When you walk into almost any office, you’ll likely see a row of single-use plastic water bottles lined up on shelves in the fridge, half-empty bottles left on desks, or stacks of disposable cups by the water cooler. While single-use plastic bottles and cups may seem convenient, they have a hidden cost for the planet and your workplace budget.

Now imagine a workplace outfitted with sleek, modern water dispensers that provide crisp, filtered water and ice. Employees use reusable bottles and refill them throughout the day, and there’s less waste sent to recycling facilities, or worse, landfills. In this office, hydration keeps your employees happy and productive and doesn’t harm the planet.

At Canteen, we believe hydration stations can create a greener, healthier workplace. In this article, we’ll dive into how making water and ice stations available in the workplace improves sustainability, boosts employee satisfaction, and supports your company’s broader environmental goals.

How Something as Simple as Water Can Impact Sustainability

The Scale of Single-Use Plastic Waste

According to the International Bottled Water Association, in 2024 Americans bought 16.2 billion gallons of bottled water, a 2% increase over 2023. That translates to tens of billions of single-use plastic bottles every year.

Even though plastic bottles are technically recyclable, fewer than 30% actually get recycled in the U.S. The rest ends up in landfills, incinerators, and sometimes even in our oceans. Once there, a plastic bottle can take 450 years or more to fully break down.

Workplaces contribute a significant amount of plastic waste to this stream, especially offices that supply bottled water by the case or rely on disposable cups at beverage stations. By rethinking workplace hydration and implementing electronic water dispensers, companies can drastically reduce their plastic footprint.

The Carbon Footprint of Bottled Water

It’s clear that single-use plastic harms the environment, but it’s not just the bottles themselves that cause problems. Bottled water production uses valuable resources in the following ways:

• It takes about 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water
• Manufacturing and transporting bottles require large amounts of fossil fuels
• Bottled water has a carbon footprint up to 2,000 times greater than tap or filtered water

That’s a lot of energy and emissions for something we can access from the tap with the right filtration.

How Workplace Water Dispensers Make a Difference

Cutting Single-Use Plastics

Installing a workplace water dispenser drastically reduces the need for single-use bottles and disposable cups. When employees have access to filtered, great-tasting water on demand, they’re more likely to bring their own reusable bottles or cups to refill throughout the day. You could even supply tumblers or reusable water bottles with your company’s logo as a sustainability initiative in your workplace.

Multiply that by dozens or hundreds of employees, and you can easily save thousands of bottles per year. That’s fewer raw materials consumed, less energy spent on transportation, and less waste ending up in landfills.

Supporting Sustainable Habits at Work (and Beyond)

You don’t just become a different person when you leave work and go home. The habits you have in the workplace spill over into your personal life and vice versa. When employees get used to refilling a reusable water bottle at work, they’re more likely to keep up the habit outside of the office. That ripple effect means that a single water dispenser can influence a whole network of people. Your reach extends to homes, schools, gyms, and communities.

It’s a small but powerful way for a company to champion sustainability and influence the values employees uphold.

Lowering Costs While Improving Environmental Impact

We often think that sustainability is the right thing to do, and while that’s true, that’s not all it is. Sustainability can also be a good business decision. By reducing the amount of bottled water deliveries to your workplace, you can also save on recurring purchasing costs, reduce how much storage space you need, and cut back on waste hauling fees.

Making green initiatives visible, like replacing single-use plastic bottles with modern water stations, signals to employees and clients that your organization takes corporate social responsibility (CSR) seriously. According to NielsenIQ, 73% of global consumers say they would definitely change their consumption habits to reduce environmental impact. That means your sustainable workplace practices resonate beyond your walls.

Why Ice Matters Too

We don’t often think about ice in the sustainability conversation, but it plays a surprisingly important role. Employees are more likely to drink more water when cold, refreshing water and ice are available. They might choose cold, great-tasting water and ice can over other drinks that come in plastic bottles. This can also boost wellness as workers reach for water rather than sugary drinks like juice or soda.

Here’s how ice solutions contribute:

• Encourages Hydration: Most people think that cold water tastes better than lukewarm or room temperature water. Having easily accessible cold water can drive people to drink more water and stay better hydrated.
• Cuts Sugary Drink Demand: Employees with access to cold water and ice may skip sodas, sports drinks, or bottled teas, reducing plastic waste and boosting wellness.
• Enhances Versatility: Ice dispensers allow employees to customize their drinks, from iced tea to fruit-infused water, further promoting sustainable, healthier choices.

In short, pairing water and ice stations is a win for both wellness and waste reduction.

Canteen’s Role: Sustainable Hydration Made Simple

Canteen offers more than just coffee and snacks. We’re also here to transform the way workplaces think about refreshment, hydration, and sustainability. Here’s how our water and ice solutions give you what your workplace needs.

1. Filtered, Great-Tasting Water

Our dispensers use advanced filtration to deliver crisp, clean water without chlorine or impurities that can also affect the water’s taste. Our solutions also offer carbonated, flavored, and fruit-infused waters that people love. When water tastes better, employees drink more and might skip bottled alternatives.

2. Sleek, Modern Dispensers

From compact countertop models to high-capacity freestanding units, Canteen offers a range of dispensers designed to fit any workplace layout. Each machine is designed for convenience, efficiency, and style.

3. Integrated Ice Options

Want to take it up a notch? Our water and ice dispensers give employees the flexibility to enjoy cold, refreshing drinks at any time. Whether you want nugget ice, cubed ice, or just chilled water, we can provide it.

