from different parts of China and other Asian countries that celebrate the holiday, and to collaborate with campus groups — which makes for an exciting cultural experience for both Bon Appétit and our guests.

VMware Hosts Multicultural Celebration for Thousands

Traditional Chinese umbrella dancing

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hile many people have come to recognize Lunar New Year as an annual festival rooted in Chinese traditions and customs, fewer people may be aware that it is celebrated on a significant scale in countries beyond China such as Malaysia and Singapore, where it’s a public holiday. At VMware in Palo Alto, CA, the Lunar New Year celebration has been a longstanding tradition, one in which the Bon Appétit team is honored to play a part. This year’s festivities drew an impressive crowd of 2,000 people with fun activities such as a parade of VMware employees and guests through campus led by a pair of lion dancers, traditional dance and musical performances by talented employees and local youth dance troupes, and an incredible feast masterminded by Executive Catering Chef Jose Heredia.

The diverse menu featured foods from China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, including Chinese barbecue pork buns, Vietnamese lemongrass ground-chicken skewers, spicy Thai noodle salad, and house-made Japanese vegetable dumplings with citrus ponzu.

Executive Pastry Chef Ian Farrell from Bon Appétit’s Bakery 350 in San Francisco delighted guests with traditional New Year’s cake, while an amazing boba tea station set up by The Boba Guys from San Francisco offered refreshments that were a huge hit. With so much to see and taste, it’s no wonder this annual event has grown to epic proportions.

Submitted by Tina Hand, Director of Catering

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Sous Chef Damien Huynh putting the finishing touches on Chinese barbecue pork buns

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LUNAR NEW YEAR

Art Institute of Chicago Ushers in Good Fortune for the New Year

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hroughout the year, the Art Institute of Chicago celebrates a number of international holidays through activities, installations, and food offerings, as a way to educate the community and tourists about different cultures.

For Lunar New Year, the festivities lasted more than three weeks, featuring Chinese rooster art in honor of the Year of the Rooster as well as music, dancers, art demonstrations, and a special performance by the China National Peking Opera Company.

The Bon Appétit team at the Museum Café was excited to mirror the Chinese tradition of creating dishes and displays that symbolize bringing good luck and wealth to their team and guests, explained Lead Cook Susan Schoon. The carefully crafted menu included dumplings, spring rolls, Mongolian beef, and sriracha orange chicken, as well as Chinese beer and teas. The team adorned the specialty Chinese station with lucky red lanterns and intentionally hung certain paper decorations upside down, a gesture that in Chinese means good fortune has arrived. Thanks to this thoughtful arrangement, guests walked away with bonus good luck in addition to full bellies and minds.

The lucky red envelope is a hallmark of Lunar New Year celebrations. At Seattle University, envelopes stuffed with gold chocolate coins and giveaways were not only placed at the different stations, but Bon Appétit employees were also given packets to put in their pockets and hand out to guests — a fun way for customers to engage with the familiar friendly faces of the staff they have come to know.

Submitted by Nicole Nicolas, Marketing Coordinator

Submitted by Kara Barnes, Marketing Coordinator

SEATTLE U POCKETS SOMETHING SPECIAL:

Mongolian beef with vegetarian fried rice and a spring roll

UChicago Dining Creates Celebration All Can Enjoy

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ne crucial aspect of any successful Lunar New Year celebration is the food. Partnering with the University of Chicago, the Bon Appétit team took care in creating an Asian-themed menu that everyone could enjoy.

Dining Commons Café Chef John Bubala drew inspiration from a visit he took with his children to Chinatown, where he tasted some of the best dishes he’d ever had.

“It was important for me to create dishes that would appeal to everyone,” said John, explaining that he wanted to make sure vegan and vegetarian guests could enjoy the food as well. When the late-night event began, students started a line at the door that snaked down the staircase. The attendance of 1,100 guests was more than double the nightly average!

Some of the most popular dishes included siu mai (dumplings) served with various dipping sauces and tofu puffs with Thai chili sauce, scallions, and sesame seeds.

“It was amazing to see so many students come out and attend the event,” said John. “We received great feedback all night, and it made me and my staff proud.”

Submitted by Ashley Phillips, Marketing Manager

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LUNAR NEW YEAR

FOOD FROM THE FOUR REGIONS: Lunar New

Twitter employees enjoying Lunar New Year in the converted café

Twitter Launches Resource Group for Asian Employees

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n an industry increasingly focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, Twitter in San Francisco has a number of employee resource groups for members of certain backgrounds, races, and ethnicities to come together and organize activities and events throughout the year. (For example, read about the Twitter Blackbirds’ Black History Month celebration on page 36.) When a Twitter employee reached out late last year to let the Bon Appétit team know that the company planned to launch a new group for Asian employees around the same time as the Lunar New Year celebration, General Manager Kevin McConvey was immediately on board and enlisted Café Manager Douglas Ambrose, Assistant General Manager Anjelica Baker, and Executive Chef Martin Levison to begin planning — and what better way to brainstorm than to talk to those who’ve grown up immersed in Asian cuisine and culture?

After meeting with the group to get their input, the Bon Appétiters decided to expand the focus of Lunar New Year beyond China to include the rest of Asia, converting an entire café to represent the food and culture of different regions.

Some of the highlights created in-house by Chef de Cuisine Brett Villarmia and Kitchen Supervisor Christian Martin included Singapore rice noodles and daikon cake with lap yuk (Chinese preserved bacon). When the weeklong celebration migrated to another café, Chef de Cuisine Esther Paek and Kitchen Supervisor Jesse Mustola took charge and made steamed pork and taro with mushroom soy sauce, stirfried Chinese long beans with dried shrimp, and other special dishes.

Thanks to the partnership with the new Asian employee resource group, the team at Twitter was able to secure the San Francisco Police Department’s official lion dance crew to come and give a breathtaking performance during lunch.

Although new in its inception, the Twitter Asians group has already proved to be a vital resource for everyone on campus when it comes to building authentic connections and representations of Asian culture.

Lion dancers from the official San Francisco Police Department’s lion dance crew

Submitted by Kevin McConvey, General Manager

Year has always been an exciting time at the University of Portland in Portland, OR. For both lunch and dinner, the global station featured offerings from four regional cuisines of China: spicy fivespice chicken stir-fry with onions, bell peppers, and Sichuan peppers to represent the West; “strangeflavor” eggplant stir-fry (with delicious, not-sostrange flavor!) to represent the East; Mongolian broccoli stir-fry from the North; and mandarin oranges to represent the South. Each entrée was served with an almond cookie and tea, a combination that proved to be successful — sales at the global station doubled this year!

Submitted by Kelly Vosberg, Café Supervisor

Cherry blossom cake

SPEAKING THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF SWEETS:

The Lunar New Year celebration at Albion College in Albion, MI, was an educational and tasty affair. Executive Chef Ken Dixon put together an amazing menu that included Chinese barbecue pork; Mongolian beef; cage-free egg drop soup; and a mandarin salad composed of lo mein, seaweed, red onions, parsley, and oranges. While the students and campus community enjoyed trying diverse dishes that may have been unfamiliar to some of them, Baker Chris Gaddis made a beautiful cake decorated with cherry blossoms — a popular festive symbol during Lunar New Year — to bring all patrons together at the dessert station.

