Knowing that everyone grows differently, Grow™ is designed to be a flexible menu of sustainability initiatives from which our clients can select those that are the right fit for their dining operation.
Creative Dining Services’ initiatives in this category include:
- Responsible food sourcing
- Purchasing items grown, manufactured or produced within 150 miles of our clients’ locations.
- Participation in Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) shares for procurement of farm-direct produce.
- Purchasing seafood with a Seafood Watch Good or Best choice designation.
- Purchasing only cage-free shell eggs.
- Offering Small producer, non-CAFO* animal proteins.
- Offering USDA Organic foodstuffs.
- Delivering comprehensive waste management: food pulping, recycling, commercial composting, food waste tracking and food rescue.
- Providing alternative disposable serviceware: full lines of take-out utensils and containers constructed from renewable sources such as corn, potatoes and natural fibers, intended for commercial composting.
- Providing greener paper products: non-bleached, high post-consumer recycled content products for tabletop, rest rooms and housekeeping.
- Offering a portfolio of USDA Organic, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade and direct trade coffees and teas, from nationally recognized brands and local roasters.
- Utilizing Green Seal™ and Design for the Environment approved chemicals.
- Planting organic herb and vegetable chef gardens.
- Setting up and managing honey bee apiaries and pollinator gardens.
- Performing a comprehensive hospitality equipment audit, maintenance schedule and capital equipment planning.
- Sourcing of Energy Star® kitchen equipment and sustainable materials, aiding in LEED® qualifying points.
- Providing LEED® Hospitality Design
- Providing LEED® Accredited Professional Kitchen and Servery Design
*CAFO: Confined Feeding Operation or Confined Animal Feeding Operation. Numbers and definitions change state to state, but all involve large (hundreds or thousands) animal populations, and are typically not family-owned and operated.