4. Touchless Technology

We keep the health and well-being of your employees in mind. Many of Canteen’s dispensers offer touch-free options, reducing points of contact to prioritize hygiene while promoting hydration.

5. Nationwide Reach and Service

No matter where your offices are, Canteen service spans nationwide to deliver consistent water and ice solutions across multiple locations. Our service teams make sure your dispensers are installed, maintained, and operating efficiently. When you rely on our services, prioritizing sustainability doesn’t add more work to your plate.

6. Waste Reduction and Cost Savings

By replacing bottled water deliveries with dispensers, you’ll cut down on delivery emissions, reduce packaging waste, and save money over time. It’s a practical, scalable way to make environmentally-conscious decisions without sacrificing employee comfort.

Building a Culture of Sustainable Hydration

The right water and ice dispenser is the foundation of sustainable hydration. How you integrate it into workplace culture matters too. Here are strategies to maximize your impact:

• Encourage Reusable Bottles: Provide branded reusable bottles, tumblers, or cups as part of an onboarding kit or sustainability campaign.
• Educate Employees: Share information about how refill stations reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions.
• Celebrate Milestones: Track the number of bottles saved and post it in common areas.Celebrate wins like, “This office saved 10,000 plastic bottles this year!”
• Make It Fun: Display fruit-infused water recipes or water flavor combinations, initiate hydration challenges, or host themed refill days to promote the continuous use of water dispensers.
• Connect to Wellness: Highlight how hydration supports focus, mood, productivity, and energy. This ties the sustainability benefits to your employees’ personal benefits.

Beyond the Office: The Broader Impact

When companies invest in sustainable hydration solutions, the impact doesn’t stop at the office door. Employees who embrace refill habits often carry them home and into their communities. Children see their parents using reusable bottles. Friends see their peers making sustainable choices and talk about the environmental impact of this new habit. Over time, more people adopt sustainable practices and make more environmentally-conscious decisions.

And the collective results are significant. If every U.S. worker replaced just one bottled water a day with a reusable bottle refill, it could prevent billions of plastic bottles from entering the waste stream each year. According to Oceana, just a 10% increase in refillables in coastal countries could take up to 7.6 billion single-use plastic water bottles out of the oceans every year. That’s the power of scaling small actions across millions of people.

Why This Matters Right Now

Sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have.” People have come to expect it. From climate goals to employee values, companies are under pressure to operate responsibly. Simple, tangible actions like installing water dispensers:

• Reduce measurable waste and emissions
• Improve employee satisfaction and well-being
• Strengthen your reputation as a forward-thinking, responsible employer.

As hybrid and in-person work environments continue to evolve, providing sustainable amenities like refillable water stations is an easy way to make the office a place employees want to be.

Workplace water dispensers may seem like a small detail in the bigger sustainability picture, but they’re one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce waste, cut carbon, and inspire people to develop greener habits. When paired with ice options and Canteen’s nationwide service, they’re also a powerful tool for improving employee satisfaction and productivity.

At the end of the day, sustainability isn’t about sweeping, overwhelming changes. It’s all about the choices we make every day adding up to big, long-term impacts. By replacing single-use bottles with electronic water stations, your workplace takes a meaningful step toward a greener future.

Ready to sip smarter, waste less, and make sustainability second nature in your workplace? Canteen is here to help with tailored water and ice solutions that fit your team’s needs.

Get started with us today, and let’s build a more sustainable workplace together.

The post How Water Dispensers Drive Sustainability first appeared on Canteen.

Food waste is a growing issue, and it doesn’t stop at home or in restaurants. It’s also happening in our break rooms and workplace kitchens. If your organization is evaluating how to improve sustainability practices at the worksite, chances are you’ve thought about how much food goes to waste in your facilities. Reducing food waste not only improves your sustainability metrics, but it also reduces unnecessary costs and creates a more responsible and efficient workplace culture.

Whether you’re overseeing foodservice operations in a corporate office, managing a robust pantry program in your breakroom, or stocking micro-markets across multiple sites, here are some practical steps you can take to reduce food waste in your workplace.

Understanding the Impact of Workplace Food Waste

Globally, nearly 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year. Unfortunately, our workplaces contribute to this grand total. 

Food waste in the workplace is often unintentional and, more importantly, avoidable. One major cause of this is overordering, whether that’s catered lunches that are left uneaten or a surplus of snacks in your break spaces or markets. Your office fridge might be host to meals and items left behind or forgotten. These things might seem harmless at first, but when you add them all up,

chances are it’s impacting the environment and your company’s bottom line.

By minimizing unnecessary food purchases and fostering a more conscious workplace culture, you can positively impact the earth and your organization’s finances.

Follow along with this guide to better understand how you can reduce waste and recover the food in your place of work.

Raise Awareness to Build a Culture of Accountability

The first step in reducing food waste is simply making it visible. After all, the first step in solving a problem is addressing it.

Most employees are probably completely unaware of how much food they’re wasting. Start with communicating with your associates and raising awareness about how much food your workplace wastes and how to get those numbers down as a collective.

Take a look at what channels you typically use to communicate with your employees. Push awareness campaigns through employee newsletters and internal communication platforms. If you work in-office, consider implementing print or digital signage to get your message across.

Are employees still not engaging? Consider turning it into a site-wide challenge with incentives to create as little waste as possible.

