The Big Idea 2013

For the third year, we present Steal This Idea on steroids. Click through for  10 “big” ideas to spark  innovation for your own operation.  

Food App
Chandler Unified School District, Chandler, Ariz.

We built an app for our program. We did a survey of our parents and 87% wanted information either on the computer or on the phone. We were printing menus and spending a lot of money on these colorful menus that only 13% of our parents cared about.

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Vegan/Vegetarian Campus Dining
University of California at San Diego

The vegan/vegetarian community grew and the interest for a vegetarian and vegan concept became great. It got to the point where now there is a strong interest both from the students and campus administrators who made an investment so that we could open Roots, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. We opened in January 2012.

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Resident Chef for A Day
Normandy Farms Estates, Blue Bell, Pa.

As a team we decided we wanted a way to pull our residents into dining, to show them what really happens in the kitchen. We wanted them to become part of the process more and to see exactly what goes into putting out each meal. So we started a resident chef program, where we invite residents into the kitchen to help prepare a meal for their fellow residents.

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Stem to Root
Bon Appétit Management Co., Palo Alto, Calif.

We launched a program in our C&U and corporate accounts called Stem to Root. Stem to Root dishes make use of all the edible, healthy parts of local, seasonal produce such as stalks, peels, rinds and roots. We use everything from sage sprigs and lemon zest to watermelon rinds. Stem to Root puts a fresh, unique spin on vegetarian and vegan dishes and minimizes waste while being healthy and delicious. The waste reduction is in line with Bon Appétit’s principles and long-term goals and it reduces carbon footprint.

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Green Certification for Schools
Flik Independent School Dining, Rye Brook, N.Y.

We began exploring Green Restaurant Certification for our school accounts in 2004. It started because of a conversation with one of our clients, who said, “Besides athletics, you are the biggest user of energy on my campus. So anything you can do to cut down on energy consumption and reduce costs would be very helpful.” Well, we had just started looking into Green Restaurant Certification, so I was able to tell him that there was a program that could help. He became our pilot account. We currently have 26 locations participating. Nineteen are certified, and we are adding four more as we speak. Five of them have gotten additional stars from the Green Restaurant Association.

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Closed-loop Oil System
Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, Elmhurst, Ill.

We had an opportunity with building a new facility to explore some new options. We were brainstorming ideas and the closed oil system was one of the things Jim had mentioned. He had seen the system in operation in a casino he had been working in. I liked the idea because there would be virtually no cost involved because we could incorporate it into the design of the building.

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Grab-N-Go
Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.

We decided to do a two-week trial last October of a grab-and-go program, named Grab-N-Go. It was very informal. We had comment cards out asking students whether they felt this had a negative or positive effect on their schedules.

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To The Max
Sodexo Corporate Services, Philadelphia

We’re trying to come up with some great healthy concepts that educate with food and also draw customers to naturally make better, healthier choices. In the past everything was so focused on the number of calories and fat that you ended up compromising the quality of your meal. So we came up with our To The Max program, which allows the customer to walk up to the station and be confident that no matter the food choices they make, their meal will be 550 calories or less. We developed several different concepts to offer as much variety as possible. We have Greenlight (composed salads), Oodles (noodle bowls), Mexican Bowls, Seasons To The Max (salad bar with make-your-own instructions), Fusion Steamers and Summer Rolls. We’re working on an Italian concept.

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Aquaponic Farming
University of Montana, Missoula, Mont.

We installed a closed-loop aquaponics food production system in our residential dining hall, the Food Zoo. This is an extension of our larger campus food production program and is a way to grow indoors, year-round, to the delight of our students and guests.

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Trayless Patient Service
Winchester Nursing Center, Winchester, Mass.

We have a trayless system. In a nursing system you normally do trays and then you send them out on trucks and the nurses pass them out. With the economy the way it is, I was looking to find a different way to save money. On a tray you would usually get the food of the day, which is what we thought the resident would want. So we started a trayless system. We bought some carts that we fill up with food and we go room to room and we ask the residents what they would like. I put some metal inserts into the carts and put in pizza stones that have been warmed in the oven. The stones keep the food warm in the cart.

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