One of our potential dining service providers, Bon Appetite, was on campus yesterday to give their one hour public presentation. For those of you who couldn't make it, these are my thoughts and perceptions of the the experience.
As I walked in to the recital hall, five overly friendly men in suits asked me my name and shook my hand. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming and felt slightly over-done. Students, faculty, and staff started to trickle in and by the time the presentation started the recital hall was about three-quarters full.
They started with cheesy uncomfortable jokes and introductions; the regional vice president, the catering manager, the actual founder of the company, ect. The the founder, Fidel, went into the story of why he started the company. He had to be about 70 years old, had a raspy voice, and got a little short of breath at times...but he was passionate, honest, and charismatic. His goal was to make a 'customized restaurant company' that focused on culinary expertise and socially responsible practices. He wanted a chef driven company where the food was the result of creativity and a connection with the farmers. He emphasized the words restaurant, flavorful and fresh. "If you went into a freezer at Bon Appetite, you would see french fries and ice cream and that's it," he claimed.
He mentioned that they customize every location, so if you went to Oberlin, Trine, SCAD, Penn State, Duke, or Macalaster (a few of the many schools with Bon Appetite in their caf) you wouldn't find the same recipes being used. All of their eggs are cage-free and there are no antibiotics in any of their meats. They source locally as much as possible and define 'local' as within 150 miles and from a producer making less than $3 million in annual profits. He talked about the importance of farm workers' rights and told us the story of him sneaking onto the tomato farm in Immokalee Florida to investigate the slave labor taking place their last year. Apparently he lived in the trailers with the migrant workers and a translator for two days, drafted a fair wage contract with them, and brought it to the farm owners/managers who rejected it. He then started a nation-wide tomato ban. (I urge you to double check this information, as I have not checked outside sources) Fidel got heated talking about these topics, which I take as a good sign...
The regional vp talked about wages and health benefits. Not only talked about it, but actually showed us a graph of employee wages (the lowest starting wage was $9) and health benefit packages. Every worker, no matter how many hours, gets health benefits.
A bit of what they might look like at K: A food truck or, 'K-Kar', that would provide late night snacks between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am and on Sundays; more prepared-in-front-of you meals with more opportunity to customize; students working in the caf and three paid internship positions; Richardson room open for breakfast and better baked goods/waterstreet coffee! Jasmine rice at every single meal, Brian promises; no food in hotel pans.
It all sounds pretty damn good, but keep in mind that we will get what we pay for, and if we're willing to support this food and company on our campus, we're going to have to pay for it. But any econ prof will tell you; there's no such thing as a free lunch.
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