Sustainability Challenge Day 5: Nutrition

Nutrition is one of our favorite topics, so we are excited to end our Sustainability Challenge with a bang! Before we get into what we offer our customers to stay healthy and challenge you to choose healthy, let’s start with the promotions for today.

1. Buy a Turkey Burger in Spikes today and receive a free reusable cup!
2. Iggy’s Gluten Free Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza just $6 when picked up
3. LoCro soups Gluten Free Chicken Noodle and Vegetarian Garden Rotini
4. Sign up for MyFitnessPal where most Sodexo COG Recipes are available as well as all of our Simply To Go items…just scan the bar code!
5. The COG will be serving a variety of well balanced items like whole wheat pizza, turkey burgers, Vegan Tropical Stir Fry and the Omelet Bar.

We care a lot about the health of our guests and making every day a better day. That is why we go out of our way to make sure that our customers always have healthy options, dietary restriction friendly food to make dining in our restaurants easy.   We hope we educate our guests enough to choose the healthy options.  Here are just some of the things we do to promote healthy eating:

• We have a registered dietitian on our staff.
• The COG always has two stations Gluten Free and a separate Fridge filled with Gluten Free breads, wraps, muffins, etc. We also have a special Gluten Free Toaster Oven.
• The COG always has fresh non fat local Darigold Milk and lowfat Chocolate Milk.
• The COG always has Silk vanilla & chocolate Milk (Now in bulk!), Almond Milk and Coconut Milk.
• The COG always has a dedicated station for Vegan and Vegetarian entrees.
• The COG nutrition facts are always posted at each item and online at zagdining.com as well as on MyFitnessPal.
• We offer tossed to order salads at every meal, egg whites and fresh veggies at the omelet station, turkey burgers, Vegan Cous Cous burgers, Raw Crudite Bar, Brown Rice at every meal, whole wheat pizza, and many other specials that are well balanced.
• Our Certified Executive Chef is always willing to meet with any student who has dietary allergies or restrictions and would like to learn how to navigate the COG or come up with a special menu.
• Our Simply to Go program has all the nutrition facts on the box as well as in MyFitnessPal….just scan the bar code.
• We use Shepherd’s Grain in our baked goods across campus.
• All of our Coffee shops have Soy, Almond and Rice milk available.
• Iggy’s is the only Gluten Free pizza in the area available for delivery.
• LoCro carries a variety of Gluten Free, Organic, Lactose Free and local items as well as always one Gluten Free Soup and one Vegetarian.
• All of our COG soups are Gluten Free made with Corn Starch and GF noodles.
• All of our Salad Dressings are home made, gluten free and low fat.

Here are some things you can do:

• Look for reduced fat selections
• Choose a beverage with no added sugar (how about our infused waters in the COG!)
• Choose fresh veggies from our raw bar or salad bar
• Have fruit for dessert
• Look for the well balanced icon 
• Eat whole grains
• Find time to exercise
• Walk or ride your bike to school
• Choose to go meatless one day a week
• Look for these Logos to identify Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Local, Organic and Healthy:

Today is the last day of the challenge be sure to turn your Challenge Sheets into the COG Cashiers so that you can win itunes and amazon.com gift cards and other prizes!

Sustainability Challenge is Coming! Participate & WIN!

On Monday, October 15th we are kicking off our Sustainability Challenge! We are challenging ourselves and YOU to be more sustainable. Each day we are focusing on two of our commitments and showing you what we are doing to make every day a better day. What we need YOU to do is challenge yourself! Pick up a challenge card from the cashiers at the COG or by printing the one in this post and write down each day what you are doing to support those commitments. At the end of the week, hand in your challenge cards to the COG cashiers and we will be giving away prizes like Discover, iTunes and Amazon.com gift cards!

Here are some of the promotions we are running during each day:

• Monday the 15th: Protect the Planet-Reduce Carbon Intensity & Water Waste

Meatless Monday in the COG

Get a 12″ Veggie Sandwich @ SubCo for the price of 6″

Iggy’s Sustainable Pick Up Special $5 for a Cheese or Pepperoni

• Tuesday 16th: Fight Waste/Hunger

COG samples of food to encourage people to try before they take something

99cent drip coffee at all retail locations when using a reusable mug

• Wednesday 17th: Sourcing Local & Sustainable

Shepherd’s Grain Cinnamon Rolls just .99cents in all of our locations

Buy a LoCro Shepherd’s Grain Soup bowls & receive a free local cravens coffee latte with flavor

Iggy’s Shepherd’s Grain Sustainable Pick Up Special $5 for a Cheese or Pepperoni

Farmer’s Market featuring Stewart from C&S Hydrohuts

• Thursday 18th: Community Day/Fair Trade

COG-sign up for 2nd Harvest & Food For Thought Volunteering

All drip Fair Trade Coffee (That Includes Jazzmans!) is 99cents

• Friday 19th: Nutrition

Use MyFitness Pal to track Sodexo recipes in the COG and Simply to Go

The COG will be serving all well balanced items

Purchase a Spikes Turkey Burger and receive a FREE reusable cup

Iggy’s Gluten Free Specialty Pick Up Price just $6 for cheese or pepperoni

ZAG DINING BY SODEXO HOSTS REAL FOOD CHALLENGE NORTHWEST SUMMER LEADERSHIP TRAINING

On Friday August 24th, Zag Dining by Sodexo’s Resident District Manager, Chuck Faulkinberry, hosted a dinner for the Real Food Challenge training group at his family farm house in Chattaroy, Washington.  The purpose of the dinner, sponsored by Zag Dining, was to not only focus on local and seasonal food, but also to bring a variety of students, administrators, faculty, Sodexo managers and directors and RFC representatives together in an intimate setting for a discussion about the role dining services plays in a college campus environment.  

