Chartwells: Tapping into the Meatless Trend
What do college students want from their foodservice provider? According to Dean Lowden of Chartwells, a leader in education foodservice, the company's research pointed clearly in one direction: More vegetarian and vegan options.
Chartwells responded in 2002 with Terra Vé, a vegetarian/vegan program for the college and university market. Rolled out first on the East and West coasts, where student demand was strongest, a stand-alone Terra Vé station now operates in about 85 percent of the company's college and university accounts. The concept has proven so popular that Chartwells has introduced it into business and industry venues as well.
The company wisely made Terra Vé flexible, says Lowden, vice president of support services for Chartwells' college and university dining services. Terra Vé works as part of a traditional board plan, which most of their client campuses offer, and as a retail operation on campuses where students purchase meals with debit cards. "We didn't want to miss the boat," says Lowden, by designing a program that worked only in one setting.
Company chefs submitted most of the original Terra Vé recipes, and a consultant reviewed and validated them. Locating key ingredients like seitan and tempeh in sufficient volume has been a challenge, and staff needed training in how to handle these items, but the effort has paid off. The company recently rolled out its first Terra Vé Café, with its own location and cashier, at the State University of New York at Purchase, and it's thriving. "It draws a lot of crossover students," says Lowden, "folks that don't consider themselves vegetarians."