Another great way to boost awareness around the issue of food waste is to create a team of food waste champions. These associates will be responsible for informing other employees about the importance of minimizing food waste and offer helpful advice as to how they can avoid wasting food in the workplace.

Implement a Smart Communal Food System

While buying food in bulk may seem counterintuitive, food waste often occurs because there is no clear system for how communal or leftover food is shared. Setting up a structured and clearly communicated approach can significantly reduce waste and increase employee engagement.

A pantry program in the workplace can establish these perimeters and reduce the amount of waste your employees create. Bulk snack dispensers can also reduce the amount of packaging and plastic in your work’s trash.

Often, food waste occurs because there is no clear system for how communal or leftover food is shared — especially after catered meetings or pantry restocks. Setting up a structured and clearly communicated approach can significantly reduce waste and increase employee engagement.

Create designated “Share Zones” where anyone can take an item from the breakroom refrigerator or a bin on the countertop.

Standard leftover protocols can also reduce food waste. Create a standard operating procedure for meeting leftovers. This might look like wrapping the food, labeling it with a date, and posting a quick announcement on an internal communication platform.

Through Canteen’s managed services, businesses can set up these systems seamlessly. Our team provides end-to-end support — from stocking your micro-markets with appropriately portioned items to facilitating shared food programs.

Right-Size Food and Supply Orders

Overstocking is one of the leading causes of food waste in workplace environments. Snacks expire, fresh items spoil, and beverages often go unused. This doesn’t just impact your waste metrics , but it also affects your budget.

To avoid this, administrators should implement a data-driven approach to inventory and supply planning. By tracking consumption trends, you can better monitor what people are actually consuming versus what’s being stocked and occupying space on the shelves.

Using “first in, first out” systems to properly rotate food ensures older inventory is used before supplying newer products.

Canteen makes this easy through its advanced inventory management tools and analytics platform. Their team monitors item-level data to ensure supplies are optimized for your specific location. This means less overstock, fewer expired goods, and a leaner, more efficient operation.

Incorporate Food Waste Tracking and Reporting

To make sustainable changes, it’s important to properly measure and track the food that’s coming to and going from your workplace. 

Consider setting up basic food waste tracking for catered events, micro-market spoilage, or pantry rotations. Identify the items that employees most frequently waste and either avoid ordering them or reduce the quantity you order. If you find yourself over-ordering, reduce the number of deliveries arriving in a given period of time.

Work directly with Canteen to monitor the amount of waste your workplace creates. Our innovative technology can closely monitor at-risk items. We can dynamically adjust offerings to help you track progress against environmental benchmarks.

Engage Employees With Incentives and Education

While having a team of champions on your side is important, you’ll need all hands on deck to be successful. Involving employees in the solution is crucial. Once systems are in place, create opportunities for team members to actively participate in food recovery.

You might consider creating reward programs for employees who bring reusable containers to work to package leftovers and take them home. Have more snacks than you know what to do with in your breakroom? Consider hosting “food rescue” events where workers can distribute surplus snacks. Start a “Zero Waste Day” where you challenge employees not to waste any food for a whole day.

If your organization offers sustainability training, consider incorporating education about food waste to keep your employees informed and up to date on best practices.

Explore Donation and Composting Partnerships

Composting is one of the best ways to handle surplus food, but composting at the workplace can be a challenge. Without the right facilities, decomposing food can create a stench no one wants to deal with. Thankfully, on-site composting isn’t the only solution.

Take a look at what’s available to you locally. Depending on the laws in your area, you may be able to partner with food donation programs. Some local organizations can accept safe-to-share surplus food. This allows you to reduce your workplace’s food waste and give back to your community at the same time. It’s a win-win!

Third-party composting is also an option. Rather than trying to compost food at your workplace, involve another organization that can take your food scraps off-site. This prevents food waste from ending up in a landfill and creating harmful emissions.

Reducing food waste in the workplace doesn’t require a massive shift overnight. It begins with awareness, improves through better planning, and is sustained by smart systems, and partners that can support you along the way.

Whether you’re managing a single breakroom or multiple national office sites, Canteen’s scalable foodservice solutions are designed to help businesses:

• Reduce spoilage and surplus with accurate inventory tracking

• Promote sustainability with reusable packaging and redistribution systems

• Monitor and improve waste reduction with real-time data

With the right tools and a thoughtful approach, you can transform food waste from an overlooked issue into a meaningful opportunity for leadership, efficiency, and sustainability. Get started with Canteen today to explore the options available to you.

The post Reducing Food Waste in the Workplace first appeared on Canteen.

The holidays are approaching, and for many that means it’s time to prepare decadent meals for family and coworkers alike. While feasting on great food can be a great way to celebrate many of our favorite times of year, some of us have eyes bigger than our stomachs. The more food we dish out, the more we end up tossing into the bin when we get too full. With food in abundance, it’s all the more important that we give back to those in need and increase our food recovery efforts.

Food recovery is the practice of collecting food that would otherwise be thrown away and redistributing it to people in need. Think of all the canned food drives that start up around Thanksgiving. Not only is it a great way to be charitable and help feed hungry people, but it also supports sustainability efforts. The more food we can recover, the less waste ends up in our landfills. It’s estimated that a mere 15 percent reduction in food waste in the U.S. alone could provide for over 25 million Americans annually.

