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Sustainability

Notre Dame

Scores with

Sustainability

n November of 2014, the University of Notre Dame
in Indiana started construction, as part of the Campus
ICrossroads Project, of the largest building initiative in the
history of the school. Approximately 800,000 square feet of
classroom, research, student life, media, performance, meeting,
event and hospitality space is being added via three build-
ings adjacent and attached to the west, east and south sides
of Notre Dame Stadium.
While construction of the entire project continues, new
foodservice kitchens were completed in August of this year the waste treatment plant, it doesn’t go down that way. We are
that feature a variety of sustainable aspects. able to retrieve that waste and send it out in a different way.”
Campus Dining was heavily involved with the design of While the waste is not currently being composted, the
the kitchens used by Levy Restaurants, which operates con- system will make it easy to do so. “We are not set up yet to
cessions and clubs at the stadium. do composting, but have been in discussions about how we
“We look at sustainability from the perspective of both can make that happen,” he said.
upstream and downstream,” said Chris Abayasinghe, senior The kitchen was designed for that eventuality. “When you
director for Campus Dining at Notre Dame. “We look at how build a building, you want to think of the investments you make
we source, how we bring in the products, for the next 40 to 50 years,” said Abayas-
and we also go through the process of sepa- inghe. “You need to be forward thinking
rating out our food waste, so that way we on this. As we’d look across and we bench-
can impact the landfill diversion that the marked a number of dining programs that
university is focused on, from processes were specifically focused on sustainability
such as composting, so on and so forth.” and so on, this is pretty much standard. You
All of the kitchens feature food scrapper want to be able to have a food trapper versus
systems from Salvajor. The systems prevent a disposal, so this way you can separate
food scraps from entering the waste stream, out the foods for focuses on composting
and potentially allow them to be collected and so forth.”
for composting. “The scrapper system works Another piece of equipment that Webb
really well,” said Tom Webb, executive chef pointed out that helps sustainable efforts is
with Levy Restaurants. “We are not just a variable-speed hood exhaust system from
sending food waste down the drain and to Melink Corp. “It ramps up and down based
on the volume of BTUs and heat and smoke
Photos by Peter Ringenberg/University of Notre Dame ignition, removing the need for pilot lights and their constant
generated,” said Webb. “It ramps down when
they are not being used, instead of just flip-
ping a switch and having them on all the
time using up electricity. It is definitely an
energy-saving aspect of that part of the
operation.”
The stove burners also feature electronic

use of fuel.
The installation of blast chillers has also allowed for all
leftovers to be distributed to Cultivate Culinary, a group that
feeds those in need. “As much as we would like to have zero
leftovers, that is just not the case, and we wouldn’t be able
to utilize that food in any other way,” he said. “We carefully
chill it down as quickly as we can using our blast chiller. They
come and pick it up on Monday mornings, and they package
it up and take it back to their operation, where they repack
it into individual family meals and freeze it and distribute it
to the community.”

ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY OCTOBER 2017 | 13