Whitman

FOUNDING VALUES: OUR DREAM

While many have tried to replicate our platform, Bon Appétit is the only foodservice company truly founded on the revolutionary idea of serving restaurant-quality food, rooted in sustainable and socially responsible practices, to university students and corporate employees.

For 34 years, our co-founder and CEO Fedele Bauccio’s founding “Dream” statement has played an essential role in helping us both disrupt and transform the industry.

Our dream is to be the premier on-site restaurant company known for its culinary expertise and commitment to socially responsible practices. We are a culture driven to create food that is alive with flavor and nutrition, prepared from scratch using authentic ingredients. We do this in a socially responsible manner for the well-being of our guests, communities and the environment.”

MENU METHODOLY

OUR PHILOSOPHY ON FOOD IS SIMPLE

We cook from scratch using fresh, authentic ingredients. We start with food in its purest, most natural form. We purchase local and seasonal products. We make our food alive with flavor and nutrition. We support small farmers and artisans who grow their food or raise their animals in a sustainable manner. We never use cycle menus, allowing our chefs to showcase their unique talent and regional ingredients.

While our chefs have tremendous freedom to create menus specifically for Whitman College, our Kitchen Principles are the companywide culinary and sourcing standards that we live by and they align perfectly with Benedictine’s guidelines.

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CULINARY PROGRAM

Our chefs customize each of our food programs to the tastes of each community we serve. Menus are written weekly based on seasonality, local availability, and feedback from our Whitman students.

STUDENT DRIVEN MENUS

Student feedback is a critical component of our menu writing process. Our chefs and managers develop relationships with students and solicit feedback in person whenever possible. Speaking with our students through human interactions, comment cards, Instagram, and even Yik Yak, management lists menu items being requested. It works these requests into the weekly menus. We enjoy the engagement with the Whitman College students and encourage the students to assist as much as possible in our menu writing process.

Cleveland Commons station menus are based on current food trends. The Global Station features a weekly menu with popular world items such as Indian tandoori, classic Mexican cuisine variations, and West African offerings. The Oven Station offers a popular daily changing menu showcasing trendy street foods, hand-made desserts, and wood-stone pizzas. The Oven Station offers great change and accents the weekly menu. The Sushi and Noodle Station is based on Executive Chef Nimal’s knowledge and career cooking through Asia. The Noodle Station’s popular items range from Sri Lanka-style yellow split pea curry to garlic chicken ramen with a sustainable focus. The Comfort Station features a weekly regional and global “comfort food” such as smoked barbecue, paella, or even chicken parmesan and brings comfort to students from around the world. The popular Grill Station always has two plant-based sliders to complete with the buttermilk fried chicken and smash burger sliders. Every station menu is written to complement each other and cover a wide variety of options.

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POP-UPS/STATION TAKEOVERS

Pop-ups in the cafes offer additional variety and are offered multiple times a week. These pop up’s range from bang bang chicken, street tacos with hand-made tortillas, piroshky, dim sum, milkshakes, and more. The cooks can highlight their specialties, bringing excitement, and high student engagement.

Here is a sample of a few of our engagement experiences around campus:

PRICING

Prices are determined by mutual consent between Bon Appétit and Whitman College. Our pricing recommendations are based on a comparable market basket of restaurant-quality meals in the area. In addition to this market comparison, we consider our cost of goods, labor, and other operating expenses.

Pricing is adjusted before the start of each academic year based on CPI – Food Away from Home. For the past three years, we have held our pricing below CPI. For the Academic Year 2021-22, prices increased by 4% compared to CPI of 4.7%. For the Academic Year 2022-23, prices increased by 5% compared to CPI of 8.3%. For the Academic Year 2023-24, we proposed a 5% increase compared to the CPI of 8.2%.

Because of our approach to how we menu, we have held our price increases below CPI for the last three years. When supply is limited for certain products and prices are higher, we can avoid menuing those items and replace them with lower cost options. For example, last spring, when turkey supplies were limited, and prices were high, we ran alternatives such as pork loin and ham.