Submitted by Shane Powers, Marketing Manager

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VALENTINE’S DAY

Lots of Valentine’s Day Activities to Love at Carleton College Submitted by Jerrilyn Goldberg ’18, Sustainability Student Manager

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ith a packed schedule of Valentine’s Day events throughout the week, the team at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, showed each other — and the campus — that working together is the best way to spread the love.

Kiss That Sweet Mug Goodbye

The day started with the Carleton College community donating used coffee mugs to the new mug-share collection at Sayles Hill Café. Through this sustainability initiative, students will now have the option to use one of the reusable mugs collected for the program for drinks enjoyed at the café. As part of Bon Appétit’s participation in Climate Action Week, the Carleton team hosted this event along with a marketing campaign to highlight the low-carbon-impact options available at each meal in the dining halls. Bon Appétit also launched a Mug Club punch-card reward system for going reusable. Sustainability Student Manager Jerrilyn Goldberg explained the project to students who hadn’t heard yet and rewarded donors with free hot chocolate made by Carleton’s food-interest club, Firebellies. After enjoying a last drink together, donors and their mugs parted ways. With donations continuing to pour in from students, faculty, and administration offices, we have high hopes that these well-loved mugs will be reused many times at Carleton.

Building Relationships with Project Friendship

Carleton and its neighbor St. Olaf College both partner with Project Friendship, a mentoring program that matches local elementary school students with college student mentors. Each buddy pair meets once a week on the college campus to spend time together doing fun activities such as decorating cookies or playing board games in the library. For Valentine’s Day, 15 college students and their young buddies sipped hot chocolate as they played board games and foosball and decorated sugar cookies with delicious buttercream frosting, donated to the event by Bon Appétit, in Valentine’s Day pinks, reds, and white.

Annual Valentine’s Buffet Is “Best Dinner in Town”

Carleton’s catering team had a very busy Valentine’s Day, from running events including a special breakfast at the Weitz Center to delivering boxed lunches to multiple locations and assembling packages of house-made “Treats from Home” ordered by loving parents for their students. But the biggest event of all was the annual Valentine’s Day dinner buffet, which included steak, salmon, and vegetarian entrées. A crew of welldressed student managers attended to guests throughout the night as everyone enjoyed music by a live jazz band. Kerry Raadt, director of events for the President’s Office, brings his wife to the event each year and calls it the “best dinner in town!”

Student Managers Calvin Phan ’17 and Hebba Gouda ’19 work the floor for the Valentine's Day dinner buffet

Carleton students kiss their mugs goodbye

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A PRIME FEAST AT THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO: The Bon Appétit team hosted the second annual Valentine’s Dinner at The College of Idaho’s McCain Café in Caldwell, ID, transforming the dining room with linen-draped tables, roses, faux candlelight, and soft jazz. The special menu included salt-andherb-crusted prime rib, baked potatoes, garlic sautéed green beans, and a spinach and berry salad with honey citrus dressing, accompanied by festive sparkling cider.

Valrhona dark chocolate pot de crème topped with candied rose petals

Submitted by Crystal Rideau, General Manager

Bountiful Gardens Inspire Valentine’s Day Dinner at The Huntington venue like The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA, naturally sets the stage for beautiful events. Surrounded by rare botanicals, fragrant herb gardens, and vibrant hues, the Bon Appétiters at The Huntington have ample inspiration for creating exciting menus that captivate the senses.

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On Valentine’s Day, Executive Chef Marc Powers, Huntington Hospitality General Manager Sarah Geana, and their team had less than an hour after 1919, the retail café, said goodbye to its last visitor to transform the space into a romantic dinner experience featuring aperitifs in the garden court, melodies from talented harpist Carolyn Sykes, and a perfectly executed "Dîner Saint Valentin Pour Deux" (that’s a Valentine’s Day dinner for two, Huntington-style!).

The evening commenced with flowing Lovers’ Libations featuring a Chinese Garden–inspired Flowering Peach cocktail along with the Forbidden Love and a Raspberry Kiss. Marc and his team created a menu of seasonal, garden-inspired dishes such as Kumamoto oysters with sake mignonette and raspberry granita, and Valrhona dark chocolate pots de crème topped with candied rose petals. Courses were paired with appropriate wines.

The event drew a variety of guests, from longstanding Huntington members to first-time adventurers. “The dinner was served as beautifully as it looked in the adverts!” exclaimed Huntington member Ronald T. Evans.

“It was remarkable to see how many people were able to come out to enjoy our café as a full-service restaurant,” said Retail Operations Manager Amanda Noble. “Love was in the air!”

Signature cocktails created for Valentine’s Day at The Huntington

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Submitted by Rebecca Farraj, Marketing and Sustainability Coordinator

SHARING THE LOVE FOR BACON (AND ORGANIC VEGETABLES): At Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, GA, Valentine’s Day was an opportunity for students to express their affection for Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork partners.

While munching on samples of firecracker bacon (a spicy-sweet treat made with bacon from Savannah River Farms), the students waxed poetic on dozens of handmade cards about the impact that the delicious local meat, produce, and other items have on their daily lives.

Submitted by Samantha Lenard, Community Partnerships Coordinator

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Reimagined Rathskeller Warms Hearts at Oberlin College

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or Valentine’s Day, the Bon Appétit team decided to try something new at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH: a pop-up full-service restaurant. The Rathskeller, a former noontime dining area located on the basement level of Wilder Student Union, is being reimagined for multiple uses, and the team put their heads (and hearts) together to pull off an event befitting the holiday.

Wilder Café Manager Daron Frederick created a prix-fixe menu that tempted taste buds of students, staff, and even their families with its selection of prime rib (procured locally from New Creation Farm) or vegetable napoleon, both paired with savory winter vegetables and mixed salad greens from Oberlin’s own Tyler’s Farm. Crème brûlée made with Sauder’s humane, cage-free eggs provided a sweet ending to the experience.

CELEBRATING OREGON LOVE AT LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: Students at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, had an extra reason to celebrate February 14 — it’s the state of Oregon's birthday! Resident mad scientist/Baker Kat Zacher and her team spent long hours making Oregoninspired treats for students, including hazelnut financiers with marionberries (one of the most popular desserts that night) and chocolate–Oregon cherry cupcakes. Students also had fun decorating their own heart-shaped cookies with colorful house-made frosting and candies.

Submitted by Bonnie Von Zange, Front of House Manager

The team recruited students to serve as hosts and waitstaff and transformed the dark space into a warm and inviting dining experience, complete with a harpist from Oberlin’s internationally renowned Conservatory of Music for dinner entertainment.

Feedback was terrific from both students and campus leadership, and efforts are underway for more full-service restaurant events as well as wine tastings, beer pairings, etiquette dinners for graduating seniors, and more.

Submitted by Wayne Wood, General Manager

HEALTHY KIDS AND HEALTHY HEARTS AT MILLIKEN & COMPANY: Healthy Kids in the Bon

DIY LOVE AT SAMSUNG CAFÉ: Samsung Café in Mountain View, CA, celebrated Valentine’s Day by inviting employees to create their own chocolate-dipped strawberries to bring home for loved ones. (Or just to enjoy themselves — nothing wrong with that!) To tempt those with an impatient sweet tooth, Executive Chef Aleksander Voronin, General Manager Cory van Kempen, and other members of the Samsung team outfitted the interactive pop-up with ample chocolate treats from Bon Appétit’s Bakery 350.