Many of us know to scour our pantries for unopened non-perishables and drop them off at our local food bank, but what can we do around the workplace now and year-round to support food recovery? This guide will explore some ways we can be more mindful about the food we throw away in our workplaces and do our part to recover as much food as possible.

Raise Awareness

People can’t be part of the solution if they don’t know that there’s a problem. The first step we should take in reducing food waste at work is to spread information about what it is and how we can stop it. Provide your team with information about the issue and educate them about how they can make an impact. Explaining the environmental and social impact of food waste and the benefits of reducing it can motivate employees to keep track of their food waste and do their part in mitigating it.

Consider hosting an event like a lunch and learn to spread the word. You can even use this as an opportunity to introduce your employees to more eco-conscious options like compostable packaging and individually packaged meals so you only order the amount of food necessary for the attendees who sign up for the event.

With a more educated team behind you, you can start making a plan to approach the issue in the office. Having all hands on deck will help you create an effective and long-lasting food-reduction strategy.

Identify Food Waste Champions

Once your team members are properly informed about the many ways they can combat food waste in the office, start thinking about who in the office could be a food waste champion. Whether you identify people who are passionate about the environment and food insecurity or people who are good at influencing others, it’s important to designate those who care about the issue at hand. 

Your food waste champions can organize events and encourage coworkers to be mindful about how they dispose of their snacks and meals.

Avoid Over-Purchasing

One of the best ways to avoid food waste is to prevent it. When planning in-office events or catering lunch, try to order only what’s needed.

When feeding a group of people, it’s fairly standard practice to order more than you think you’ll need to ensure everyone has enough food. Unfortunately, that also means over-purchasing is commonplace. This leads to an excess of scraps that will likely end up in the garbage.

Think through how to avoid over-serving. Would individually-packaged meals make sense for your team? Opt for this instead of a large catering tray.

Consider Composting

Through composting, we can turn food scraps into nutrient-rich soil. Thankfully, we live in a time when composting pickup services have become more commonplace, and businesses can be more involved in the composting process.

Encourage employees to separate food waste. Your business can then join a composting project in your local area. If your business has an outdoor space, there is also the option to take a DIY approach and create your own compost bins.

If your company shares a cafeteria with others, consider encouraging neighboring businesses to participate. This will reduce food waste even further. Encourage remote and hybrid employees to begin composting at home to extend your reach.

Identify Potential Donations

While we do our best to prevent excess food, sometimes leftovers are inevitable. It’s what we do with these leftovers that makes a difference. Ultimately, we want to get food where it’s needed most: in people’s stomachs.

Acceptable food items for donation can vary state by state. It’s important to identify what can and can’t be donated based on where your business is located. Once you confirm this information, consider how often your business will donate excess food.

Think about the food in your workplace. How often do you rotate it? Is there ever excessive amounts of nonperishable products? If you find that good food is going to waste, donate it instead.

Partner with Local Efforts

Now that you know what can be donated, it’s time to find out where.

Establishing partnerships with local food banks and charities allows you to donate surplus food and give back to your communities. This is a great option for areas where many food items are accepted for donation.

In places with stricter donation guidelines, it may be a better idea to outsource food donation efforts. Food redistributors and food reclamation companies are available across the country. When you have excessive leftovers, you can schedule a pickup. A representative from one of these companies will then arrive to transport the food to people who need it. 

Food Waste Tracking

Keeping an eye on food waste at your worksites is another great way to avoid and eliminate excess waste. Pay attention to what items are available in your workplace. People have favorites, and this becomes obvious when some snacks are selected over others week over week. Order less of the items that remain fully stocked and more of what appears to be popular within your workplace.

Food waste tracking technology can be a valuable tool, providing you with insights to reduce excess food in your workplace.

Choose Canteen

At Canteen, we take sustainability seriously. As your partner in food and beverage solutions, we want to understand your workplace’s sustainability goals. We partner with you to show you what’s possible in your workplace and implement solutions that fit your company’s culture. Whether you want to eliminate single-use plastics or prioritize products from brands that prioritize sustainability, we want your workplace to be as you want it to be.

While we can’t always eliminate food waste entirely, we can take the necessary steps to recover as much food as possible. Whether at home or in the workplace, we can all do our part to minimize the food waste we create and donate food items to communities in need. By combining the strategies laid out in this guide, you can create a more sustainable and responsible approach to food consumption in your workplace.

The post Reducing Food Waste and Promoting Food Recovery in the Workplace first appeared on Canteen.

1. Food Waste

A third of all food produced globally goes to waste every year. In context, if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emission-producing country globally. And that’s why Compass Group, together with some of the most influential companies and celebrity chefs, is rallying millions of consumers to accelerate the fight against food waste with Stop Food Waste Day. Our culinary teams are tracking waste and creating innovative menus using our proprietary waste reduction tool, Waste Not, to track and measure waste over time. Soon we’ll be able to forecast and dynamically schedule our fresh food production to produce exactly what’s needed, nothing more.

2. Driving the Future

By implementing programs focused on fleet efficiency and driver safety, we have avoided nearly 8,000 metric tons of carbon emissions in the last two years. And we’re not stopping there. We continue to proactively seek, test, and evaluate technology to improve the efficiency of our fleet.

On top of avoided emissions, in 2020, we wrote about our plan for alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs):

The long-term vision for our fleet includes alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) like electric trucks. The problem? We want something that doesn’t exist yet – but it’s in the works! In the coming years, we hope to be testing AFVs that meet our fleet’s needs, along with an infrastructure to support it. In the meantime, we look for other ways to reduce our fleet’s impact on the environment.