The exquisite dinner was prepared by Zag Dining’s Certified Executive Chef Thomas Morisette who took the time to explain every dish and from where all the ingredients were harvested. The menu included: Painted Hills Beef Sliders served on homemade Shepherd’s Grain rolls, Grilled MSC Certified Pacific Salmon with organic tomato and basil relish, Spokane Local Vegetable Medley, Roasted Skagit Valley Tricolored Fingerling Potatoes, Spokane Artisan Cheese, Shepherd’s Grain Crisps, Food ALliance Certified & Local Hummus with Shepherd’s Grain Bread, Summertime Gazpacho Shooters with organic local tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper, Organic Red Quinoa Salad and an impressive Bibb Lettuce salad using lettuce that was grown hydroponically in the window of Gonzaga University’s resident dining hall that was harvested that afternoon.  The salad also featured Yakima nectarines, homemade red pepper buttermilk dressing and local blue cheese.  The dinner was accompanied by local Washington wines as well as fresh local huckleberry lemonade.

After everyone filled their plates, Emma Brewster, RFC’s NW Regional Coordinator, had everyone around the tables introduce themselves and the role they are playing in the Real Food Challenge.  The list was impressive including key people who are pivotal in making changes.  Present at the dinner table were:

 Kassi Kain, Dean of Students-Gonzaga University

Ellen Maccarone, Philosophy Professor and EAT Club Advisor-Gonzaga University

Pam Smith, Vice PResident of Operations for the West-Sodexo

Kristi Thiesen, Senior Sustainability Manager-Sodexo

Thomas Morisette, Executive Chef, CEC-Zag Dining by Sodexo

Chuck Faulkinberry, Resident DIstrict Manager-ZAg Dining by Sodexo

Dan Harris, Resident Dining Director-Zag DIning by Sodexo

Sarah Clifford, Marketing Manager-ZAg Dining by Sodexo

David Schwartz, Campaign Director-Real Food Challenge

Breland Draper, Northwest Field Organizer-Real Food Challenge

Brian Estes, Owner-Ornery Heron Farm in Spokane and Gonzaga Alum

Breanne Flynn, Co-Founder of EAT and Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator at Gonzaga University

Katie, Member of EAT & Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-Gonzaga University

Ellen, Member of EAT & Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-Gonzaga University

Chelsea, Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-Western Washington

Kimberly, Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-Flathead Valley

Anthony, Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-Eastern Washington

Donna, Real Food Challenge Student Coordinator-University of Idaho

The discussion, which was led by Emma Brewster, covered a range of topics regarding food purchasing on college campuses and the buying power that large companies have.  Emma explained the Real Food Challenge’s vision which states:

“The Real Food Challenge leverages the power of youth and universities to   create a healthy, fair and green food system.

  Our primary campaign is to shift $1 billion of existing university food budgets   away from industrial farms and junk food and towards local/community-based,   fair, ecologically sound and humane food sources—what we call “real food”—by   2020.”

While the questions were directed at individuals, the discussion was open to everyone to contribute by adding comments or asking follow up questions.  When asked about why he thought it was important as the RDM of Zag Dining to work with the RFC, Chuck Faulkinberry answered by saying, “ Students are more focused on our communities, and what we are putting into our bodies. It is important to educate and learn from the students while balancing what makes sense for our students and for our business.  This generation will be the ones to deal with feeding a world population of 9 billion by 2050. We need to work together to find healthy solutions.”

Chef Thomas added onto that by saying, “It creates an opportunity to share a mutual passion with our students and I take great pride in knowing we will be contributing to the need of locally grown products and sustainable products.”

As an administrator, Kassi Kain, the Dean of Students for Gonzaga University,  offered her perspective on why it is important as an administrator to embrace Real Food.  “We [Gonzaga] believe in Cura Personalis which is the caring for the whole person by educating ones mind, body and spirit.  Real Food is a great example of caring for ourselves and one another over a common goal and necessity.  Real Food doesn’t just support health and wellness, but it directly correlates with our Jesuit Mission in ethical sourcing.”

Zag Dining, who is participating in the Real Food Challenge, is currently going through the Calculator tool portion of the Challenge which calculates what percentage of their purchasing is spent on Real Food. Chuck Faulkinberry joked, “I wish we could have gone through this process a few years ago and see all the changes we had made from even just two years ago! But, we know there is always room for improvement, so we look forward to seeing the results and working with RFC to push us forward to be the leader in the Pacific Northwest.”

Overall, the evening was a great success with great discussion and many positive stories.  Everyone who attended not only raved about the food, but more importantly about the relationships and connections they had made over a wonderful Real meal.

For more information, contact sarah.clifford@sodexo.com or 509.313.6936

For more photos, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zagdining/sets/72157631561204023/