Submitted by Cory van Kempen, General Manager

Appétit Kitchen, Bon Appétit’s hands-on nutrition education program for children, got a special Valentine’s Day makeover at Milliken & Company in Spartanburg, SC. Thirty elementary school–age kids were guided through a taste test featuring red fruits and vegetables including pomegranate seeds and beet chips. The little chefs then used kid-safe knives and heart- and flower-shaped fruit cutters to make Valentine’s Day fruit kebabs featuring strawberries, red apples, red grapes, star fruit, and melon.

Submitted by Hannah Schmunk, Manager of Food Education for Children 2 0 1 7 Vo l u m e 1

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BRUNCH LOVE AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: More than 1,600 students and staff crowded the Fresh Food Café for a Valentine’s Day–themed Sterling Brunch (a freshman tradition) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The Hopkins Dining team decked out the café with red and pink decor and invited students from the University of Maryland in College Park to play jazz for the guests. A special menu included peel-and-eat shrimp, smoked salmon, a biscuits and gravy bar, and a variety of sweets such as a hot chocolate bar, dark and pink chocolate fountains, and the crowning glory — a bountiful display of desserts by Pastry Chef Rufus Trader.

Submitted by Jeff Vigilante, Marketing Manager

One Sweet and One Elegant Celebration at University of Redlands

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tudents and faculty at University of Redlands in Redlands, CA, enjoyed not one but two Valentine’s Day celebrations this year! On the Tuesday before the holiday, the Bon Appétit team at Redlands transformed the lobby of Irvine Commons into a Valentine’s Extravaganza Bake Shop filled with chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered cookies, cakes, and other sweet goodies galore. The response was overwhelming — Ghirardelli and Godiva chocolates were quickly snatched up as forward-thinking students shopped for their favorite Valentines.

On the big night, the University Club restaurant opened its doors for a Valentine prix-fixe dinner. Students and community members were thrilled to see the University Club, typically only open Monday through Friday for lunch, decked out with Valentine’s Day–inspired black linens, red napkins, and red tulips. Guests in their best holiday attire reveled in an elegant three-course meal. The extensive menu included first-course options such as asparagus soup with chive crème and steamed mussels in saffron citrus cream, and entrées such as grilled rib-eye with cabernet sauvignon demi-glace and pan-seared halibut with saffron beurre blanc, all served with truffled mashed potatoes and vegetables from SURF (Sustainable University of Redlands Farm).

A choice of triple-chocolate tart with salted caramel sauce or vanilla crème brûlée with berries was the sweet finish to a grand multiday celebration.

Submitted by Malisia Wilkins, Marketing Coordinator, and Susan Martinez, Operations Manager

Pan-seared halibut with saffron beurre blanc and truffled potatoes at the University of Redlands’s prix-fixe Valentine’s Day dinner 72 | BRAVO

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RWU LA LA: Bon Appétit General Manager James Gubata at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, is a big fan of the movie Moulin Rouge, so when it was time to come up with a Valentine’s Day theme, the team veered away from the typical Valentine’s Day chocolate fountains in favor of a classic French menu, Parisian decor, and a gingerbread windmill (made by Baker Linda Pierson) inspired by the Moulin Rouge.

Service staff donned colorful berets and French café music was played to set the mood as guests enjoyed coq au vin, steak au poivre, and a build-your-own crepes station, among other traditional French treats.

The centerpiece of the café was a 6-foot-tall Eiffel Tower and Linda’s red gingerbread windmill — complete with circulating blades — surrounded by traditional French desserts. Walking into the Upper Commons on Valentine’s Day night, students knew this meal was made with a little extra love.

Submitted by Stephanie Keith, Marketing Manager/ Controller

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Valentine’s Day, Executive Style at Franklin Templeton San Mateo

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his year, Franklin Templeton’s quarterly board of directors’ meeting (which includes the CEO and senior vice presidents) fell on Valentine’s Day. The Bon Appétit team at Franklin Templeton in San Mateo, CA, always strives to make each such meeting exceptional, but with the holiday in the mix they wanted it even more so. Catering Coordinator Genesis Alvarez (with the help of General Manager Jeremiah Han and Catering Attendant Ashlin Delgado) hand-picked special plates, chargers, silverware, flowers, and chairs that felt a little more celebratory than usual. The team worked together to walk a delicate line, giving a nod to the holiday without creating an overly romantic atmosphere inappropriate for a board meeting.

Executive Chef Gerard Darin and Chef de Cuisine Silvia Inzunza created a sophisticated menu that started with a seasonal salad and included a choice of roasted Pacific halibut with fingerling potatoes, garlic confit, cherry tomato salad, and lobster cream; Mary’s Organic chicken breast with toasted barley risotto, chanterelle mushrooms, and truffle thyme jus; petit filet mignon served with lobster-stuffed twice-baked potato, asparagus, and bordelaise sauce; or vegetable timbale with roasted tomato sauce, goat cheese, California Olive Ranch olive oil, and herb salad. For dessert, the group enjoyed a Valentine’s Day–worthy dark chocolate torte with fresh berries and whipped cream.

The team was proud of the results, and the Franklin Templeton executives’ excellent reviews of the event are proof that the Valentine’s Day magic can be felt even during a working meeting.

Submitted by Genesis Alvarez, Catering Coordinator

A CAPITAL IDEA: Who doesn’t love a sweet treat on a stick or in a jar?

That’s what Chef/Manager Lily Nemes at Capital Café in Norfolk, VA, thought when coming up with the plan for Valentine’s Day. She dipped cookies in white and milk chocolate and decorated them with red, pink, and white chocolate; decorated heart- and flower-shaped sugar cookies; made chocolate-dipped pretzel rods; and even assembled cookie mixes in mason jars for employees to take home. The team began selling these sweet treats a week before Valentine’s Day, and by February 14, the goods were almost sold out!

Submitted by Matthew May, General Manager

A dark chocolate torte offered Franklin Templeton executives a sweet reminder of the holiday during their quarterly board meeting, which happened to fall on Valentine’s Day

STRONG HEARTS...AND A LITTLE LUXURY AT BEST BUY: What better way to show you care about someone than to help them be healthy and strong? During the annual Valentine’s Luxury Market at Best Buy in Richfield, MN, Bon Appétit Sous Chef Mike Carlsen (pictured) and Best Buy Wellness Zone Program Manager Bri Johnson worked together to educate guests on the benefits of living a heart-healthy lifestyle through clean eating habits and exercise. They passed out samples of house-made granola bars and offered a chance to win lunch and personal training sessions. For employees seeking a slightly more indulgent treat, Executive Chef Christian Pieper and Pastry Chef Mary Kerrigan also baked and boxed up luxurious Valentine’s Day sweets.

Submitted by Susan Davis, General Manager 2 0 1 7 Vo l u m e 1

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At Bon Appétit Headquarters, Valentine’s Day Is for Volunteering Submitted by Vicki Field, Administrative Support Services Manager

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haring the love makes Valentine’s Day twice as sweet! That’s what Senior Director of Payroll Jee DeLeon and Administrative Support Services Manager Vicki Field thought, anyway, when they decided to gather members of the corporate team together for two hands-on volunteer activities at Bon Appétit’s Palo Alto, CA, headquarters.

The first project — creating 150 hygiene kits for the homeless and recently housed — involved filling zip-top bags with travel-size versions of daily essentials, including soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and combs. The second project was fuzzier but equally important: filling 35 stuffed animal “casings” with cotton stuffing and making homemade cards for underserved kids in the region. Local organization HandsOn Bay Area, an affiliate of the HandsOn Network alliance, provided materials and instructions through their Project in a Box program, which identifies and donates the collected goods to a benefiting charity.