Now, in 2023, we’ve made an enormous leap forward by piloting electric delivery trucks in select markets.

3. Circular Approach to Waste

Just over 32 percent of recyclable materials were recycled in 2018, the latest year with complete data. But only nine percent of plastics were recycled. Why? A combination of limited consumer education on the correct process and a confusing recycling infrastructure makes recycling a task too ambiguous for many to understand. We aim to simplify that for our clients. We offer a suite of customizable solutions focusing on a more circular approach to waste. In that order, a circular approach is a system of strategic resource utilization where reduction, reuse, and recycling are the focus. The goal is to minimize waste and create a closed-loop system.

4. Driving Social Change with Local and Diverse Product

Canteen is proud to partner with an array of suppliers, utilizing a wide range of local products and diverse items that support the communities our clients serve. Through intentional sourcing programs, we are committed to expanding these programs beyond just supplying snacks – we aim for meaningful partnerships in which both parties can benefit from mentorship and collaboration through all stages of growth. Beyond providing sustenance, proudly showcasing their stories so your team recognizes how much more meaningful a breakroom snack can be as an expression of employer commitment. We partner with over 120 certified diverse suppliers across the country and have a pipeline to bring even more on board. From deliciously roasted coffee beans to salty treats and sweet snacks, we have something made by everyone, for everyone.

5. Health and Wellness 

We are committed to providing our customers with the information needed to make informed choices when it comes to their food. Choice Plus is a customizable program designed by our registered dietitians and culinary experts to include the most popular products that meet criteria supported by the latest nutrition research and in line with government and expert nonprofit organization guidelines.

Over the past couple of years, Canteen has worked with the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) and The Alliance for a Healthier Generation in the development of a public health initiative.

From refreshing teas and sparkling waters to fulfilling tasty snacks, our selection of better-for-you options continues to grow to meet the consumer’s needs.

6. Bulk Snacks

Last year, we revolutionized 420,000 pounds of snacking with bulk foods, eliminating single-use packaging from office breakrooms and displaying our commitment to creating a more eco-friendly consumer experience. We are continuously exploring new ways to upgrade the snack game while taking resourcefulness into account.

7. Sustainable Sourcing

For more than a decade, Compass Group has strived to make positive changes within the realm of sustainability by supporting local economies, sourcing sustainable seafood, implementing measures to address climate change issues, and much more. Over the years, we have made various sustainability commitments, from sourcing sustainable seafood to only purchasing foods produced with minimal use or free of chemicals and antibiotics. Our craft coffee and specialty tea experts at Tradecraft pride themselves on working with the best craft roasters in the country, and their definition of best starts with being environmentally and socially responsible. When exploring potential new roasters, they go beyond ensuring great flavor; they make sure the roasters demonstrate integrity and transparency in their sourcing practices. To that end, sustainable sourcing does not stop with our food. We partner with companies like Bevi who provide innovative dispensed water solutions that minimize environmental impact.

8. Equipment

To ensure our markets meet our eco-friendly standards, racks and shelving are constructed using a higher percentage of recycled materials and manufactured right here in the U.S. As for equipment, Energy Star-rated components minimize our energy footprint whenever available. Other proactive measures include LED lighting fixtures, sleep cycling options, temperature monitoring systems, and connectivity to reduce onsite servicing requirements wherever feasible.

9. Disposables 

Today’s consumer is better informed and more aware of the impact single-use items have on the environment. We are committed to reducing our impact by providing sustainable alternatives to single-use disposables. To date, we have eliminated all plastic stir sticks in favor of wooden alternatives and adopted the nationwide “Skip the Straw” campaign. We offer a range of sustainable disposables, from compostable items to post-consumer fiber to recycled plastic. We work with our clients to provide disposable solutions tailored to their sustainability goals and capabilities.

Our sustainability mission is to deliver better breaks that are better for you and better for the environment because it’s the right thing to do. And this is just scratching the surface of what we’re building. Our goal is to work with each client and their unique needs and infrastructure to accelerate serious change in the industry, supply chain, and operations to ensure we build a stronger and cleaner future for Canteen and our customers.

The post 9 Factors Defining Sustainable Break Rooms in 2023 first appeared on Canteen.

Great coffee, diversity and gender equality, sustainability, and sloths. How are these four seemingly random topics even remotely related? Well, the mother-daughter team at New York-based Bean & Bean Coffee Roasters dabbles in each and does a pretty good job at it. We sat down with Jiyoon Han, who, with her mom, Rachel, brings this complicated Venn diagram together and does it by making really good coffee.

You’re a mother-daughter team. How did you get started roasting coffee together? Has coffee always been significant to your family, or did the passion project start with you two?

My parents have been in the food and beverage industries for basically my entire life, so coffee has always had meaning in our household. When we opened our first Bean & Bean location in 2008, I quickly took on the responsibilities of helping out around the shop after school and learning more about coffee alongside my mom. This eventually evolved into my mom and I going on trips across the world to seek out the best coffees and becoming certified Q-Graders (coffee sommeliers) together.

My mom’s and I’s mutual curiosity and passion for coffee have made our relationship as strong as it is today.

How has being a mother-daughter team influenced your approach to coffee?

It influences everything we do—my mom and I make decisions together as a team on who we want to do business with. My mom’s opinion is so important, especially when we’re tasting new varieties!

