Good Eating Company US, a foodservice provider for corporate and academic settings, has partnered with Greener by Default to reduce its environmental impact by offering more plant-based options.
One significant change made as part of the partnership is to offer oat milk as the default option at some outlets. This has decreased cow’s milk consumption from 70% to 18% at one site, halving the carbon footprint of the client’s dairy purchases. At another site, plant-based milk now makes up 60% of total milk purchases.
Meanwhile, a university coffee shop saw a 32% reduction in dairy use after defaulting to oat milk, reducing carbon emissions and land and water use by 25%. Through this strategy, Good Eating Company aims to normalize low-carbon choices while being more inclusive towards the millions of Americans who do not consume dairy due to lactose intolerance, allergies, health concerns, religion, or personal choice.
Good Eating Company has also made its condiments, sauces, side dishes, and desserts plant-based by default where possible. Furthermore, the company has increased the proportion of plant-based meals on offer, with 40% of recipes now vegan and 34% vegetarian. Other sustainability strategies, such as reducing food waste, using upcycled ingredients, limiting plastic, and sourcing from local farms, are also underway.
“Not only the default, but craveable”
Greener by Default has previously helped New York City hospitals to offer plant-based options by default, a program that proved highly successful and led over half of patients to opt for the plant-based dishes. The initiative is also working with several other organizations, including businesses, universities, the healthcare sector, and conferences.
Additionally, it was recently reported that the Better Food Foundation, which founded Greener by Default, is working with Sodexo (owner of Good Eating Company) to expand the use of a strategy called DefaultVeg on US university campuses. This strategy uses behavioral incentives to encourage plant-based dietary changes, and research indicates it could lead to a huge 150% increase in plant-based meal choices.
“At the Good Eating Company, we value partnerships like the one with Greener By Default in our pursuit of sustainable choices for our clients and consumers,” said Claire Turner, Director of Sustainability at Good Eating Company. “Promoting plant-based and plant-rich eating is a key pillar of our sustainability strategy. Our approach relies on letting our culinary professionals’ creativity shine and giving our teams the right tools and insights to make lower-carbon food and beverage options not only the default, but craveable for all consumers.”
More information about Good Eating Company’s plant-forward strategy is available in the company’s 2024 impact report.
