UVM dining to buy Intervale Food Hub veggies
The Intervale Food Hub has become an "approved vendor" of University of Vermont dining services, which means the Burlington collector and purchaser of local foods can sell it to UVM's dining operation.
The food hub, based on a community supported agriculture (CSA) model, buys food from local farmers and producers. In turn, the food hub sells it to customers — about 1,200 households a year, according to food hub manager Sona Desai.
UVM is the food hub's first institutional customer, Desai said. The expectation is that the food hub will sell $50,000 worth of local produce to UVM before the end of the year — roughly $3,000 worth per week for the upcoming semester.
The partnership is a further step is an ongoing effort by a number of groups — public, private and nonprofit — to strengthen and expand the local food supply.
Four years ago, UVM was among the first universities in the nation to commit to the "Real Food Challenge," in which 20 percent of food purchases will be for "real food" — local, sustainable, healthy, humanely raised — by 2020. The university's food service is run by Sodexo, a French company that last spring hired a local director to lead its "Vermont First" initiative.
The partnership with UVM means that area farmers and producers have a greater market for their food, one that could conceivably expand to other Sodexo-operated dining services, Desai said.
It is also creates a second revenue stream for the Intervale Food Hub, which until the arrangement with UVM sold food to individual or family subscribers. (Students at UVM and other colleges have purchased Food Hub subscriptions through a plan that fits the academic year.)
The sales to Sodexo/UVM dining service represent five to eight percent of the food hub's business, Desai said.
Farms producing food for UVM include Rockville Market Farm in Starksboro and River Berry Farm in Fairfaix; and Intervale farms Diggers' Mirth and Pitchfork, according to Desai.
UVM serves roughly 10,000 meals a day at 15 dining halls on campus, said Melissa Zelazny, resident district manager for UVM dining.
About 5,300 students subscribe to the UVM meal plan; the dining service also prepares meals for commuters, faculty and staff, she said.
"The model is changing a bit in terms of interest in local food," Zelazny said. "As new markets are developing the Intervale has been ramping up. We think it's going to be a great partnership for students knowing they're getting food from a mile down the road."
The collaboration also will be effective "cross marketing" for both organizations, Zelazny said, and will help students learn about other Intervale programs and other local food initiatives.
The partnership is in keeping with the university's commitment to "really drive students knowledge and thoughtfulness in terms of where their food comes from," she said.
"It's another great avenue for us and for students and for UVM," Zelazny said.
About 15 percent of UVM's food purchases constitute "real food" as defined by the Real Food Challenge, she said.
Kate Hays, executive chef of UVM dining services, has been buying produce from local farms for 30 years, dating to her job as a cook at the Daily Planet when she purchased produce from Pomykala Farm in Grand Isle.
When she ran a catering company, she purchased food from farms at the Intervale, Hays said. The partnership with the Food Hub, whose Tuesday delivery was a beautiful bounty of vegetables, she said, is an extension of that work.
"It's something that students and parents have been asking for," Hays said. "Vermont has such a strong presence when it comes to fresh and local, that it has been really important to get it onto the plate. … We're really changing anything that you knew about school dining. There's restaurant quality food up here now."
The opportunity for farmers to grow their local market through UVM dining services is "massive," she said.
"We're already anticipating a greater need," Hays said. "We started with one delivery a week and I could use three."
She praised the online ordering system used for food hub purchases, and produce — including multi-colored carrots, golden beets, kale and Swiss chard — she called gorgeous.
This story published Aug. 21, 2015. Contact Sally Pollak at spollak@burlingtonfreepress.com or 660-1859; www.twitter.com/vtpollak
More food options at UVM
Three local businesses will add to the campus food offerings this fall at the University of Vermont, said Melissa Zelazny, resident district manager of UVM dining service.
Vermont Bean Crafters (vegan burgers, beans) and Soyo (frozen yogurt) will operate stations at a cafeteria in Living/Learning Center when the semester starts, she said. Skinny Pancake will open a café at Living/Learning mid-fall, she said.