What are some of your best-selling products? What’s the best-selling drink on your menu?

Our Downtown Blend and Peru Las Damas are our top-selling beans for our e-commerce customers. And in stores, our customers love our iced honey oat latte, which is an iced latte made with honey powder and oat milk.

What are your personal favorite menu items (drinks or otherwise?)

No surprise here, but I’m also a huge fan of the iced honey oat latte. Our Gesha pour-overs are amazing too, and my go-to is a classic espresso shot made with our Downtown Blend.

With so many coffee shops in New York, how do you stand out amongst the crowd?

We’ve stood out since our opening day because of our commitment to freshly roasted beans. We roast our beans in New York, so our coffee is always as fresh as it can possibly be. That’s how and why we were able to cultivate such a loyal customer base since the beginning—customers noticed how fresh our coffee is and how amazing our stores smell that it was enough to move the needle.

In recent years, Bean & Bean launched an e-commerce shop. How has being online changed Bean & Bean’s business? What opportunities have you found in the online landscape?

Through our online business, we’ve been able to connect with and reach customers that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. We have customers everywhere from the west coast, Canada, and Europe.

Since we’re able to have a wider reach, we’ve also been able to expand our press coverage beyond New York-only or specialty coffee publications. It’s been incredible seeing Bean & Bean on sites like Buzzfeed, CNet, and Forbes.

Your website mentions your commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing by prioritizing organic and fair-trade coffee. It also states there is more to be done than that. What other methods does Bean & Bean use to ensure ethical and sustainable practices?

Some of the other things we do to be more sustainable include minimizing carbon emissions in our roasting process by using a Loring roaster (which cuts CO2 emissions by up to 80%) and ensuring our packaging is recyclable and/or compostable.

The sloth on your logo is adorable! Can you tell us a bit about how your partnership with The Sloth Institute came about? How did you hear about The Sloth Institute and its mission to combat sloth endangerment?

Thank you! Our very first coffee-origin trip was to Costa Rica, where we saw a sloth in real life for the first time. While there, we learned that when coffee is grown sustainably, coffee trees provide shelter for sloths, so we took the initiative to reach out to the world’s leading sloth research institute and proposed a partnership.

Were you passionate about conservation in the sloth population before or after partnering with The Sloth Institute?

I was definitely passionate about it before, and partnering with The Sloth Institute has only made that passion grow even stronger.

How has the coffee industry impacted sloths and deforestation? How does Bean & Bean work to combat this?

Almost 2.5 million acres of sloth habitats in Central America have been cleared to make coffee. When sloths lose their home, they are more likely to become injured, orphaned, sick, or killed.

Bean & Bean works to combat this by donating a portion of our online coffee bean sales each month. We also symbolically adopt a sloth to help sloths grow, heal, and return to the rainforest. We advocate for them through our marketing and promotional materials to raise awareness. Working with farmers who produce their coffee ethically and sustainably also supports this commitment.

Aside from your environmental efforts, Bean & Bean is also focused on breaking the glass ceiling of the coffee industry. When did you become aware of the gender gap in your industry, and what efforts has Bean & Bean put into combating it?

Through our sourcing efforts, it became very apparent to me that coffee is a very male-dominated industry. Most coffee experts and farm owners are male—and their female counterparts are underpaid comparatively. As a women-led coffee shop, my mom and I decided that we should use our positions to uplift other women in the coffee industry.

Can you tell us about some of Bean & Bean’s meaningful relationships with female-operated partners like farms, organizations, and intermediaries? How has Bean & Bean worked to make coffee training and resources more accessible to women in the coffee business?

Absolutely. Two of our relationships I’d like to highlight here are our relationship with Cooperativa Agraria Frontera San Ignacio, COOPAFSI, which is a women-run cooperative in Peru that produces our bestselling Peru Las Damas beans. COOPAFSI has been around since 1969 and has been championing women’s advancement in the coffee industry since its founding, which is pretty incredible.

We also work with Anabella Meneses to source most of our Gesha coffees, which are rare and extraordinary. Anabella leads the Santa Felisa farm in Guatemala, and her Geshas have been awarded the Cup of Excellence, which is one of the highest honors a coffee can earn.

By choosing to work with female-operated partners, we’re giving them a bigger platform and audience, which opens up more economic and social opportunities.

What are some key factors in closing this gender gap in coffee farming, distribution, and production?

One of the biggest factors is giving women equal opportunity to own land. A huge reason the gender gap is so wide is because owning land, historically, culturally, and legally, has been much more accessible to men than to women.

When fewer women are involved in coffee, those who are involved feel less supported and have a significantly harder time advocating for fair treatment and pay. When we support women by working with them and buying the coffee that they work to produce, we are giving them both economic and social capital.

How can consumers support these efforts?

Consumers can support these efforts by choosing coffee companies that work with and are committed to working with smaller, female-led farms and producers, rather than larger corporations.

Interested in bringing authentic great New York coffee like Bean & Bean to your workplace? Get started today!

The post This Mother-Daughter Coffee Team is Advocating for Sloth-Safe Coffee Farming first appeared on Canteen.

Our Midwest Canteen Team recently awarded scholarships to five Mooseheart graduates! Mooseheart is a residential childcare facility providing children with a wholesome home-like environment and the best possible training and education. Each year, our team holds a fundraiser for The Heidi Schuerstedt Scholarship, and this year, they sold a cookbook with a collection of the team’s favorite recipes to fund the scholarship.