Bon Appétit CEO Fedele Bauccio couldn’t resist cuddling one of the sweet stuffed animals

Bon Appétit participants enjoyed the opportunity to donate their time to a worthy local cause while in the company of service-oriented colleagues!

Corporate office volunteers give their newly stuffed animals a final hug for quality control

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LEFT TO RIGHT: Our Coffees Farm Manager Rodrigo Batista, CEO Nathalia M. Oliveira Azzi, and Owner and President Ronaldo Azzi; Chromatic Coffee President Josh Kaplan; Adobe - San Jose Coffee Program Manager James Ong

Adobe - San Jose Brews Deep Connections with Chromatic and Our Coffees Submitted by James Ong, Coffee Program Manager

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he Bon Appétit team at Adobe in San Jose, CA, shares Adobe’s commitment to furthering quality, innovation, and education in all things — including coffee! The culinary team at Adobe - San Jose’s temPLATES Café conceived of a series of coffee classes, and for the first one, Coffee Program Manager James Ong teamed up with local partner Chromatic Coffee and its primary direct-trade partner, Our Coffees, to devise a program highlighting the crop-to-cup process.

Our Coffees founder Ronaldo Azzi

Around 15 participants joined Our Coffees founder Ronaldo Azzi and Chromatic President Josh Kaplan for the presentation in the newly designed Adobe Learning Kitchen. The event focused specifically on Chromatic’s flagship Keynote batch-brew coffee — the cornerstone of the site’s free-beverage program — which comes from beans grown on Ronaldo’s farms. Ronaldo offered a brief history of his multigenerational family-owned-and-operated coffee farms in Brazil. Located in Minas Gerais, a region historically known for coffee production, Our Coffees handles every step of the supply chain: producing, growing, processing, milling, exporting, and importing their high-quality beans for the international market. He also talked about their rigorous quality and certification standards and their zealous commitment to sustainability.

Josh closed the session with a discussion of the supply chain from the perspective of a coffee sourcer and roaster. In particular, he explained that certain growing conditions and processing methods impart distinct flavors to the Keynote beans. He emphasized Chromatic’s commitment to the direct relationship coffee approach and the many decisions made across multiple geographic and sociopolitical landscapes at every step of the supply chain that directly impact their San Jose roastery and café operations. This commitment to quality and transparency ensures an optimal coffee experience. The session concluded with a brief question-andanswer session and, of course, a Keynote tasting.

Guests at Adobe - San Jose can now better appreciate the Keynote coffee they enjoy in their cafés daily, knowing that Bon Appétit, Adobe, Chromatic, and Our Coffees share a collective commitment to culinary excellence.

Photos: Adam Freidin

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St. Olaf Visit to Peace Coffee Brews Newfound Appreciation for Beans Submitted by Traci Quinnell, General Manager

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offee lovers may savor each sip of their morning beverage, but that doesn’t mean they understand what makes the coffee industry tick. Recently, Manager Vicki Smisek and Assistant Manager Joanelle Noeller took retail crew members from The Cage at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, on a day trip to Peace Coffee, where they learned why the java they sell is so prized, nuanced, and complex.

The other participants truly appreciate their coffee vendor more than ever before.“After visiting Peace Coffee, I felt a sense of pride in playing a part in all the wonderful things they are achieving,” said Cashier/Barista Faith Ingersoll. Cashier/ Barista Ashley Siemers couldn’t agree more:“I’m around coffee all the time, making espresso drinks, preparing cold press, brewing drip coffee. Making drinks has become second nature for me. But the visit to Peace Coffee made me realize just how little I knew.”

Minneapolis-based Peace Coffee has an unusual history.

Founded 21 years ago by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the company has long been committed to fair trade principles, even before Fair Trade certification came to this country. What began with 38,000 pounds of Mexican coffee and a desire to do right by the farmers who grew the beans has evolved significantly: Peace Coffee has since cofounded an importing co-op so they can now buy direct from small independent farmers all over the world. It’s the best kind of win-win: farmers get a fair price and Peace Coffee and their co-op partners get a high-quality product while supporting sustainable communities everywhere they do business.

That’s not all, either. They also deliver their product throughout the year — rain or shine (or snow) — on bicycles. So their environmental commitment is truly global and local. They even have a bicycle repair shop right in their warehouse for their delivery drivers!

After spending time at Peace Coffee learning about its history, commitments, and business practices, Vicki and Joanelle noted that their front-of-house team now has a deeper appreciation for coffee’s pricing structure and what exactly "fair trade principles" mean.“It was a fun and educational experience for everyone who attended. Many hadn’t realized that coffee has several different flavor notes and comes from many locations around the world,” said Vicki.“They now have a better understanding of the importance of paying a fair price directly to the farmer, instead of to corporations.”

Joanelle agreed,adding:“Now I know how to make the perfect cup of coffee! It’s a 1:17 ratio: 250 grams of water (about 1 cup) per 15 grams of coffee. Best cup you’ll ever have! It was a great experience for me to watch our staff learn about the coffee we sell.”

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Members of the team at The Cage at St. Olaf enjoying their site visit to Peace Coffee

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A Family of Orchardists Grows in Hood River, OR Submitted by Caroline Ferguson, Fellow

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hen Sam Asai walks through his orchard, he is treading in the footsteps of two generations that came before him. His family has been farming the same land for more than a century, and some of the fruit trees that he showed to Bon Appétit Fellow Caroline Ferguson on her recent visit to A&J Orchards are over four decades old.

Sam’s grandparents purchased land in Hood River, OR, in the early 1900s and raised their family there for 40 years. But in the 1940s, they could have lost their farm forever. Like many Japanese immigrants, the Asai family was sent to an internment camp during World War II. A neighbor offered to take over the farm and pay the bills during the war, so the Asais were able to maintain their land and livelihood once the war ended. Many others were not so lucky.

Sam Asai at A&J Orchards

Sam, who was born just a few years after his family’s internment ended, is a jack-of-all-trades — before returning to the farm, he earned his M.B.A. from Oregon State University and became a Certified Public Accountant. He’s been working on the farm since 1981 and now grows eight varieties of cherries (a risky crop, Sam says, but a very profitable one in a good year), 18 kinds of apples, and eight kinds of pears. The farm’s business has grown from 30 cases per week from September through February to as many as 500.

A&J has been selling fruit to Bon Appétit since 2004, when Sam met a chef from Lewis & Clark College at the Portland farmers’ market. The chef was a fan of Sam’s Asian pears, and selling to Bon Appétit provided a market for undersized pears that would otherwise have gone to waste.

Reducing food waste is a focus on the farm: A&J also sells undersized and cosmetically imperfect fruit to cideries.

At this point in Sam’s farming career, he is focused on giving back to his community. He is a member of Oregon’s Farm Service Agency State Committee, which aims to provide economic opportunity and resources for small farms across the state.

Sam hopes to eventually pass the farm down to his son Aron, who currently works at A&J alongside his father. Aron will be the fourth generation of the Asai family to cultivate this land. Sam’s great-grandson could someday be a sixth-generation Asai farmer, though it’s a little early to tell if farming is in his future — he was just born a few months ago.

