Planet
Sustainable Corporate Food Service
At Food For Thought, we believe in leaving the planet better than we found it. Our commitment to sustainability drives continuous innovation in eco-friendly practices, from reducing water usage to lowering our carbon footprint. As new green solutions emerge, we adapt, evolve, and push forward—because sustainability is not a milestone, but a mission.
Why Sustainability Matters to Us
Food For Thought is mindful of the fact that we do not own this planet — we borrow it from our children. Therefore, we are committed to promoting a healthy, clean environment. To achieve this, we continue to build on our eco-friendly programs, striving to reduce water usage and lower our carbon footprint.​ Realization of these goals is never complete as lower-impact products and processes are always being created, reviewed and initiated.
How We Make a Difference
​To keep up with our goal of sustainability, we implement several processes in our day-to-day routines. Here is a sneak peek at what our sustainable catering service does to support our planet.
We Send Our Food Scraps to Compost
​Our corporate kitchen has compost bins at all stations instead of trash cans. Through a partnership with Collective Resource, we compost all our food waste, including bones and proteins. This adds up, reducing our total refuse load by over 55,000 pounds per year. In the process, we create 27.5 tons of usable organic compost.
We Convert Cooking Oil Into Bio-Diesel
With the help of Green Grease, we up-cycle over 1,344 gallons of cooking oil each year, which is then converted to bio-diesel fuel, reducing our waste load by 5.3 tons. Our goal is to have vehicles that can then utilize this product.
We Recycle Cardboard
We also reduce our waste stream load by collecting, bailing and recycling our cardboard packaging. This totals a reduction of more than 45 tons or 90,000 lbs. With every ton of recycled cardboard, the planet saves 400 gallons of oil and 1 ton of CO2 emissions.
We Partner With Carbonfund.org
We achieve carbon-neutral events through our partnership with Carbonfund.org. We accomplish this goal by calculating the carbon emissions per event based on the number of guests, size of facility, travel distance, mode of transportation and number of water bottles used. We then purchase carbon offset certificates representing the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions — a principal component of climate change.
We Use Reusable Cups
At our corporate offices, we eliminated single-use cups and installed bottle-filling stations. This simple act saves over 35,000 single-use cups a year. Our next steps include expanding and promoting this simple idea among customers, business partners and suppliers. Let us know if you are interested in implementing this sustainable solution in your office.
We Support Shedd the Straw
Food For Thought Event Group and Workspace Solutions was the first in Chicago to eliminate single-use plastic straws. When you visit our corporate offices, you are given a metal reusable straw to eliminate the need for single-use plastics where possible. With each person using approximately 250+ straws a year, it’s an easy opportunity to make an impact.
We Achieve eWaste Recycling
We have achieved 100% recycling of our used copier and printer toner cartridges. We also have accomplished the goal of 100% achievement in the proper recycling of electric devices including computers, monitors, POS Systems and more!
We Use Digital Saves
Even our accounting team members joined the fight in 2017 with the goal of reducing their overall paper consumption. As of 2020, in this department, 80% of paper statements are now digital and 85% of paper usage has decreased. These results are possible through reductions in paper invoices, checks and statements, contributing to the organization's overall sustainability.
We Offer a Bike Share Program
We love bikes and think everyone should be riding. Our Bike Share Program upcycles existing bikes, services them and keeps them on the road by allowing any team member to sign one out for an hour, day or week. After all, there's no need to buy new since there are more than enough out there! Keep riding!
We Promote Pedal for Change
Pedal for Change is our in-house annual event to promote riding bikes and reduce our carbon emissions. We challenge our team to commute by bike at least five times in one month, reducing their emissions by up to 25%. As an incentive, team members earn rewards for completing this challenge.
Positive Change Organizations
Headquarters: Chicago, IL
Industry: Special Event
The Green Wedding Alliance is a community of environmentally and socially responsible event vendors that connect conscious consumers for mindful weddings, commitment ceremonies, corporate and social events.
Headquarters: Evanston, IL
Industry: Composting
Collective Resource, Inc. is a woman-owned compost and food scrap pickup service based in Evanston. They collect all food waste and compostable products from homes, businesses and institutions and take them to a commercial composting site. The food scraps then become ​a nutrient-rich soil amendment instead of sitting in a landfill. In addition to hauling compost, they educate the public about the importance of reducing landfill use.
Headquarters: Octavia, IL
Industry: Cooking Oils to Bio-Diesel Reproducer
Green Grease Environmental recycles waste fryer oils from restaurants, hospitals, schools and stadiums in the Chicago area. Additionally, by diverting waste cooking oil from landfills, the production of bio-fuels extends the life of your oil and prevents harmful liquid waste from contaminating groundwater supplies.
Headquarters: Illinois
Industry: Composting
The Illinois Food Scrap Coalition (IFSC) is a thriving not-for-profit organization advancing the diversion and composting of organics in Illinois through advocacy, program implementation, market and business development, policy and outreach.