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2022-23 Sustainable Food Systems Progress

Learn about what Concordia is doing to achieve its 2025 sustainable food targets.

CONCORDIA'S FOOD ENVIRONMENT

Nine Concordia Food Services-run locations:

  • Contracted Aramark to manage the two dining halls plus 5 retail locations (LB Café, Starbucks, AD Café, SP Café and Hingston Café); the contract began in 2022 and ends in 2026, with an option for a two-year extension.

  • Concordia Food Services also works with an independent food vendor for one of its locations

Twenty food tenants (all located on SGW campus):

  • Al-Taib (ET), Jugo Juice (EV), Matcha Zanmai (EV), Van Houtte (EV), Second Cup (FB), The Alley (FB), A&W (GM), Biryani (GM), Cocobun (GM), Dairy Queen (GM), Ins Market (Kandju) (GM), Java U (GM), M. Gao (GM), M4 Burritos (GM), Noix C Sante (GM), Pizza Bella (GM), Thai Express (GM), Tim Hortons (GM), Sushi Shop (MB), Al-Taib (MK)

Three student-run café/bars:

  • The Hive Café Solidarity Coop (SGW and Loyola); Reggie’s Coop 

Two student-run soup kitchens:

  • People’s Potato; Hive Free Lunch

Six student-run initiatives that either grow produce, sell produce or sell/offer groceries:

  • Concordia Greenhouse (temporarily closed until winter 2025); CultivAction; Concordia Farmer’s Market; mind.heart.mouth collective garden; People’s Potato Emergency Food Baskets, Frigo Vert

Eight student-run initiatives that provide support & advocacy services related to food systems:

  • Sustainable Concordia; Sustainability Action Fund; Concordia Student Union; Graduate Students Association; Concordia Food Coalition; Centre for Gender Advocacy; Q-PIRG Concordia

FOOD PROCUREMENT

Target

  • Target: Increase sourcing of local / sustainable foods to 50% of total purchases in the summer and fall and 40% in the winter and spring  

Status

  • Complete

Efforts supporting this target

  • With food service provider, opportunities were identified to increase local and Fairtrade purchasing such as sourcing local frozen strawberries, granola and Fairtrade spices as well as integrating more Quebec produce in the winter menu

  • Started working with a new local farmer to provide some of the produce that were difficult to source locally in 2022-23

Calls to action

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

AGREEMENTS MEASURES & METRICS

Target

  • Ensure that environmental and social sustainability is factored into all tenders/agreements/contracts concerning the food system

Status

  • Complete

Efforts supporting this target

Tender/ Agreement /Contract  How environmental and social sustainability is factored into the tender/agreement/contract
Food Service Contract The new food service contract requires the provider to meet Concordia’s Sustainability Action Plan’s local, sustainable food and animal protein purchasing targets as well as support Concordia’s Fair Trade Silver Campus objective. The contract also includes the option to impose a financial penalty if the provider cannot justify a failure to meet their sustainability targets.
Catering contract The catering contract requires caterers to offer Fairtrade coffee, tea and sugar and to provide at least one-plant based milk for coffee service. Single-use plastic water bottles, plastic tablecloths and individually packaged condiments are prohibited. Service ware (e.g., utensils, cups, plates) must be compostable or reusable, depending on the caterer’s service offer.  
Beverage contract Ended beverage contract with Coke. Concordia now works with a Quebec-owned, independent vending company. By the end of 2025 all plastic bottles, including soda, will be removed from vending machines.

Calls to action

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

URBAN AGRICULTURE

Target

  • Recognize and reinforce the role of urban agriculture in advancing hands-on learning, placemaking, and beneficial social impacts

Status

  • Ongoing

 

Efforts supporting this target

  • Hiring of an internal Ecological Management Coordinator: The Ecological Management Coordinator will lead biodiversity assessments and research into best practices to set strategic targets and action plans to improve the campus ecosystem.

  • Campus Biodiversity Survey: To advance the university’s commitments to enhancing our natural environment in a focused and effective manner, it is prudent to first take stock of which areas need the most support and in which areas we are already succeeding.  To this end, we have begun our first campus wide biodiversity survey.   This survey will give us the baseline data we need to formulate our biodiversity action plan going forward.