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Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Opens Café Doors and Entrepreneurial Minds Submitted by Bob Johndrow, Regional Marketing Director

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ust a few short months ago, Bon Appétit Management Company welcomed the Kansas City, MO–based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation into the fold. With an emphasis on education and advancing the principles of entrepreneurship, the Kauffman Foundation helps individuals start small businesses and nonprofit ventures. The late Ewing Marion Kauffman, its namesake, was committed to engaging local citizens in their communities and fostering opportunities for them to become entrepreneurs. With Bon Appétit’s commitment to sourcing at least 20 percent of its ingredients from small, local farmers, ranchers, and foodcrafters, the two cultures are a good fit.

The small but bountiful café serves the building’s approximately 125 employees, and guests use self-serve point-of-sale kiosks to pay for food and beverages. An abundant salad bar anchors the café, featuring seasonal, local produce from surrounding farms. At the grill, a full menu of appetizers, hot sandwiches, and sides tempts hungry guests. Oatie Beef, a small farm in rural Kansas that raises cattle humanely on oats and other all-natural products, provides the meat for the café’s freshly grilled hamburgers and sausages. The entrée station features a variety of regional specialties and comfort food. Daily specials include a hot breakfast entrée, from-scratch soups and chili, a composed salad, and a signature grilled sandwich.

The team also provides full-service catering for nonprofit groups, as the space also serves as a conference center.

Approximately 65,000 thought leaders enjoy coming to the site annually.

“All of the money in the world cannot solve problems unless we work together. And if we work together, there is no problem in the world that can stop us.”

PHILANTHROPIST AND ENTREPRENEUR

EWING MARION KAUFFMAN

“The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation operates both an in-house café as well as a conference center that provides affordable meeting space for regional nonprofit organizations. We selected Bon Appétit as our food service provider based on their ability to create unique, from-scratch menus using sustainable, locally sourced ingredients,” said Foundation Director of Operations Brian Henke.“The feedback from both our associates and conference center guests has been overwhelmingly positive, and we couldn’t be happier with Bon Appétit’s partnership to date.”

The salad bar at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

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Wheaton College Serves Up Healthful Tips and Tastes Submitted by Samantha Bauman, Director of Catering

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nspiring college students with health messaging that resonates can be daunting, but thoughtful efforts pay big dividends. Just ask the Bon Appétit team at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, who took two opportunities in February to educate students on the importance of making healthful food choices without compromising flavor.

Assistant Catering Manager Jennifer Vincent discusses healthy fats and plant-based proteins

First, the catering team featured the merits of healthy fats and plant-based proteins with an interactive demo table with help from the Food for Your Well-Being promotion. The culinary team prepared two infused oils — one with garlic and a second with herbs — for students to taste with rustic bread. They also prepared a plant-based, protein-rich salad with lentils, golden beets, fresh garlic, herbs, green onions, and grape tomatoes. That same herbal olive oil dressed the salad and was also offered alongside the regular dressing offerings at the salad bar, upping its visibility. While students sampled these tastes, members of the team were on hand to discuss the benefits of including healthy, flavorful fats and plant-based proteins in their diets. Tofu fajitas at the taqueria station and side dishes of beets with fresh oranges and of beans and rice echoed these wellness themes still further.

Student feedback was great!

For the month’s second health-related event, the Bon Appétiters joined forces with Director of Student Health Services Britt Black, RN, BSN, MHA and Nurse Practitioner Beth Walsh, along with Bon Appétit Director of Nutrition and Wellness Terri Brownlee. The collaborative effort emphasized the important role a balanced plate can play in promoting a good night’s sleep, something especially crucial given students’ often hectic schedules. Students relaxed and enjoyed a hot tea bar and almond-cherry chia seed bite while they chatted with Terri and the other speakers at the information table.

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Thank You, Bon Appétit

...for YOUR FOOD ALLERGY SAVVY AND FRIENDLY STAFF, Denison University, Granville, OH

General Manager Paul Mixa was warmed by the following emailed appreciation from the parent of a prospective student.

My son has applied to Denison University for the fall. While we were visiting, we stopped in at Curtis Café to see if Denison's Dining Services would be able to accommodate my son's food restrictions. We were pleasantly surprised by the display of fresh and healthy foods. Even more so, we were surprised by the friendly and helpful staff. Megan [Chef/Manager Megan Block] and Judy [Curtis Supervisor Judy Romine] took the time to answer our questions and concerns. If my son does indeed attend Denison, we plan to meet with you to discuss his food restrictions to ensure that he will be able to have safe and healthy meals. In the meantime, I wanted to tell you that we were very impressed, and that Denison has the best dining service of any of the colleges we have visited thus far.

Sincerely, Kim Plaga

I wanted to tell you that we were very impressed, and that Denison has the best dining service of any of the colleges we have visited thus far.

...for AMPLIFYING AND CONTRIBUTING TO OUR MISSION, Adobe, San Jose, CA

Bon Appétit Food Program Manager Emilie Zanger submitted the following note from Adobe Executive Chef Mirit Cohen, who oversees the Bon Appétit team and received nothing but raves for a recent catered event: Team, I am overwhelmed with pride for what you all accomplished today.... The food was delicious and the menu creative. [Pastry Chef] Leanne [Pomellitto]’s desserts and breads were as tasty as they were beautiful. The music and entertainment served our diverse population extremely well (Live bands! DJ dance party!

Crayon table! Photo booth!). The staff, despite the long day, were well taken care of, and so took care of the customers well in return. ...While this was a monumental team effort and each person deserves recognition, I want to give special shout-outs to the core team that's been working on this tirelessly for months: Catering Director Ashlee Valletta Baksa, Gloria [Catering Admin Gloria Rios], Executive Chef Brian West, Ahmad [Catering Sous Chef Ahmad Williams] and the whole catering team, plus our amazing partners Helen and Damon [Adobe Global Event Strategists Helen Lau-Cheney and Damon Guidry]. Each of you is so talented, and I'm thrilled Adobe had the chance tonight to see what you're truly capable of.

We talk about amplifying Adobe's culture through food experiences. Tonight was a special contribution to this mission.

Fantastic work.

With much love and respect for each of you, Mirit

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The quality of the food every day is such that any restaurant would be proud to serve it — truly best-in-class food service delivery. …for YOUR SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS, Trine University, Angola, IN

General Manager Joseph Gentile received this letter of appreciation for Pizza Cook Sammie Turner from Trine’s Assistant to the President/Chief of Staff Gretchen Miller. The “Random Act of Trineness” she refers to (a play on “random act of kindness”) is a university initiative designed to promote friendliness and increase engagement among staff members and students.

On Sunday, Brooks [Gretchen’s husband and the Trine men’s basketball coach], our son Champ, and I went to the café for brunch after church. Champ wanted to help by carrying our forks while we went through the line. Needless to say, the forks dropped on the floor a few times…. The nice guy that runs the pizza station came over to the line that we were at with two new clean forks. I know it was the simplest gesture of kindness, but it meant a lot to me. A student standing next to me witnessed it, turned to me, and said: “Isn’t the Bon Appétit staff just the kindest?”

Please share his name with me so that I can submit him for a Random Act of Trineness.

Gretchen

I know it was the simplest gesture of kindness, but it meant a lot to me. A student standing next to me witnessed it, turned to me, and said: “Isn’t the Bon Appétit staff just the kindest?”

...for OFFERING BEST-IN-CLASS FOOD, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC

All thank-you notes are appreciated, but when a client takes the time to email kudos to the top brass, even more so.

