UWinnipeg’s Diversity Food Service has been named greenest large restaurant in Canada for its commitment to sustainability and innovative business model.
Leaders in Environmental Accountability in Food Services (LEAF) presented the award for Greenest Restaurant over 10,000 square feet to Diversity Chief Operating Officer Ian Vickers, at the Restaurants Canada Show in Toronto last week.
“Diversity’s operations at The University of Winnipeg are not only miles ahead of the sustainability initiatives of other campuses in this country; our commitment to four-pillar sustainability makes us the leader in large-scale food service operations for this country,” said Vickers.
Those four pillars include environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability — which Diversity achieves through things like composting food waste, using local ingredients, hiring marginalized individuals and actively promoting women to management positions.
The LEAF award recognizes Diversity’s achievements in these areas despite the sustainability challenges that can come with running a large-scale facility, such as securing large amounts of locally sourced food and waste management.
According to LEAF, “Diversity Food Services has demonstrated innovation and commitment in overcoming these challenges and stands as a leader in sustainable facility operations.”
Diversity’s seven locations — five on campus, as well as the Buffalo Stone Café at FortWhyte Alive and the Eagles’ Roost Café & Grill at The Players Course — are all certified LEAF Level II. Thanks to its continued sustainability efforts, Diversity added 21 points to its total LEAF score in its 2017 audit.
Vickers was also invited to speak on a panel titled “The Business Case for Sustainability,” at last week’s Restaurants Canada Show.
He spoke on the topic of running sustainable restaurants and “the returns that can be derived from: local procurement, targeted hiring of marginalized peoples, paying above minimum wage, providing benefits to entry-level workers, and snout to tail cooking.”
For Vickers, learning about new restaurant technologies and discussing sustainability strategies with other operators were highlights of the conference.