The post How Canteen Partnered with Mooseheart to Award Scholarships to Five Teens first appeared on Canteen.

The global food system is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a huge deal, and our partners at Oatly are leading the charge against climate change by innovating with plant-based alternatives, dropping emissions, and promoting healthy living with delicious oat milks, creamers, ice creams, and so much more. We sat with their thought leaders to break down goals, climate impact, and sweet treats. We’re partial to the ice cream. Alright, let’s dive in!

Oatly – brand or movement? Give us a quick rundown of who Oatly is, what you make, and what the brand stands for.

Both! We’re the global leader in oat-based foods and aim to transform the food system into one that is healthier for people and the planet. Exclusively using oats, we’re able to make great-tasting oat milks, frozen desserts, soft serve, Oatgurts, and other delicious, nutritious, and allergen-friendly foods with the same creamy taste, frothy feel, and functionality as cow’s milk but with substantially fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Oatly is an easy choice for people who want to upgrade their lives and protect the planet without sacrificing taste or experience. 

How was Oatly started?

In the late 1980s, a research group at Lund University in Sweden, including Oatly founder, Rickard Öste, set out to create a plant-based, nutritious and delicious drink with qualities similar to cow’s milk for people who were intolerant to traditional dairy. By 1990, Rickard and his team patented the process, which resulted in a milk alternative perfectly adapted for human consumption using oats – aka oat milk. The parent company was established in 1994, and the rest is history! 

Your sustainability platform is robust. Can you give a brief overview of some of the big projects you’re supporting?

We have big ambitions! We aim to drive a systemic shift in society—in the ways people eat, food is produced, and the planet is treated—where people can make small changes, like switching to plant-based foods, that improve their lives and ensure a healthy planet for future generations. These small actions can be multiplied to create a plant-based movement.

We have three pillars that make up our sustainability ambitions we’re working toward achieving globally by 2029. These include: driving a food system shift, setting the example as a future company, and empowering a plant-based revolution.

One of our recent achievements we’re excited about is the transition of our North American factories to 100% renewable electricity.

You can find our full list of commitments, which are continuously being worked against, here.

How was the brand’s passion for sustainability born, and why is plant-based your main focus?

The global food system is responsible for about a third of global emissions (UN); about 50% of those emissions come from the livestock and animal agriculture industries. The greatest impact we can have as a company is to convert dairy users into Oatly consumers, empowering the plant-based revolution. Food is delicious, it’s personal, and it’s something tangible that people make choices about every single day. We want to set an example for how food companies (and all companies) should act to benefit the planet and people. We’re working to prove that change is possible and that it’s good business to center around what’s best for the planet and humans.   

How does plant-based living benefit people and the planet?

For our products, in particular, oats can grow around the world, require less land and fewer resources to cultivate than livestock, and are great for soil health. With oats being our core ingredient, we’re able to produce dairy alternatives that emit significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than cow’s milk. From a nutritional standpoint, our oat milks have an excellent combination of macronutrients, including fats, carbs, protein, and fibers, and are allergen friendly. Oatly is a plant-based, nutritious and delicious drink with qualities similar to cow’s milk for people who are intolerant to traditional dairy, which, as it turns out, is a significant portion of the population.

What’s the future of the plant-based movement?

It continues to grow! We’re incredibly excited that Oatly continues to grow significantly year over year, proving a growing shift in consumer habits and tastes. Consumers are increasingly more aware of the impact their choices can have on the planet and are also looking for more suitable products for their nutritional needs. We feel we have products that are a win-win for both, and we see no signs of slowing down.

How is that reflected in your marketing and packaging as a brand with an opinion?

We’re a fearless brand. That means that we don’t always do what other brands would traditionally do, especially when it comes to marketing. We’re a creative-led brand with no traditional marketing team, and we focus on talking to consumers like real humans. We’re honest yet irreverent, so it keeps consumers on their toes. You’ll never know what to expect next from Oatly.

What are some of your team’s favorite Oatly products?

How could you possibly make us choose? We love all our products equally, but a company and fan-favorite continue to be our Chocolate Oatmilk, especially in the convenient 11oz size when you need an on-to-go indulgence. It’s out-of-this-world delicious.

What are you most excited about in Oatly’s sustainability vision?

Again, hard to choose just one thing. Many of the sustainability initiatives our team is working on ladder up to one of our main ambitions: to reduce our carbon footprint per liter of Oatly produced by 70% by 2029 and align that ambition with a 1.5-degree °C climate pathway. The 1.5 °C target is the goal of the Paris Agreement, which calls for countries to take concerted climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming. 

In five words or less, what advice would you give someone wanting to lead a more sustainable life?

Realize the impact of your consumption choices. We stretched to seven words!

Final thoughts. Anything you want to leave with our readers?

If you haven’t yet, try plant-based. At least give it a shot. Consider the impact that animal-based products have on the future of our planet. If our Oatly non-frozen desserts don’t convince you there are great non-dairy alternatives out there, then I guess we have even more work to do!

To get Oatly and other plant-based, sustainable favorites in your breakroom, click here to get started!

The post Sustainable Plant-Based Living with Oatly! first appeared on Canteen.

Reaching over 150,000 youth and family members, AMIKids is a non-profit whose goal is to help youth develop into responsible and productive citizens.