MENU MIX

Throughout our café, we offer menu choices at several different price points. Our menu mix provides healthy and satisfying meal options in the $4-$6 range, the $7-$9 range, and $10 and above for specific entrées. This pricing range also helps us ensure that we have relatively even participation at each of our concepts in Cleveland Commons. We review guest counts for each station and evaluate our menu mix accordingly. If we see that at a particular meal, once the station has a much larger guest count than the others, we know we need to adjust our menu mix to achieve a more even distribution.

SUSTAINABILITY MARKETING

LEADING THE WAY IN SUSTAINABILITY

Bon Appétit is the food service industry’s recognized leader in social and environmental responsibility. We were focused on sustainable sourcing before it was cool. We adopt policies and set purchasing standards long before the issues are even on most consumers’ radar sometimes more than a decade ahead of our competitors. We’re nimble enough business-wise to be willing and able to make the leap before there’s a clear path or a guaranteed supply of what we want. Instead of waiting for non-governmental organizations to come knocking on our door with a demand, we go to them to ask what’s

next, and how we can help.

How we define Sustainable Food Service

Flavorful food that’s healthy and economically viable for all, produced through practices that respect farmers, workers, and animals; nourish the community; and replenish our shared natural resources for future generations.

Sustainability is no longer a trend - it is a lifestyle, personal commitment, and deepseated Principe for many consumers. Thus, social responsibly is imperative for the food and beverage industry, with bare minimum standards (e.g., compostable straws, paper bags, etc.) margining in response to shifting consumer aptitudes and government legislation.

Roughly 40% of foodservice operations believe that actions taken by the food and beverage industry will help to greatly reduce greenhouse emissions, however, only 13% have taken a stance on climate change and adjusted their operations accordingly.

LUCY WOOD

Community Engagement Coordinator

In September 2021, we hired our first Student Community Engagement Coordinator at Whitman College. Lucy Wood ’23, a psychology major, has focused on building Farm to Fork partnerships, identifying opportunities to reduce food waste on campus, enhancing our campus sustainability efforts, and engaging other Whitman students to participate in new programs such as the campus glass recycling program. Additionally, Lucy has invested much of her time in helping maintain the Whitman Organic Garden and has overseen the garden’s chickens - https://www.bamco.com/blog/community-comes-together-at-the-whitmanorganic-garden/.

In April 2022, Lucy was the runner-up for the Governor’s Student Civic Leadership award for her work with Bon Appétit and the Whitman College Glean Team. Governor Jay Inslee and Campus Compact gave the award.

After Lucy graduates, we hope to hire her as our Manager of Community Engagement. In this role, Lucy will recruit and hire her replacement for Student Community Engagement Coordinator. Lucy will continue to guide our efforts at Whitman College and support other accounts in the PNW District.

THE BON APPÉTIT FELLOWS

The Bon Appétit Fellows program not only touches dozens of our university campuses each year, but it also truly sets us apart as a company. These employees serve as educational and research resources to students and our teams in their region. To become a Fellow, they must have recently graduated from a Bon Appétit campus (ranging from a few months to four years) and have a proven track record of being active in sustainable food areas on their campus.

Our fellows are our all-hands-on-deck resources to activate food education on Whitman’s campus. They help our teams arrange kitchen tours, guest lectures, student group meetings, culinary team meetings, Farm to Fork and Supplier Diversity vendor visits, Healthy Kids events, and more!

 KITCHEN TOURS . Students are amazed to see where the scrambled eggs are made, to watch stock simmering, to see the ingredients we’re cooking with, to walk into a walk-in freezer (it really doesn’t take much to impress!) Kitchen tours get students excited about cooking and make connections with the chefs. They dispel rumors. It’s the ultimate form of transparency – “come see what we do!”

