Generally, producing animal-based foods like beef, lamb, and dairy products creates more carbon emissions than plant-based foods like beans, legumes, and whole grains – and is why shifting to a diet centered on plants is one of the most impactful ways to combat climate change.
From Our Blog
How Does Food Create Carbon Emissions?
From growing to processing, transporting to storage, and managing excess food waste, each step in the food chain produces carbon emissions.
We’re Flipping the Switch to Plants this Earth Day
This Earth Day, we are flipping the switch to plants to lower our individual and collective carbon footprint! We are challenging our guests to use this Earth Day as an opportunity to consider climate-friendly alternatives throughout our cafés.
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Leading By Example
Bon Appétit Management Company is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, museums, and other specialty venues. Based in Palo Alto, CA, we operate more than 1,000 cafés in 33 states. Our chefs cook from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. Widely recognized as a pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, we are proud to be the first food service company to:
Directly support small, local farms- Strive to serve only sustainable seafood
- Address antibiotics overuse in our meat supply
- Switch to cage-free eggs, both shell and precracked/liquid
- Tackle food’s role in climate change
- Advocate for farmworkers’ rights
- Commit to pork raised without gestation crates
- Switch to third-party verified humanely raised ground beef
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Reduce your carbon footprint with these 11 ways to flip the switch to plants for Earth Day and ...
Reduce your carbon footprint with these 11 ways to flip the switch to plants for Earth Day and beyond!
☕ Switch cow's milk (33g CO2e) to oat milk (14g CO2e) in brewed coffee.
🥑 Switch bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich (1,097g CO2e) to avocado toast (312g CO2e).
🥛 Switch cow's milk (268g CO2e) in cold cereal to oat milk (110g CO2e).
🥜 Switch cream cheese bagel smear (270g CO2e) to peanut butter (54g CO2e).
🥪 Switch roast beef (4,689g CO2e) on your sandwich to turkey (499g CO2e).
🌯 Switch cheese (493g CO2e) on a sandwich or wrap to avocado spread (94g CO2e).
🥗 Switch a salad topped with chicken (499g CO2e) to a salad topped with tofu (199g CO2e).
🍔 Switch a grilled beef burger patty (4,689g CO2e) to a grilled chicken patty (499g CO2e).
🥕 Switch ham/bacon toppings (279g CO2e) in a salad to beans (48g CO2e) or vegetables (29g CO2e).
🫘 Switch beef chili (2,439g CO2e) to vegetarian chili with beans (190g CO2e).
🍜 Switch beef (4,689g CO2e) in stir fry to chicken (499g CO2e).
#EarthDay2024 #EarthDay #EarthDayTips #PlantBasedLiving #LowCarbonDiet #SustainableFood
Bon Appétit Fellow Elise Dudley learned a lot about food waste, from the field where vegetables are...
Bon Appétit Fellow Elise Dudley learned a lot about food waste, from the field where vegetables are harvested all the way to the plate.
Food waste is an urgent issue, and, in the past two years, Elise has engaged with hundreds of college students about the issue. Here's some details about what she has shared and learned:
🍽️ Getting hands-on with food waste, Elise paired her plate waste studies with a survey to illuminate the reasons for waste. Over 775 students responded to the simple question, "Why did you throw out food today?" The results aligned with results from our 2019 research with the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Toward Cleaner Plates.” 39% of the guests surveyed served themselves too much or thought they were hungrier. 26% of guests did not like the food they chose, 21% were served more than they could eat, and 13% ran out of time to eat.
♻️ Instead of wasting food, Elise experienced key examples of surpluses being donated. From student Food Recovery Network chapters to Chefs to End Hunger in California, Bon Appétit teams and the clients we serve are engaged in innovative approaches to addressing food insecurity.
🤝 During Elise's tenure, waste legislation has come to the forefront. California requires food service providers to comply with their food waste ban and attendant recovery laws. In New York, the Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law requires businesses and institutions that generate two tons of wasted food per week or more annually to donate excess edible food and recycle remaining food scraps.
Learn more about Elise's takeaways and learnings in her most recent blog at the link in our bio. #LoveBonAppetit #FightingFoodWaste #FoodWaste #WasteNot #EndHunger @bamcofellows
What are emissions? We're exploring the key emissions produced by food.
A third of all global greenhouse gas emissions can be linked to the food system! From growing to processing, transporting to storage, and managing excess food waste, each step in the food chain produces carbon emissions. But what are greenhouse gas emissions?
Greenhouse gases, or GHGs, are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Human activities like burning fossil fuels and industrial farming have accelerated the concentration of these heat trapping gasses over the last few centuries. The higher concentration of GHGs is contributing to unpredictable, extreme weather patterns, and climate change.
The top greenhouse gasses are:
1️⃣ Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for about 79% of human-created emissions.
2️⃣ Methane (CH4) makes up only 12% of human-created emissions, but is 28 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere as CO2.
3️⃣ Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a lesser known yet formidable GHG. It is 256 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2.
🌲 Most CO2 emissions in agriculture are due to the clear-cutting of forests for the expansion of farmland, especially for carbon production.
🐄 Animal agriculture is the biggest culprit for this GHG, due to methane released during the digestive processes of ruminant animals like cows, lamb, and goats.
💩 Soil management practices in farming, including the use of chemical fertilizers and the management of livestock manure, account for around 75% of N2O emissions.
Fight food's role in climate change with us and flip the switch to plants. Legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains offer a vibrant array of tasty, nutritious, and diverse options — with a fraction of the environmental impact!
Learn more at bamco.com. #EarthDay #EarthDay2024 #EmissionsExplained #FoodSystem #GreenhouseGases #ClimateChange #ClimateAction #PlantBasedLiving
Most Recent News
The way Gen Z eats, thinks and feels informs new wellness series at UPenn
Bon Appetit’s new Dine Well, Eat Smart monthly takeover series at UPenn taps into the college-age generation’s wants and needs, from lowering their carbon footprint, to elevating their mood, all in a chill, low-key manner.
Florida Farmworkers Seek Help on Heat Protection from Food Industry
Seeking relief from South Florida’s soaring heat, outdoor workers in South Florida appealed to politicians in Miami-Dade and Tallahassee for help. They got none. Now, a coalition of farmworkers from South-Dade and Immokalee intend to take their campaign directly to the powerful fast food and grocery industries that buy the produce they harvest.
Don’t Let Congress Overturn California’s Animal Welfare Law
Allowing pigs to turn around. It may seem like a modest goal, but it’s taken decades of advocacy for this basic humane standard to become law in California. Yet now, some politicians are doing anything they can to undo this work—including overturning elections—to achieve their goals.
Join Us
We’re always looking for great people to join our teams! If you:
- Get excited when fresh, local produce arrives on your loading dock
- Enjoy creating all-new dishes from scratch
- Love interacting with people through delicious and nutritious food
- Thrive when part of a close-knit team that takes your and others’ safety seriously
- Enjoy helping people reach their full potential, nourishing them through at-work learning opportunities
Then you may be a fit for us!