The primary goal of the Bates Dining Team is to be recognized as one of the finest collegiate level dining services in the nation, known for its highest quality and professional character.
It has been said that an operation's culture personifies and personalizes a team's existence. It offers feeling, caring, emotion, enthusiasm and passion for an operation's mission. Our Culture Statement is as follows:
Bates Dining believes that the purpose of its mission is to create and keep satisfied customers, resulting in growth of the operation and the advancement of its members.
Bates Dining believes in the preparation of quality food, a clean, safe and orderly environment, fairness, friendly service and professional performance.
Bates Dining believes that each and every person can contribute creatively to our success. Everyone can become both a supporting member of an award winning team and a star in his / her own right.
Bates Dining believes in establishing relationships with customers, employees, purveyors and all other members of the community committed to the highest standards of quality, integrity, professionalism and fairness.
Bates Dining believes that the environment must be taken into consideration when purchasing, creating, delivering and serving our products.
Bates’ Dining Service has become a model of environmental stewardship, redesigning machinery to conserve both water and energy and diverting a majority of its wastes from the solid waste stream.
Dining Services diverts over half of its solid waste from the local landfill through a comprehensive management system that includes:
- Traditional recycling of cardboard, glass, tin, plastic and mixed paper
- Relationships with vendors such as Stonyfield Farm who collect and recycle their yogurt cups
- Pre-consumer food waste composting program established with a farm in Lisbon, ME
- Post-consumer food waste program established with a pig farmer in Poland, ME
- Community outreach program which allows extra food portions prepared to be shared with local homeless shelters and soup kitchens
Dining Services reduces paper usage by placing napkins directly on tables, minimizing use of disposables in operations and use of reusable ware at outdoor events. Our current policy permits the removal of china and silverware from the dining room and encourages its return through a combination of "meal for dishes" incentives offered to custodial staff and "storm the dorm" projects conducted during holiday breaks.
Bates Dining Service is among the most environmentally sensitive departments on campus. Significant green initiatives are in place in many of areas.
Most recently, we have joined the Green Restaurant Association, a group that provides specifications for green purchasing. We buy what we can from Farm Fresh Initiative. We consistently encourage our prime vendor, NorthCenter to carry items they wouldn't normally carry (bulk packaged items such as cereals, for instance.) Chemicals and soaps are purchased from Eco Lab-chemicals that are less toxic, etc.
In the interests of the environment, we will consider buying product outside our established primary vendor arrangement. For instance, we buy Oakhurst milk-locally produced, with no artificial growth hormones. Fresh meat /fresh produce are purchased locally when we can to accommodate shorter shipping distances and lower fuel usage.
Paper goods purchased from Perkins (an environmentally-aware company) include recycled goods such as brown rolls and paper napkins and cups, etc.
Those who purchase in Dining make daily decisions about packaging and will choose to purchase in quantities that use the least packaging. Smaller box of raviolis, for instance, are packaged more efficiently because large boxes use too many smaller trays to keep product whole. Avoid over-packaging wherever possible. It is safe to write that environmental considerations are an integral part of the overall Dining Services operation.
More detailed information about campus wide environmental practices can be found at The Environmental Task Force page.