 GUEST LECTURES IN CLASSROOMS . In public health classes, they talk about antibiotics use on animal farms. In science of climate change courses, they talk about Bon Appétit’s Low Carbon Lifestyle program and how food choices matter. In environmental justice classes, they talk about our partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. They find ways to connect what we do to the issues students care about and/or are learning about on campus.

 STUDENT GROUP MEETINGS . Presentations to the student government, meetings with environmentally focused student groups, sustainability directors, real food challenge chapters, food recovery network chapters… you name it!

 HEALTHY KIDS’ EVENTS . Healthy Kids in the Bon Appétit Kitchen is Bon Appétit’s companywide nutrition and culinary education program, created with the goal of educating and empowering children to make healthy food choices for themselves and their communities. Through this program, we’re transforming the kitchens and gardens in which we operate into hands-on classrooms for kids.

 OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS . Presentations, film screenings, cooking classes, coffee tastings, and other creative ways to bring the “story behind the food” to life.

CREATING

GUEST EXPERIENCES

Bon Appétit Management Company has debuted a new concept called “Adventures,” which is our creative response to addressing the needs of guests as they navigate new ways of working and learning.

Adventures concepts are flexible menu and service models that target specific audiences or “Eaters” like Plant Lovers, Snackers, and Tele-Workers with attendant technology, menu, and marketing approaches. Clients and operations teams can choose their own Adventure and scale it to their audience size and preferences. Seasonal shifts keep the concepts fresh and allow for creative interpretation. We want to provide our guests with the ultimate flexibility with when they eat, how they eat, and where they eat. Adventures offers the flexible ideas and tools our teams need to meet their expectations.

Each season, a new Adventure is released, offering a complete set of highly modular and seasonally focused engagement activities and menu ideas that operations teams can pick and choose from to surprise and delight their guests. Each Adventure has elements that can be combined to meet the needs of 10 different types of Eaters, whose preferences map to the most common types of guests served in Whitman’s cafés. Business planning tools help teams chart an adventurous course for each client’s infrastructure, audience, and specific needs.

Highlights of each seasonal Adventure include:

• PLAY is a curated set of activations that celebrate the season, our Bon Appétit initiatives, and/or are just plain fun events that engage our guests and delight and inspire them. PLAY engages guests via structured events like “You’re Gourd-geous,” an autumn celebration of all things squash, or culinary showdowns dubbed “Food Fights.”

• FOOD FOCUS A concept that can flex in many ways to help you drive revenue, engagement, and meet your EATERS’ needs. This concept provides foodie inspiration and new ideas to serve hungry tenants on the go or staff working in hybrid home/office models.

• 0:01 EATS offers inspiration for ‘round the clock service, whether it’s preorder for later or pantry snacks.

• SPOTLIGHT concepts showcase single ingredients or chef-driven specialty dishes and can be incorporated into modular THIS + THAT to-go items, meal kits, or be incorporated into traditional service models. Though most of our menus rotate on a daily basis, there is always a need to highlight a dish to keep things fun. We like to think about this like throwing a spotlight on it!

• TALK ABOUT IT Guest communication is critical – whether it be a new mobile ordering platform or a new take-home meal kits program – we have the “Talk About It” suite to cover it! Our adventures include the tools our teams need to communicate with TikTok employees throughout the season.

CUSTOMIZED PROGRAMMING

Each season we create a custom Adventures snapshot calendar designed to reflect the culture of Whitman and what’s trending in the local market in order to drive participation and increase sales. We also come up with ways to create Whitman specific promotions and events that align with the campuswide events.