“[Our] services range from prevention to day treatment to residential programming. Each year around 5,000 youth who have been involved with or are at risk of entering the justice system are provided educational and behavioral services through our evidence-based, AMIkids Personal Growth Model® or service coordination to meet their individualized needs and goals.”

Canteen works with AMIkids each year with the help of our associates Beth Rainey and Sandy Goodson who both sit on the AMIkids White Pines board. With their support and others across Canteen, we’ve been able to do some amazing things like:

• Teaching culinary skills through Chef mentorships
• Mentoring on interview and resume skills
• Sponsoring a Stir-Fry Challenge twice a year at AMIkids bi-annual challenge event
• Partnering with the White Pines location food trailer to cater events, fundraisers, and festivals
• Providing field trips to sports games and NASCAR races
• Developing Made with Love – The AMIkids Cookbook

Yes, a cookbook! Every year, Canteen and AMIkids create a cookbook full of recipes by our chefs, team members, and the AMIkids team. Canteen has raised over $56,000 for AMIkids White Pines.

The best part? All proceeds go directly towards AMIkids. It truly makes the perfect holiday gift. You can purchase it from snackbox.canteen.com.

By staying true to the three guiding principles, Kids First, Family, and Safety, AMIkids is dedicated to using their research-driven approach to help kids find their natural born potential. We are grateful to have amazing associates and chefs to work with the kids in the program to help strengthen our communities.

The post From the Kitchen to the Community: How Canteen Partners with AMIkids to Help At-Risk Youth first appeared on Canteen.

Canteen: Hi Jeremy! Can you tell us more about the work you do with Avenue C micro-markets? 

Jeremy: With Avenue C, I cover a wide range of areas, including technology, product innovation and merchandising, loyalty/promotions, and consumer engagement.

C: We all love snacks but hate waste. Avenue C is our self-service micro-market that provides snacks, beverages, and fresh food to employee break rooms and other facilities. What kind of technology are we using to make sure that we improve efficiency and minimize waste?

J: We use a combination of technology solutions, including:

• A route management tool that reports back to our warehouse
• Our Market Forecast tool is layered over top of those sales, which uses predictive analytics to adjust future orders by identifying what may sell in the market before the next driver visits.
• Our Dynamic Scheduling tool adjusts delivery schedules based on demand rather than a set schedule that may result in under or over-servicing of markets.
• Our pick-to-light system enables us to pick by individual units as opposed to boxes or cases to further minimize food waste. This process also helps reduce fuel consumption by our route delivery vehicles, adding to our sustainability effort.

C: Another tool you have worked on is a program within our Connect & Pay app called Eat It or Delete It. Can you tell us how this in-app feature predicts trends and helps us understand what consumers want?

J: Sales are the primary determining factor for the items we offer in each market, but tools like Eat It or Delete It and consumer surveys provide additional insight into future trends and preferences. Eat It or Delete It works by allowing consumers to swipe right or left on items based on preference. The app presents available items, and consumers simply swipe right if they like the item and want to see it offered in their Avenue C or swipe left if they do not like the item. If they are unsure about an item or have no opinion, they can swipe up to skip and move on to the next one.

C: What new technologies are we using to minimize food waste? 

J: We are working towards a more robust product database that will include the shelf life for all products we carry. This real-time data will enable us to offer discounts or incentives to sell the items before they go out of date

C: Besides using technology, what else is Canteen doing to stop food waste? 

J: Canteen pairs our district warehouses with local food banks and pantries to donate items to these facilities instead of being wasted.

C: Thanks, Jeremy! It’s great to learn how we’re doing our part to stop food waste. 

We are not stopping there! Our Sustainability Platform is made up of three pillars that cover all of our lines of business, not just Avenue C. We are committed to creating a lasting impact on the environment by providing our clients with the tools necessary to meet their sustainability and wellness goals.

Learn more about our sustainability efforts in our 2020 Sustainability Scorecard.

The post Delivering Better Breaks for the Environment first appeared on Canteen.

Local Produce in support of American Family Farms

Canteen understands that local and regional food goes hand in hand with policies that ensure food is also fair. We are proud to support small and mid-sized American family farms, local communities, and artisans for our fresh food options.

Seafood from sustainable sources (SFW Criteria)

Canteen follows the guidelines set by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program and only consider seafood that is rated ‘Best Choice’ or ‘Good Alternative’ sustainable.

Milk free of artificial growth hormones
Yogurt free of artificial growth hormones

Canteen avoids the artificial growth hormone rBGH, a genetically engineered hormone to promote increased milk production, to ensure humane treatment of animals.

Certified Humane cage-free (shell) eggs

Traditional Factory Farming confines laying hens in battery cages too small to walk, spread their wings, or turn around. Certified cage-free shell eggs ensure the humane care of farm animals.

Chicken produced without the routine use of human antibiotics
Turkey produced without the routine use of human antibiotics

Canteen’s policy requires that chickens and turkeys are produced without the non-therapeutic use of human antibiotics. This means that medically important human antibiotics are not given to birds on a routine basis, decreasing the danger of antibiotic resistance.

Eco/Fair Trade Certified Coffee

With our partners at Tradecraft, buying Fair Trade certified coffees means they are confident everyone involved in delivering the final cup of coffee is well cared for. Fair Trade is a partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade.

We’re just scratching the surface. With a continued effort to make break time better for you and the environment, Canteen can meet your sustainability goals. Learn more about our sustainability efforts, or get started today!

The post Canteen’s 2020 Sustainability Scorecard first appeared on Canteen.