Regional Operating Manager Michael Aquaro and District Managers Elizabeth Simmonds and David Viveralli were pleased to receive such high praise for the Fuqua management team of General Manager Michael Mahony, Executive Chef Joseph Drommer, and Director of Catering Jesse Smith: Dear Liz, Michael, and David, Just a quick note to let you know how thankful I am for our wonderful Bon Appétit team. I am working late tonight on budgets and went downstairs to grab a quick supper from the Fuqua Friday student buffet. The offerings were simple but plentiful, healthy, delicious, and beautifully served. Jesse reported that students were particularly happy with the slow-cooker maple BBQ chicken, and I agree — simply perfect. The quality of the food every day is such that any restaurant would be proud to serve it — truly best-in-class food service delivery.

With the recent opening of our new upscale hotel across the woods, after sampling their fare the contrast is remarkably in favor of our fine Bon Appétit operation. Yet another reason why Bon Appétit quality is on my mind today.

Fuqua was recently ranked #6 on “Facilities” in a survey of business school alumni by The Economist. I attribute a significant part of our facilities success to Bon Appétit. Well-fed students are happy students! Thank you for being part of our community.

Best regards, Jill Tomlinson '07 Associate Dean, Finance and Administration, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business

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Thank You, Bon Appétit ...for WONDERFUL CATERING, Furman University, Greenville, SC

If we are made from what we eat, I'm 99 percent made of your food.

Furman University Catering Chef Preston Agnew and his team were grateful for a nice note from their clients in appreciation of their flexibility at the Rosenwald Dinner, a special departmental dinner for 18 guests (several of whom had dietary restrictions): Hi Preston:

…for OFFERING FOOD WORTH FOLLOWING AROUND THE COUNTRY, Oracle, Redwood Shores, CA

A former employee — and happy frequent diner — at Oracle, took the time to send this note to Bon Appétit headquarters: My family and I are big fans of your food. Seriously, Oracle headquarters is the best place to eat in Bay Area. If we are made from what we eat, I'm 99 percent made of your food. LOL. Thank you for all you're doing!

We are planning to move to Carmel, IN, and I've started to research locations where your cafés may be. [Crossroads Café] is really close to where I’ll be working. Please let me know if this café is open to the public, and if the food and selection are as good as at Oracle.

I did not get a chance to meet you last night, but along with Scott Henderson of Furman’s education department, I was hosting the dinner at Cherrydale. I am writing to thank you and commend you for the gracious way you handled the extra, unexpected guests. You and Melissa Ramseur, Bon Appétit’s hostess/server, helped us avoid any embarrassment and made an awkward situation perfectly seamless.

By the way, the food was outstanding. Thanks for that, too.

All the best, Steve Stephen O’Neill, Professor of History I absolutely concur with Steve. We appreciate all you did, including your gracious flexibility at the last minute (or several minutes). It's a great joy to have such wonderful colleagues to help us make sure Furman events are successful.

Scott Henderson Professor of Education

…for A SEMESTER OF TASTY FOOD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

Leutner Dining Hall Night Cook Craig Williams received this letter of appreciation from a grateful student: I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. I've really enjoyed the food you've made me over the last semester. You've made navigating the dining hall less stressful and more tasty for me.

I'm looking forward to next semester…. See you next year!

Lydia

And following the annual faculty and staff holiday party, Furman’s Executive Assistant to the President/Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees Cindy Alexander sent Catering Director Becca Caccamise this rave: THANK YOU for the wonderful event Friday night. Younts was just beautiful, and the food and service were outstanding!!

[Furman President] Dr. Davis said it was a great event!... I understand a number of folks lingered after the event, which tells me a good time was had by all.

Please convey our thanks to your staff for all that they did.

Cindy Alexander

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Loving the “wall of love”: Grill Cook Mathew Arnold, Dishwasher Jose Luis Godoy, Café Supervisor Karina Bustos, Prep Cook Elizabeth Escobedo, Line Cook Gerardo Lemus, Cashier Fernando Conde, Line Cook Ramon Godoy, Dishwasher Jose Hernandez, and Café Chef Robert Perez

...for FANTASTIC WORK EVERY SINGLE DAY, SAP, Palo Alto, CA

General Manager Melissa Miller and the Café 8 team at SAP were surprised and delighted by a “wall of love” that greeted them one day.“It is quite remarkable, almost brought tears to my eyes,” said Melissa. “It thrilled them, made a big impact on us all.” She had no idea at first who was behind the array of wonderful Post-Its, but after asking around learned it was the idea of Austin Meyer, a design thinking strategist at SAP.“The staff does fantastic work every single day, and I am just so happy that everyone came together to share appreciation for what they do,” wrote Austin. “From the food, to the service, to the generous attitude, we applaud and thank all of you!” ...for FANTASTIC MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD, Adobe, Lehi, UT

Executive Chef Ted Mathesius was tickled by this note from Customer Success Engineer Bill Thomason: Ted, Just wanted to give you an attaboy on the Middle Eastern food today. My taste buds felt like they were magically transported out of Blandsville, aka Utah, into the Middle East. But I realitychecked myself, because I know that even [there] they do not eat food this good. Thank you for your creativity and variety of food!

Bill 2 0 1 7 Vo l u m e 1

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Thank You, Bon Appétit ...for ALL THE BRILLIANT FOOD, Reed College, Portland, OR

General Manager Debby Bridges doesn’t have to go fishing for compliments — she recently received two notes of appreciation, one from staff and one from a student, both making special mention of seafood offerings.

Thank you for all the brilliant food!

I haven't been getting you reviews as often as I should, as the food has been AMAZING. Seriously — you guys are doing such great work over there! And a really great job of keeping the lines mostly manageable for those of us rushing in and out! The rockfish today was another triumph.

Thank you for all the brilliant food!

Kelsey Wirtzfeld Systems Coordinator for Student Services And another: The Commons [main café] clam chowder is completely divine! I would highly recommend it to all my friends. I would love if you all could bring back the rockfish clam chowder as well.

I think it would be really fantastic if Commons could make pozole and gumbo! I love Commons so much. Such quality food at affordable prices. I also want to compliment the new taqueria bar. That was such a neat invention. I go there all the darn time.... I know there is something I will always like.

Shelby Williams Reed Student Senator Catering Director Lindsey Leisinger received this glowing note after Reed’s Office for Institutional Diversity held an event called Community of Color for about 80 guests: Dear Lindsey, A big THANK YOU to you and your catering staff for our event last night. It was a huge success. Your staff was very attentive and accommodating. And the food was fantastic — especially the desserts! Please pass along my gratitude.

Thanks for all that you do.

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...for ALLEVIATING STRESS DURING ALUMNI RELATIONS EVENTS, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

Following the university’s Distinguished Alumni Awards Weekend — which involved an intimate dinner for 50, a President's reception, the Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner for 240, and more — Resident District Manager Sia Mohsenzadegan, Director of Catering Christine Giordani, and Catering Operations Supervisor Anna Carlson were all very touched by this email from the Vereschagin Alumni House’s operations manager: Hi amazing Bon Appétit team, Words cannot express how wonderful you and your team were throughout all the Alumni Relations events this weekend. You not only alleviated much stress from our team but you also ensured each guest was well taken care of. We are beyond grateful for ALL you do!

With a smile, Carrie Fox-Buttram Operations Manager Vereschagin Alumni House

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OMSI Shines Wide Light on Stars Submitted by Seth Raye, General Manager

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any businesses offer employee recognition programs, but the process is often top down: Managers nominate those who report to them, leaving colleagues unable to formally recognize their peers. Not so at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, OR. OMSI’s localized version of Compass Group’s popular national Be-A-Star program encourages both managers and line-level associates to fill out “Star slips” and nominate worthy candidates.