COOKING CLASSES

Chef is currently partnering with the following campus groups for cooking classes:

1. Cooking on a Budget classes in collaboration with The Community Interest House and Food Justice Project

2. International, Plant Forward, & Dessert cooking classes with the Whitman College Culinary and Baking Club

3. Sustainable cooking classes with The Environmental Interest House

4. Garden Parties cooking in the stone oven in collaboration with the Organic Garden Club

POP IN FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Every city has one.... a hipster neighborhood, a tourist neighborhood, a foodie neighborhood, a club neighborhood, the list goes on and on. Neighborhoods have distinct institutions, restaurants, types of stores, and demographics that jointly contribute to the vibe. Pop In From The Neighborhood is an adventure inspired by these favorite corner shops, local partners, and colorful chefs. Street by street, from the cozy coffee shop to the sizzling new bone broth joint, we connect Whitties to the places, people, and flavors that make our neighborhood(s) unique... without ever stepping foot outside of the café.

POP UP BIKE

The popsicle bike features house-made popsicles using local farm fruits. We also feature local Walla Walla Cheese Company push-up pop’s.

SNAPSHOT OVERVIEW

Below is a snapshot of this upcoming Fall’s seasonal engagement:.

HEAR ABOUT IT

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND SATISFACTION

A key part of community engagement is capturing feedback from students, which we regard as the single most important tool for evolving and improving our services at Whitman Since our business decisions are informed by feedback trends, keeping lines of communication open between the community and our team is critical in ensuring we keep our finger on the pulse of Whitman. As the adage goes, what can be measured can be managed, so we provide multiple options to make it easy for students share their thoughts and experiences with us, while proactively initiating conversations with guests and conducting regular surveys.

 Surveys. Annual online surveys help us determine if we are meeting our guests’ and client’s expectations. Within 30 days, we will submit a report to you including action plans to address guest comments. We can also benchmark these results with other similar Bon Appétit accounts. We will invite guests to participate in surveys through POS signage, social media posts, and menu mail. In our experience, the best time to administer a satisfaction survey is early in the Spring Semester. Students have been able to experience the dining program for an entire semester and have yet to be preoccupied with spring break and commencement. We want to work with the appropriate Whitman College representative(s) to begin crafting this survey as soon as possible.

 Table “Hops.” The Culinary Team frequently bounces between tables during meal periods, talking informally to students and listening to their suggestions and concerns.

 Comment Cards. Guests can share compliments, concerns, or food requests through comment cards available in the café. Our policy is to respond to all comment cards within a 24-hour period.

 Online Comments. Whitman’s custom Café Bon Appétit website features an online feedback form so guests can comment at a time that is convenient for them. We will respond within 24 hours and communicate our resolutions to you.

 Social Media. We provide our managers with detailed guidelines for responding to various types of feedback posted to our social media sites. We always seek to build credibility by handling any negative feedback we receive in public forums with grace and professionalism.

 Around The Table. Bon Appétit chefs have expressed how helpful it is to just sit down with guests to see how they are feeling. It turns out that breaking bread with members of the community is one of the best way to develop relationships and answer questions they have about the dining program.

MAKING THE DREAM A REALITY

The Dream is the foundation for our company culture informing how we approach food and service and how we train our staff and what drives us to uphold our promise to our customers every day. However, we recognize that an articulation of principles doesn’t mean anything without tangible action. Therefore, we support our customer service commitments by offering our employees hospitality training and by regularly assessing our operations through robust guest feedback channels and our Great Expectations quality assurance audits.

WOWS

The “Win ‘Em Over with Service” (WOWS) hospitality training program teaches our employees to take a holistic, self-aware approach to hospitality by focusing on the key principles of positivity, clarity, empathy, and gratitude. Quarterly themes are explored through weekly “gamified” activities, which can be quickly performed during regular team meetings. WOWS engages our employees in a combination of self-reflection and real worldstyle scenarios to help them explore their own values and sense of empathy while connecting them with their colleagues. WOWS is designed to help employees build the life skills they need to thrive and to provide exceptional service to our customers. By supporting our employees’ own sense of well-being and fostering team spirit through the four WOWS principles, we can ensure our guests feel happy, healthy, and at home in our cafés.

RECEIPE FOR RETENTION

To us, the customer experience goes beyond cooking great food and offering great hospitality, it’s about making a positive impact on the lives of our guests at Whitman.