I spent a good part of my summer researching food waste at several long-term care facilities.  While the operations I visited provide exceptional care for their residents, they do produce a significant amount of food waste.  It was relatively easy to identify how food waste was generated, a little harder to determine if that … Continue reading A “throw away culture” in long-term care food-service.

The A&W Beyond Burger In my ten years of studying and advocating for sustainability in the restaurant industry I can’t remember a moment like this.  The last few months have seen some substantial announcements by large restaurant companies that are game-changers.  A&W which continues to lead the way has recently announced they will stop the … Continue reading Turning a Corner!

This spring we sat down to produce a ‘how to start a green team guide’ for restaurants.  We did this because an informal study we conducted showed us that fewer than 10% of Restaurants in Canada had active green teams in their operations. A formal study conducted by Danagelico (2015) showed that the creation of … Continue reading Green Team Guide for Restaurants

A few weekends ago my son had a swim meet in Windsor. We booked a room at a downtown hotel and settled in for a weekend of racing and enjoying what the city had to offer. The room at the hotel was lovely and the service top notch.  The hotel was an ‘extended stay’ suite … Continue reading The ‘one-use’ hotel!

On May 14 we were pleased to host FISHSTOCK 2018 at Pj’s restaurant.  A co-production of The Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance (OCTA) and Ocean Wise the event was held to promote awareness about our local fisheries and to learn how to successfully incorporate Ontario lake fish into food service businesses.  Participants included local Chef’s, academics … Continue reading FISHSTOCK 2018

Welcome back to our last episode of the three-part Food for Thought series. It has been a pleasure having each of you join us on this learning curve! This week, our sustainability warrior Paintbox Catering & Bistro will give us an insight on what it is like to be a for-profit social enterprise that commits … Continue reading Paintbox Catering & Bistro

There is a history of restaurant menu items changing the way North Americans view and consume food.  Take Chop suey for instance.  Though not as popular today, Chop suey was a game-changer when it was introduced in the early 20th century via the North American Chinese restaurant.  This dish that was comprised of egg, stir-fried meat, … Continue reading Move over Chop suey and make way for the ‘Impossible Burger’

Yesterday Starbucks announced they will be testing alternatives to plastic drinking straws at 54 of their locations in Britain.  This is the latest response from food-service operations to increased social media and media attention on the negative effect plastic items like straws and grocery bags have on our environment.  UGSRP has been a strong proponent … Continue reading Straws aren’t the only things that suck!