Here’s how it works: Associates receive Star slips from coworkers or supervisors for going above and beyond, for giving help without being asked, or for excelling in some specific way. Everyone is eligible to receive a Star slip at any time.

Then every other Thursday (before payday), a name is drawn at random from the pool of Star slips submitted within the prior two weeks. This associate receives a $30 movie theater gift certificate. The team also posts all the “Stars” on the Star wall for associates to read.

Having buy-in from all the associates makes OMSI’s version of this program extra-special. Of course, the unit’s leaders recognize associates every week informally, but by encouraging line-level associates to recognize one another, this program boosts team morale. Team members are encouraged to be highly specific in their reasons for making a nomination and not to recognize peers for “being really amazing” or “for always being there.”

The Be-A-Star program makes a hugely positive impact!

OMSI’s Be-A-Star employee recognition wall

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from the fellows | claire kelloway

Grass-fed cattle, raised in Pennsylvania, sold through the Common Market

Breaking Through the Food Hub Hubbub

I

remember the first time I heard the phrase“food hub.” I was a first-year student at Carleton College, just beginning to delve into the complexities of food systems development. I’d learned that buying locally grown food at an institutional level is not as simple as farmers dropping off produce. Large-scale sourcing requires extra organization and processes such as cleaning, processing, transporting, storing, and so much more. But just as I thought my idyllic locally sourced food bubble had burst, my mentor introduced me to what seemed like a magical supplychain solution: the food hub.

Food hubs aggregate and distribute local foods from a large network of small farms, most often farms that adhere to responsible and ecological agricultural practices. This aggregation makes it possible for smaller farms to join together to meet the highvolume demands of a city or institution. Compared with complicated national or international supply chains, when there’s only one middleman to collect, clean, and distribute foods, more profit can go into farmers’ pockets. At the same time, by creating a socially conscious economy of scale, the retail price of local foods can drop, making them more affordable. Food hubs can also simplify the ordering process for large buyers while maintaining food safety for consumers. So instead of coordinating with dozens of producers, a company like Bon Appétit can order local produce, eggs, meats, and more all through one vendor with one order, one delivery, and one bill.

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Being the supply-chain geek that I am, I was instantly drawn in.

And I was not alone: Food hubs’ ability to aggregate regional, responsible food has drawn the attention of many food policymakers and social entrepreneurs. And much like my education in the messy realities of local sourcing, my understanding of food hubs has become more nuanced over time.

While the idea seems simple on its face, the reality of starting a food hub is anything but. Successful food hubs require incredible organization, business acumen, patience, and capital. No single model has proven most effective or sustainable.

There is one, however, that’s working well in the Mid-Atlantic region around Philadelphia, with plans to expand.The Common Market is a non-profit food hub that aggregates local food from over 80 farms. I was excited to connect with Common Market Outreach Coordinator Margaret Smith while organizing a local produce panel for Penn Food Week at the University of Pennsylvania. To find out the secret to The Common Market’s success, I toured their distribution warehouse a few months ago.

The Common Market began with the simple notion that“everyone deserves to eat good food and the people who grew that food deserve to be paid fairly.” Its cofounders — husband and wife duo Haile Johnston and Tatiana Garcia Granados — were running a community-based nonprofit in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood when they realized there wasn’t adequate

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The Common Market staff, including cofounders Haile Johnston and Tatiana Garcia Granados, in their Philadelphia warehouse

infrastructure to bring food from small, sustainable farms into the city and urban institutions. So they went directly to rural counties to buy local foods at auction, and they were amazed at the discrepancy between the price farmers received and the cost of retail produce. The pair saw an opportunity to create a more direct connection between farmers and consumers: a new, shorter supply chain that simultaneously paid farmers fairly and improved urban food access and public health.

They founded The Common Market in 2008 with one truck, selling $100,000 of local food in their first year. Today, the company has a fleet of trucks and sells more than $5 million of local food annually, with hopes to grow via an ambitious national expansion plan. A second hub, The Common Market Atlanta, recently opened.

I learned that The Common Market did face a challenge in lasting through the early slow-growth phase that plagues most food hubs. It was able to survive in part due to its nonprofit model and the support of grants and donations. But The Common Market has always run like a business, with the goal of being self-sustaining. (Both cofounders are Wharton Business School grads.)

Today, their operations are practically self-sufficient; what philanthropic support they receive goes to fund their ambitious national expansion program and address issues of food access.

connecting low-income communities with healthy, local foods.

And they found that the most effective way to reach these communities is to sell local foods to institutions: the schools, hospitals, and cafeterias where people eat. They see large geographically rooted nonprofits, like hospitals and universities, as strategic markets for local goods and services.

Bon Appétit chefs at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, Gallaudet University, and the University of Pennsylvania now work with The Common Market to source Farm to Fork produce, eggs, dairy, meats, and even seafood. The Common Market helps enroll vendors into Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork program, simplifies ordering, and maintains food safety standards for our chefs. In fact, as of this summer, all their produce farmers are certified as following Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and they themselves have a Safe Quality Food Level 2 certification.

Hearing all this stoked the passions that motivated me to organize with the Real Food Challenge as a student, and eventually to work for Bon Appétit as a Fellow. It was another powerful example that food service companies can play a critical role in sustainable development. Bon Appétit’s commitment to local sourcing not only supports individual farmers, but by supporting organizations like The Common Market, it can help to grow entire new systems and supply chains.

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Pitzer College Hosts Expert Panel on Food Justice and Access Submitted by Caroline Ferguson, Fellow

B

on Appétiters don’t just feed students on the university campuses we serve; sometimes we get to feed their minds!

Bon Appétit Fellow Caroline Ferguson recently invited expert panelists to the Pitzer College campus in Claremont, CA, for a conversation with students. The topic: improving access to sustainable food. Director Maria Alonso and Program Manager Arthur Levine from Huerta del Valle, a small farm operated by the Latino and Chicano community in neighboring Ontario that serves as a Bon Appétit vendor, both participated on the panel. They were joined by Policy Director Breanna Hawkins from the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, a collective impact organization that works to improve access to good food throughout Los Angeles. Bon Appétit Regional Chef Peter Alfaro rounded out the panel.

About 40 people attended the event, including many students and several staff members from Claremont McKenna College Dining. (Pitzer and Claremont McKenna are two of the five Bon Appétit partners that belong to the Claremont Colleges consortium.) During the panel, students dined on incredible snacks prepared by Pitzer’s catering team using produce from Huerta del Valle, including turnip gratin, lentil salad with apples and fennel, and sautéed cauliflower greens with bacon.

The panelists spoke on a wide range of topics, including how to improve distribution and decrease the prevalence of food deserts, how to emphasize culturally appropriate food, and how students at the Claremont Colleges can get involved in food justice. It was particularly inspiring to see the panel turn into a bilingual event, as Arthur translated Maria’s responses from Spanish into English and several students asked their questions in Spanish.

Students from Claremont McKenna’s Food Recovery Network chapter also used the panel as an opportunity to encourage more students to sign up to participate in campus food recovery efforts. Students who left inspired had an immediate and concrete way to get involved and play a hands-on role in improving food access in the surrounding community.

