Kitchen Cabinet Meeting
May 3, 2022
Steve Kjellgren, Lisa Heldke, Karen Yess, Kevin Birr, Jeri Miller, Jen Donkin, Jennifer Warren, Chuck
Neidereitter, Mark Hanson, Molly Yunkers
What to do next year?
Survey responses were focused on sustainability/climate change and taste.
Focus on education – recycling- where/how, composting- where/when/how/what to use,
packaging, waste- food and non-food, energy and local sourcing.
What additional energies and ideas can this group bring?
STARS – sustainability tracking, assessment, and rating system
Categories that intersect with the work the KC and/or Dining Service does, and ways to
improve
Taste – provide opportunities to
Explore new foods (tasting table, PA work)
Try new meal combinations
Bring in new dishes from student’ home cultures
Enjoy comfort foods in healthier forms
Misc
Help students understand foods costs and impact of theft
Publicize the “contact the chef” option
Publicize and expand Allergy free zone
Ways to explore the ideas
Engage more students
Team up with other student groups
o Student from Big Hill Farm and other sustainability minded groups
o PA’s in the Gustie Well
o Accounting /statistics student group
KC Interns? – students tasked with educating others
Engage Res life, marketing, other departments, etc.
How to do our work: logistics
Designated sustainability bulletin board/advertising area
Calendar of school year events
Newsletter, or link to our notes in inside Gustavus
Cabinet members (esp students?!) put KC info on their social media
Hallway info tables
How to do our work: “think” ideas
Make use of STARS report
How help community think of convenience vs morality
Student survey and recipes for their favorite comfort foods from home
Visiting chef or senior student from culinary arts program to showcase their favorite dish
(collaborate with other colleges?)
Work Plan:
o Identify the issue
o Brainstorm solutions
o Propose locations and pros/cons for each area
o Create a plan for next year
Idea Pantry
Kitchen Cabinet Planning Workshop
May 3, 2022
Drop your sketched ideas here.
Water bottles – too many students carry out water bottles vs filling reusable water bottle
Where is our usage and how do we change this?
Big Hill Farm has a little data on amount sold in cafeteria
Recycling issues
Lacking manpower to worry about recycling
Employees need to be on board and set the example
Correct students when you see them doing it wrong
What are ways we can be the interjection into that system?
Labor issues
Sports teams and student groups haven’t taken up the offer to make money working in
the cafeteria
Talk to the coaches to help recruit?
Sustainability- What can we build as a group
Marketing the composting bins – there has been through res. Life, sorting challenges, etc
Dorms have been pretty good on their composting – consistently under 5%
contamination (plastic, silverware, etc)
If over 5% they won’t take it
How do we think about being together to eat?
Using take out containers when eating in the cafeteria – we have resumed the
fee for take out containers
Encouraging “hanging out” in the dining room
How can we cultivate in students an interest in being together?
Does the overflow area offer a place for certain students who want to not be in
the busyness of the dining room
How do we think about eating – in a hurry or social thing?
Bookmark has increased the fee for not returning their book and greatly
decreased the number of students not bringing their books back. Would a higher
fee help decrease the amount using take out containers?
Have this group of students heard the message of community?
Do we look at how much is served? – waste of food?
Do training with workers on portions
How do we avoid shame?
There has been waste monitoring by student groups in the past
Are we trying to do too much and is there a way to do less and make it less
wasteful? (Gustie ware, clam shells, plates)
Do we only let take out containers leave the cafeteria?
During COVID we had a table to exchange your plates with to go items so
they don’t leave the dining room
We have a cost if they are not returned – how do we incentivize them?
Education – the more visible and cumbersome the better
How can we systematically explore what we are aiming for?
What is the balance between resource use, enjoying food and
conviviality?
Each individual is motivated differently so we need multiple ways
to educate/motivate
With new students coming in we have opportunity to train “this is
the Gustie way of doing things” – start right when they come to
campus
When upperclassmen don’t follow suit it is difficult to sustain
We learn things repetitively
Are we in the business of zero waste or education?
There will be composting offered in the Lund expansion
When teams come back from games – how do we
encourage composting? Add extra composting bins where
the buses come back?
This needs to be pushed through the coaches to promote
follow through
STARS Report
Sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system
We did our first report in January thanks to the help of an intern
All facets of sustainability covered – social, financial, etc
Focuses on the UN sustainability goals
Operations and food and dining sections – we did pretty well in both categories –
got a silver rating for our first time around
Food and beverage purchasing – packaging at events, etc – can we
develop policies toward zero waste, avoiding unnecessary plastic. How
much do we purchase organic, fair trade, plant based
Sustainable dining – Gustie ware, compostable ware, hold meat free
events, more interaction based
Will be reassessed every 3 years
Presented at president's cabinet – encouraged to look at how we would reach
goal next time
Using the UN goals can help us connect with taste
Is there education pieces that can be required in first term seminar?
Even just ½ hour that goes through 20 touch points
How much GAC spends on replacing dinnerware – quiz then and as
senior to see how recall is
Steve used to do tours with first term seminar – could be more targeted,
how do we become part of the curriculum?
Could ask Lauren Hecht to send information to first term seminar faculty
Utilize the Peer Malt student that comes in once a week?
Can it be interwoven in many classes – how theft impact prices in an
economics class, etc
Teachers talking session – Sustainability and Dining service as a
curriculum lab?
Encourage professors to utilize Kari Wallin and Dining service in lesson
plans
Taste
Give opportunity to experiment with food and taste
Teach mindfulness?
How to have students appreciate what is served to them – can’t offer new foods every
day, and open up to try new foods
International food is an easy area to add new items
Does it taste like it always has tasted?
Visiting chef? Coordinate with other colleges that have culinary programs?
South Central was offered to have students come and visit/shadow/intern, but no
interest
How does this group be most effective?
Pull in student groups – get their ideas
Find students with interest in topics related to Kitchen Cabinet
Utilize the STARS report
Invite participation in 10 different ways
Kitchen cabinet intern
Hasn’t worked well in the past – ? why – they are a lot of work, how do you get
students passionate? Kari Wallin has had good outcomes with interns
Need to create a sense of responsibility
We are all volunteers so less structure
Some have been paid through Dining Service
Is it incentivized enough?
Work with career development – to help with showing how this would be
helpful on the resume
Student workers may give more longevity
A student is more apt to listen to another student than Steve or Kevin, etc
What would the student be doing? Do we need an intern at this point?
Who among us can supervise and mentor?
An employee may make more sense and way simpler – make this one or more
student worker positions? Comes down to who that student is.
This would be in addition to having students from different organizations on this
committee
Should encourage SAAC and SAVE participation
Tasting table
Was very popular prior to COVID
Generated a lot of interest and attention
Start right away in September
Encourage more participation – international professors
Send a google document to suggest who to have participate
Once a month? Use food that is already on the line
Involve Chef Tim
Steve Responses
Bottled water – nearly 20% of bottled drinks in the marketplace
Water companies are getting creative – infused waters, caffeine containing, etc
Education is needed
Do water test – Dasani vs tap water
Takes man power – down 25%
Tasting Tuesday – use what is on menu and try something different – chia pudding, yey
toast, etc
To go containers at the door not as feasible now that we are charging for the containers
Go back to all you can eat but only eat in the dining room?
Get in the literature that KC members are willing to come to professors classes
Too much sent in paper or email isn’t as useful – face to face contact/communication can
be best/most effective
Do we do Tik Tok or Instagram posts – intern/student worker?