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Dear Parents and Guardians,

We’re excited to welcome your student back to Concordia University Irvine for the Upcoming semester!

We believe that food has an important role to play in building culture and community on campus. As the dining services provider at Concordia University Irvine, it’s our job to ensure each student feels welcome when they dine with us, and that they receive delicious meals that meet their dietary needs. Here’s what your student can expect while they dine with us on campus:

Meals cooked from scratch by our passionate chefs No corporate recipes or cycle menus here, please! “From scratch” means everything, from stocks and sauces to salsa and pizza dough.

Ingredients sourced in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Bon Appétit began making commitments to sustainable and ethical practices long before it became trendy. We serve only cage-free, certified humane eggs; sustainable seafood; certified humane ground beef, and pork raised in group housing instead of inhumane gestation crates — and that’s just a sample of our many commitments.

A dedicated dining website Menus, hours of operation, and much more are available 24/7 on Concordia University Irvine dining website: concordia.cafebonappetit.com. Our Circle of Responsibility menu icons provide information about ingredients in each dish and our feedback form at the bottom of the page provides a handy place to send comments or questions directly to our team. (Pro tip, scroll down the page and have your student sign up for menu mail to have the menus delivered daily to their inbox.)

Abundant choices for those with special diets Your student will continue to find a plethora of plant-forward, vegetarian, and vegan options as well as ones that are made without gluten-containing ingredients every day.

A supportive and hands-on approach to allergies We’re happy to work with any students with food allergies or other dietary restrictions to make sure everyone can enjoy plenty of delicious food, safely, with us. All of our chefs and managers receive FARE-certified food allergen awareness training and pass that training on to our hourly employees through dedicated bi-annual training and daily reminders — keeping allergies top of mind. Our team will foster individual communication with students with food allergies, in line with best practices outlined in the FARE restaurant guidelines.

Surprises! We don’t want your student to get bored, so we’re always trying out new recipes and ideas. And if they have ideas, encourage them to talk to us! Our doors are always open.

As always, we welcome any questions or feedback from parents and guardians.

Sincerely,
Craig Irby | General Manager
Craig.Irby@CUI.edu
562.214.3449

As Concordia University Irvine and Bon Appétit Management Company welcome new and returning students to campus in the era of COVID-19, we’re introducing many new changes designed to ensure that you have the best dining experience possible. We’ll of course be implementing new measures to keep our guests and our teams safe, but while safety is a key priority, it is not our only one. We think we’ve got a great program planned for you, but rest assured we’ll be refining and adapting to make it even better as we go along.

REASONS TO BUY A MEAL PLAN:

It’s Safer: We’ve got a host of new protocols based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), health and sanitation experts from our Coronavirus Response Team, and local health regulations. We require COVID-19 specific training and health checks for our employees, and we’ve always offered paid sick leave.

Makes Life Easier: Life is difficult enough right now! A meal plan means: No worrying about grocery shopping or meal planning. No dishes. No unexpected financial surprises: for students who have flexible spending dollars, we help them manage their funds appropriately.

It’s Convenient: We offer lots of freshly made grab-and-go items, and contactless payment — you don’t even have to carry cash! Flex dollars can be loaded right onto your ID card for easy purchasing of additional meals or grab & go items in the coffee shop.

From Scratch = Flexible: We LOVE food, so we cook it from scratch: stocks, sauces, soups, salsas, you name it (also things that don’t start with S). This means we can be flexible with our recipes to accommodate all sorts of dietary needs without any fuss. It’s our passion to create delicious food that suits every need and taste. Vegan, flexitarian, or avoiding gluten? We’ll have options for you every day.

It’s Healthier: Our chefs make craveworthy dishes — built on whole grains, deep-color vegetables, fresh fruits, and lean or plant-based proteins — that people look forward to eating every day. They also follow portion control guidelines.

Satisfying Options: From global bowls to seasonal pizzas, there’s always something new to try. And we love suggestions — our chefs don’t use cycle menus or corporate recipes, so they can add in new items with only a few days’ notice.

Seriously Sustainable: COVID-19 may have disrupted the food supply chains, but we’re still committed to upholding our industry-leading commitments to environmentally and socially responsible sourcing, from Farm to Fork partnerships to sustainable seafood. (The Humane Society of the United States ranked us the #1 food service company — the only one with an A+ grade.)

Knowledge is Power: College isn’t just about academics, it’s about learning life skills, too. We are committed to helping students learn to make healthy choices in and outside our café through nutrition & wellness information and education about how food choices impact the environment, and more.

Still Social: Mealtimes are still the perfect time to catch up with friends, and make new ones. We’re committed to making our dining spaces both safe and inviting places to hang out — when the time is right — and to offering interactive events to bring students together, online or 6 feet apart.