5 things: Chartwells launches major plant-forward campus event

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Chartwells Higher Education has announced a major sustainability event called Grate-Ful that will take place simultaneously across all 300 of Chartwells' campuses on Stop Food Waste Day on April 27 with the goal being to encourage students and staff to dine from plant-based menus, participate in activities that combat food waste, and pack donation bags to fight food insecurity. The fourth signature event from Chartwells' Joy-Ful campaign, Grate-full will include collaboration with several of its national supply partners to provide 50,000 "Packed with Purpose" bags that will be donated to local food pantries across the country. Students will have the opportunity to pack hundreds of bags during Grate-Ful as part of the nationwide effort to fight food insecurity.

Read more: Chartwells Higher Education Launches Grate-Ful, the Largest Plant-Forward College Event to Support Earth Month

Stanford University Residential and Dining Enterprises has begun sunsetting take-out containers from all dining halls starting April 11 as part of a full transition back to pre-pandemic operations. Implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, the boxes were meant to enable students to eat in less crowded settings, but with increased vaccination rates and Stanford’s gradual relaxation of masking guidelines, eating in dining halls has become more popular.

Related:5 tech things: Panera tests automated coffee brewing system

Read more: Taken-out: Take-out containers removed from dining halls

The union representing about 350 buildings, grounds and food services workers at Illinois State University said it has reached a tentative agreement on wages, averting a threatened a strike. The breakthrough occurred during a 26th negotiating session, but terms of the deal are not being released pending a union ratification vote.

Read more: Strike averted as ISU and union staffers reach tentative agreement

Tech companies really want their employees to be happy, or at least less annoyed, about returning to offices, so they’re providing concerts, food trucks and other perks, in the process highlighting the role onsite food and drink may have in making workplaces attractive once again. Among the initiatives at various firms are Lizzo performing for Google employees this month at an amphitheater near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., while Microsoft treated employees to music from local bands, a beer and wine tasting and even classes for making terrariums when it reopened its offices in Redmond, Wash. in late February and to mark its first official week back at the office, chip maker Qualcomm held a happy hour with its chief executive, Cristiano Amon, at its San Diego offices for several thousand employees with free food, drink and T-shirts. The company also started offering weekly events such as pop-up snack stands on “Take a Break Tuesday” and group fitness classes for “Wellness Wednesday.”

Related:5 things: Strike threats hit Illinois State, Cedars-Sinai

Read more: Welcome Back to the Office. Isn’t This Fun?

For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale University faculty members have been welcomed back into residential college dining halls. Previously, professors had to use their swipes at Commons or Steep Cafe in the Yale Science Building, drastically limiting the ways in which they could meet with students.

Read more: Residential college dining halls reopen to faculty

Bonus: Aramark acquires Forever Resorts properties, rebrands Leisure division

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]