SCAD Atlanta welcomes Bon Appetit – a new catering company serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in The Hub. No longer shall SCAD students consume oily pizza and cheap burgers. Third year printing major, Charlie Cofer, said, “The food is edible again. I can eat.”
Bon Appetit has partnered with SCAD Atlanta and SCAD Savannah for its 25 Year Anniversary. Third year advertising major from Savannah, Jeffrey Reichel, said, “I used to starve myself because I couldn’t eat food from the Scafe (SCAD Savannah’s cafeteria). Now I can eat again, and eat well.”
Bon Appetit became partners with SCAD after a long bidding process. They sent a proposal to SCAD and set up a sample presentation. After thought, SCAD selected Bon Appetit to be their new dining partner. Head chef, Michael Aquaro said, “We are extremely excited about our partnership with SCAD.”
Bon Appetit originated in the San Francisco Bay area. Fedil Bonchio started the company for catering purposes. Bonchio became fed up with catering companies having their food sit around all day. His vision was for better dining services. His vision included bringing a restaurant feel to corporate dining services – a catering company that prepared fresh meals from scratch upon request.
The weekly meal plans do not follow cycle schedules. There is no corporate driven process – talented chefs write the menus on a weekly basis.
Bon Appetit selects its food ingredients by taking into consideration what items are in season and fresh. Another key factor is what’s available. They partner with as many local growers as possible to insure their product contains the best tasting and freshest ingredients.
One of Bon Appetit’s local growers is Farm to Fork. Aquaro said, “All the poultry is hormone-free and does not contain the therapeutic use of antibiotics.” He continued, “If a bird is sick, they want the bird to be taken care of.”
For seafood, Bon Appetit follows strict seafood and watch guidelines given by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. All seafood must be distributed regionally. It includes which species of fish are acceptable for chefs to purchase and which species to avoid.
Some species to avoid include Atlantic salmon. If its farm raised, they will not purchase it. But, they will purchase Alaskan Salmon caught in the wild. Another species of fish is grouper – now an endangered species. Aquaro said, “Unless we take measures, our children won’t know what a grouper tastes like.”
Bon Appetit puts together local eatery events like the Eat Local Challenge, where every meal is prepared with local goods and ingredients from a 150 mile radius. Another event is the Low Carb Diet Day. The objective is to provide guests with choices that lessen the impact on the environment.
Bon Appetit has insured the SCAD community that the service has improved. The staff is re-energized, excited about preparing meals from scratch, and ecstatic to come to work.