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Bon Appétit Regional Chef Peter Alfaro talks to guests after the panel

The refreshments prepared by Pitzer’s catering team using produce from Huerta del Valle included turnip gratin, lentil salad with apples and fennel, and sautéed cauliflower greens with bacon

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Chef Jeff Henderson Cooks Up MLK Day Demo at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Submitted by Matthew Barnes, Operations Manager

Television personality and author Chef Jeff Henderson talks and cooks during the Martin Luther King Day Convocation

N

ot too many chefs got their start behind bars — but award-winning chef, bestselling author of If You Can See It, You Can Be It, and Food Network television personality Jeff Henderson did! Jeff ’s history includes spending 10 years incarcerated for drug trafficking before becoming the first African-American executive chef at the Café Bellagio in Las Vegas. His unusual and inspiring life story is currently being adapted into a feature film by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Jeff was recently invited to give the Martin Luther King Day Convocation speech at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. While there, he met with Bon Appétit Sous Chefs Josh Hedrick and Wayne Jones and Operations Manager Matthew Barnes. Together, the group prepped chicken maque choux, a Cajun dish that Jeff demonstrated the next day as part of the Convocation Talk. (The tasting also featured a vegan version of the same dish for the Institute’s president and gathered guests.) Jeff also had lunch with the team in the Union Café.

A thousand guests attended the cooking demonstration the following day in the faculty dining room. The convocation program drew from Jeff ’s life lessons — from the streets to the stove — to showcase how people can overcome adversity to identify their own personal gifts and reinvent their lives.

Jeff made the event interactive and entertaining for all of the guests. Bon Appétit team members enjoyed preparing food side by side with Jeff in the kitchen. He complimented the whole team and they, in turn, appreciated the chance to interact so closely with him and learn his story.

Jeff with Sous Chef Wayne Jones

Jeff (second from left) with Sous Chef Wayne Jones, Sous Chef Joshua Hedrick, and Executive Chef Justin Durand at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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Bon Appétit MVPs

Grove City College Operations Manager Lynna McNany with her mentor, General Manager JonErik Germadnik

her focus again, for family reasons; when the office manager retired, Lynna applied for and got that job, a 9-to-5 position.

By 2011, she was missing operations and asked to come back.

JonErik made her front-of-house café manager, and a year later promoted her to operations manager.

Lynna McNany Loves a Puzzle

I “

like solving problems,” says Lynna McNany, operations manager at Grove City College in Grove City, PA. “It’s my favorite part of my job.”

For example, not too long ago Lynna realized it was taking students five to seven minutes to get through the rotisserie line.“How do we make that three to five minutes? It was like a puzzle to me,” she explains. “How do we get that person help without increasing our costs too much?” The solution: hiring student workers for a two-hour shift to assist the rotisserie cook in an assembly-line fashion. Students were looking for work, and Grove City guests got better service.

Those problem-solving skills and initiative are among the reasons Lynna has been promoted multiple times in her 14 years with Bon Appétit Management Company, says her mentor, General Manager JonErik Germadnik. “She helps the business improve by being so proactive. She’s a huge asset to our team here.”

Back in 2003 Lynna was the general manager at a Grove City restaurant with three small children and not much work-life balance. She started looking at university food service as a solution and quickly decided Bon Appétit might be the right fit. She started on the ground level, as a server. About two months in, she admits, “I was going crazy, I needed more to do” — and so when JonErik was looking for a front-of-house supervisor, she stepped forward. In 2006 it was time to shift 90 | BRAVO

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“JonErik mentors by showing us what we should be seeing.

He opens our eyes. Managers might do the same thing every day; that can result in tunnel vision,” Lynna explains.“He will say, ‘Let’s go for a walk. See this and this?’ Part of the reason I was able to grow and be promoted was because of his mentoring and training. He’s very good at developing managers from hourly to salaried.”

The other reason, she says, is Bon Appétit’s culture. “The empathy and care Bon Appétit has for employees is really incredible, and I have never found another company like that,” Lynna says.“Obviously we like to run our operation and make a profit, but we also care about other things. Bon Appétit managers understand we have families, we have kids, sick mothers.” ...And farms! Lynna and her husband have always had a small farm about 7 miles outside Grove City. Lynna’s middle son, Matthew, now runs 5M Farms, the Farm to Fork vendor that supplies Grove City with nearly all of its ground beef.

(See page 39 for more.)

Learning about what 5M had to do to meet Bon Appétit’s standards was just one aspect of the ongoing education that Lynna says also sets the company apart. “I’ve enjoyed getting this knowledge — the different aspects of our sustainability program, training in celiac disease and made-without-glutencontaining-ingredients, Farmworker Awareness Week. I know this might sound corny, but I just like my job — the business and operations side, driving results with financials, how can we make labor better, and learning about new things.

I just like all aspects of it!”

The Bon Appétit MVPs column profiles longtime Bon Appétit employees who have worked with the company for five years or more and are nominated by senior leadership. These exemplary employees have helped shape our culture and values through their creativity and commitment to their work.

INDEX

Adobe 75, 80, 83 Albion College 6, 35, 68 Art Institute of Chicago 35, 40-41, 67 Banfield Pet Hospital 7 Best Buy 73 Bon Appétit Management Company HQ 74 Brown University 42 Capital Café 73 Carleton College 6, 47, 69 Case Western Reserve University 82 CHS 65 Citrix 34 Claremont McKenna College 41 Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center 15 The College of Idaho 46, 57, 70 Colorado College 23, 63 Columbia Sportswear 20-21 Denison University 4, 44-45, 80 Emory University 31, 50-51, 70 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 78 Franklin Templeton 73 Fuqua School of Business 51, 81 Furman University 58-59, 82 Gallaudet University 59 The Garden at AT&T Park 5, 10-11 Gates Foundation 31 Google 54 Grifols 38 Grove City College 39, 90 The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens 70 Institute of American Indian Arts 43 Johns Hopkins University 72 Lafayette College 64 Lewis & Clark College 55, 71 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 12

Medtronic 52-53 Milliken & Company 71 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 28 Oberlin College 65, 71 Oracle 5, 16-17, 64, 82 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry 85 Pitzer College 88 Reed College 57, 84 Regis University 29, 32 Roger Williams University 42, 48, 72 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 89 Saint Martin's University 24-25 Samsung 71 Santa Clara University 47 SAP 6, 14-15, 83 Savannah College of Art and Design 29 Seattle University 67 St. Mary’s College of Maryland 19 St. Olaf College 55, 76 SurveyMonkey 18 Target 4, 29, 45, 64 Trine University 21, 81 Twitter 36, 62, 68 University of Chicago 56, 67 University of Portland 68 University of Redlands 72 University of the Pacific 84 VMware 37, 66 Washington University in St. Louis 37 Wheaton College 79 William Jessup University 22 Yahoo 37, 65

BRAVO WAS PRINTED ON PAPER MADE FROM

100%

RECYCLED FIBER INCLUDING

THIS SAVED...

48 fully grown trees 22,561 gallons water 21 million BTUs energy 1,510 pounds solid waste 4,160 pounds greenhouse gases

57%

POSTCONSUMER WASTE .

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2017

SPRING

IN THIS ISSUE: BRAVO IS THE ALMOST QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF

BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY |

Banfield Doggies Say “Bone Appétit”

A Member of the Compass Group

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100 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 400 Palo Alto, California 94301 650-798-8000 www.bamco.com

Focusing on Safety PAGE 26

LEARN HOW FOOD CHOICES AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNITY,

Celebrating African-American History Month

AND YOUR WELL-BEING AT www.cafebonappetit.com

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