  • Creation of a new application process to ensure fair access to campus grounds for gardening and ecology projects.

Calls to Action

Related Sustainable Development Goals

Responsible Consumption and Production
Responsible Consumption and Production

FOOD VARIETY, HEALTHY & PLANT-BASED OPTIONS

Target

  • Support the adoption of healthy, plant-based, allergen-free, and culturally inclusive food choices on campus 

Status

  • Ongoing

Efforts supporting this target

  • Campus Health & Wellness have Health promotion specialists whose work includes nutritional counselling as well as healthy eating workshops. Concordia's health promotion specialists are registered nurses who promote health and well-being. They offer personalized support for students, staff and faculty, as well as presentations, consultations and education for the entire community.

  • The dining halls are raising awareness of plant-based food options. Two Climate Awareness weeks were organized where the menus for select stations included dishes’ greenhouse gas emissions and highlighted low-emissions menu options. A front-of-house event was offered where the chefs prepared custom, house-made vegetarian burgers.

Calls to Action

 

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

Target

  • Target: Reduce animal product (meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy) purchases to 30% of the total food budget

Status

  • In progress

Efforts supporting this target

  • All in-house prepared baked goods are vegan 
  • The dairy area of the dining hall was restructured to increase availability and visibility of plant-based options 
  • Two-day plant-based cooking training for Aramark chefs from Forward Food

Calls to action

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

FOOD WASTE AND SOLIDARITY

Target

  • Reduce food waste and contribute to food security in our community

Status

  • Ongoing

Food Waste Indicators

In 2022-23, Concordia Food Services produced 3,683 kg of food waste.

The Concordia community donated 5,343 servings of leftover/surplus food from events to the La Tablée des Chefs program.

Food Security Initiatives

  • The Hive Free Lunch served over 1000 meals per week

  • The People's Potato served over 1,600 meals per week plus 100 food baskets every other week

  • In partnership with La Tablée des Chefs who provided the ingredients received through donations from suppliers, the Grey Nun’s kitchen staff and Aramark head office managers cooked and assembled 4000 portions of food last April. The food was donated to both the Concordia University Student Parents Centre and Resilience Montreal, a community-led project established to support the homeless population in the Cabot Square area.

Efforts supporting this target

  • A food security survey was conducted in February 2023 to assess the prevalence of student food insecurity at Concordia. Report to be released shortly. 

  • A new food security project was created called Community Cravings. It is a student-initiated food pantry in Hall Building and is managed by the Concordia Student Union. The project distributed $1,000 worth of food in less than two months. Food Services donated a fridge to the project to be able to accept leftover donations. The project also received $6,000 from the Sustainability Action Plan to purchase food during the 2023-24 academic year.

Calls to Action

Related Sustainable Development Goals

Responsible Consumption and Production
Responsible Consumption and Production

Target

  • Achieve Fair Trade Silver status 

Status

  • In progress

 

Efforts supporting this target

  • Launch of Fair Trade Stingers Roast coffee. A partnership between Concordia Food Services, Manos de Mujeres and Brûlerie Faro.  

  • Development of the Fairtrade Ambassadors program, organized through the Student Sustainability Ambassadors Program
  • Hiring of a part-time Fairtrade Coordinator to manage the Fairtrade Ambassadors Program, organize student outreach activities and social media.

 

Calls to Action

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Target

  • Create an environment where community members can learn about food, from seed to plate, and offer students hands-on learning opportunities through projects that improve the campus food system

Status

  • Ongoing

Efforts supporting this target

Calls to action

  • Register for courses above and check out the campus gardens website for more hands-on opportunities to learn about the campus food system 
  • Have an idea for a project that will improve the campus food system? Apply for an Experiential Learning Grant

Related Sustainable Development Goal

Responsible Consumption and Production

Contact

For questions about the Sustainable Food Systems Plan, contact Claudette Torbey:

claudette.torbey@concordia.ca

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