Sustainability Master Plan 2025

DINING

GOAL: Integrate sustainability initiatives into聽Elon Dining operations to foster a campus culture聽that promotes behavior shift toward effective and measurable outcomes.

 

 

STRATEGIES

Progress updates for year 1 are below.聽

Actions for each strategy have been identified and will be prioritized on an annual basis by the implementation team.

S1 Sourcing: Increase the percentage of annual聽spend for purchases on the following categories聽by 2035: sustainably or ethically produced 鈥 50%,聽plant-based 鈥 50%, local (within 150 miles or the聽state of North Carolina) 鈥 35%.

  • During the 2025-2026 academic year, the percentage of annual spend for purchases on sustainably or ethically produced, plant-based and local聽(within 150 miles or the state of North Carolina) foods was as follows:

Sustainably or Ethically Produced

19%
50%

Plant-based

38%
50%

Local (within 150 miles or the state of North Carolina)

26%
35%

S2 Collaborations: Introduce a new educational, operational or training initiative in collaboration with campus community partners on an annual basis.

  • Elon Dining hosted聽numerous聽educational opportunities聽during the 2025-2025 academic year聽to encourage diners to explore sustainable food options.聽聽A few of these opportunities are highlighted below:
    • What’s In Season:聽Elon Dining features local products聽through their聽鈥淲hat鈥檚 in Season鈥 program. Each month, the three dining halls on campus聽highlight聽a different local and seasonal produce item on the menu. Chalkboards and digital screens are used to share what the item is and what聽local聽farm it came from.
    • Grade B Produce:聽In Fall 2024, Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina and completely devastated the community, including many of the farms聽located聽in the area.聽聽Because of聽this, there was a high prevalence of Grade B produce聽– produce that is perfectly usable and delicious, but due to visible imperfections from hail damage,聽was聽not 鈥減retty鈥 enough to sell as Grade A produce. Elon Dining committed to聽purchasing聽varieties of apples, peaches, and pears from farms聽in Western NC, providing an outlet for the local farms having trouble selling聽products.
    • Captain John:聽In January 2025, Elon Dining started a new partnership with Captain John, head of Southern Breeze Seafood, to source聽all of聽the catfish and shrimp served in our residential dining halls off the North Carolina coast with sustainable fishing practices. Elon Dining has also served as an outlet for Captain John’s bycatch fish, or fish that were caught on accident when fishing for other species, by聽utilizing聽these low quantities of fish without a market in the dining halls and at events.聽In聽FY聽2026, Captain John brought in聽over聽11,000 pounds聽of seafood聽that was served throughout Elon Dining’s locations.