Muhlenberg College
OP-7: Food and Beverage Purchasing

In the Summer of 2013, Muhlenberg Dining embarked on a mission to further expand our procurement of local produce. Thanks to the tireless efforts of several individuals, led by Muhlenberg’s Executive Chefs, a new partnership was born with Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. LFFC is a non-profit, organic farmers’ cooperative of 75 farmers in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (approximately 70 miles from Muhlenberg). Each week LFFC delivers a fresh bounty of produce, most of which is picked the day prior to delivery. Since the beginning of that year, we spent $3060.95 with LCFF. This is probably only about 2% of our purchases. The items we receive from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative are apples, apple cider, flat bread, brownies, whoopee pies, an assortment of cookies, and granola bars. We receive the weekly local item ordering guides from several vendors. Our culinary team reviews the items and orders based on seasonal availability and upcoming menu, special events and catering. The culinary team then shares a local purchasing report with marketing to communicate with customers. The website URL where information about Muhlenberg’s Sustainable food and beverage purchasing efforts is available:https://dining.muhlenberg.edu/planet/local.html
After the partnership with LFFC was established, Muhlenberg Dining looked at other potential providers for local farm food. Again, through efforts from our Executive Chefs and Purchasing Department an additional partnership was formed with Common Market of Philadelphia. Their mission is to strengthen regional farms while making the local bounty accessible to communities and the institutions that serve them. We provide the infrastructure to connect public and private schools, hospitals, universities, grocery stores and workplaces to good food grown by our region’s sustainable farmers. Common Market provides farm-fresh produce from approximately 75 regional farms and delivers to about 150 different customers. Items we purchase from Common market include Apples, Eggs, Tahini, Kale, Squashes, Melons, Mushrooms, Tofu, Collards and Sweet Potatoes. Since the beginning of September 2017 we have purchased over $11,250, about 1.31% of total food purchases and 8.87% of Produce purchases from these two entities. This is an increase of over 2% since last year.
In the spring of 2015, Muhlenberg Dining looked at a variety of coffee programs to offer in the Wood Dining Commons. After taste tests and student input, the decision was made to convert from Green Mountain Coffee to Peet’s Coffee. Peet’s philosophy regarding the coffee industry is a simple one – Where the land is respected and the people who farm it live well, the coffee is –quite simply- better. It’s their belief that “long-term, direct relationships with our coffee partners, whose quality earns them premium prices that are substantially higher than market prices and always above the Fair Trade CertifiedTM brand price.” They also have a focused philanthropy where they “help educate coffee farmers on how to improve their coffee quality as well as support and donate to organizations dedicated to bettering the lives of people who live in coffee-growing regions. Peet’s also roasts 100% of their coffee in a LEED Gold certified roasting facility. In the spring of 2016, the Admissions Office converted their office coffee program to Peet’s. A contributing factor in the decision was Peet’s Fair Trade programs and giving back to the communities that produce their great coffee.

All of our invoices from food purchases are coded by the type of product purchased. We categorize our food purchases into the following: Baked Goods, Produce, Grocery, Beverage, Milk & Ice Cream and Meat Eggs & Cheese. From these categories, we can then drill down to specific items to track expenditures. The inventory is constantly being updated. We have a student intern specifically dedicated to collecting data and doing research from our vendors. The most current information is from the first two months of this academic year where we can still obtain a larger percentage of local produce. We will recalculate in February to chart the differences.

2016-2017 Total Food Purchases - $3,216,977

The information reported is accurate to the knowledge of:
Peter Stark, Operations Manager of Campus Dining, peterstark@muhlenberg.edu
John Pasquarello, General Manager of Campus Dining, johnpasquarello@muhlenberg.edu