| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.01 |
| Liaison | Lissette Hernandez |
| Submission Date | July 1, 2024 |
Florida International University
OP-8: Sustainable Dining
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.88 / 2.00 |
Lissette
Hernandez Director Parking and Transportation |
Part 1. Sustainable dining initiatives
Local community engagement
A brief description of the farmers market, CSA or urban agriculture project:
Chartwells Higher Education (FIU's dining services contractor) hosts an annual farmers market in conjunction with the Fall FestiFul, part of the JoyFul event series. It was held at 300 campuses across the country simultaneously, making Fall FestiFul the nation's largest farmer’s market event.
Sustainability-themed outlet
A brief description of the sustainability-themed food outlet:
Yall Foods is a sustainability-themed dining location at FIU’s Engineering Center. Yall Foods offers fresh food with the mission of contributing to a sustainable planet in addition to healthier and satisfied customers. One of Yall Foods values is “Respect for life, our customers and our planet.” The 8th Street Campus Kitchen Dining hall always offers a dedicated plant-based station that provides a variety of vegetarian and vegan meals. Plant-based alternatives are available at all retail dining locations and catering services. At other dining locations on FIU’s campus, plant-based food options are available.
Inclusive and local sourcing
A brief description of the support for disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
The following local businesses have dining outlets at FIU: Yall Foods, Pincho, The Salty Donut, Half Moon Empanadas, Almazar, Mia's Shack and Crepe King. These businesses prioritize sourcing local and Fair Trade products.
Estimated percentage of total food and beverage expenditures on products from disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local SMEs:
Low-impact dining
A brief description of the low impact dining events and/or plant-forward options:
At the FIU Sustainability Fairs, plant-forward food options are promoted to students. The plant-forward food options offered at the Sustainability Fair include crispy cauliflower bites, vegetable spring rolls and a veggie and za’atar hummus platter.
The dining hall features a dedicated vegan and vegetarian station called Rooted. In addition, plant-based alternatives are offered in retail dining locations and through catering services.
Vegan dining program
A brief description of the vegan dining program:
All dining facilities offer robust well-built vegan and vegetarian options. The 8th Street Campus Kitchen Dining Hall always serves a plant-based meal option for breakfast, lunch and dinner at Rooted, the dedicated vegan and vegetarian station. Other plant-based items at 8th Street Campus Kitchen Dining Hall are served and identified by the Vegan or Vegetarian icon system on the menu boards. In addition, the Eatery offers an allergen-free station that serves food that excludes the top 9 allergens. Plant-based foods like black bean burgers, Impossible meat and vegetable wraps are available at other dining locations on FIU’s campus.
Labelling and signage
A brief description of the sustainability labelling and signage in dining halls:
All dining locations have full wall graphics as well as TV screens highlighting how Panther Dining promotes sustainability. Digital display screens feature various slides promoting programs such as OZZI reusable containers, Waste Not, and Plastics if You Ask. Food is labeled on the menu using vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and balanced diet icons in all locations and catering. Chartwells Higher Education focuses on serving local produce and other local products to the FIU community. Examples of the locally sourced ingredients include cheese, milk, beverages, and meats. Local produce partners are featured in our locations on wall signage in the main dining facility and on the sustainability sourcing scorecard.
Part 2. Food waste minimization and recovery
Food recovery program
A brief description of the food recovery competition or commitment program or food waste prevention system:
Panther Dining uses a proprietary tool called Waste Not, a back of house system to track production waste, overproduction waste and wasted out of date inventory. Goals are set for areas of improvement after discussion and collaboration with culinary and operation teams at each dining location.
Trayless dining and portion modifications
A brief description of the trayless dining or modified menu/portion program:
Trays are not used at any Panther Dining location.
Food donation
A brief description of the food donation program:
Panther Dining partners with a food donation program. After big events, sports games, or at the end of the week, the food donation program is notified that they can come and pick up the food to donate to shelters.
Food materials diversion
A brief description of the food materials diversion program:
Panther Dining participates in the FIU composting program. Food scraps are collected at the 8th Street Campus Kitchen dining hall at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus (MMC) and the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC). The food scraps are then taken to the compost stalls at the FIU Nature Preserve. The finished compost is used as a soil amendment by the Agroecology program of the Department of Earth and Environment in a garden that supplies FIU’s Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Lab with fresh produce for the Advanced Food Production classes.
Composting
A brief description of the pre-consumer composting program:
Panther Dining at FIU practices pre-consumer composting by collecting food scraps from the dining hall kitchens. A student group picks up food scraps from the MMC and BBC dining areas for the composting program. Students keep track of the food scrap collection weights for reporting purposes. Waste Not 2.0, the web-based, waste-tracking program assists in pre-consumer composting with real-time tracking and dashboard reporting of inventory to collect any expired, over production, and kitchen scraps from back-of-house to add to the campus composting collection bins. FIU’s composting program invests in nature's way of recycling and keeps food scraps out of landfills.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor have a post-consumer composting program?:
A brief description of the post-consumer composting program:
Dine-in service ware
A brief description of the reusable service ware program:
Reusable plates, bowls and silverware are available at the 8th Street Campus Kitchen which is a dine-in location.
Take-away materials
A brief description of the compostable containers and service ware:
Compostable containers and silverware are used at the Chartwell's Higher Education retail facilities.
Does the institution or its primary dining services contractor offer discounts or other incentives to customers who use reusable containers instead of disposable or compostable containers in “to-go” food service operations?:
A brief description of the reusable container discount or incentives program:
Optional Fields
Since Panther Dining initiated the Plastics If You Ask campaign, more than 5,700 reusable cups and 600 pieces of silverware have been donated to the FIU community. Wrapped single-use silverware and plastic bags have been removed from some locations and the use of straws and lids has been reduced.
Website URL where information about the sustainable dining programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.