The folks at the Oregon Convention Center were recognized in Sustainable Business Oregon this week for their stellar work on sustainable food service by pacificwild, OCC's caterer. pacificwild is in the running the a City of Portland BEST Award (Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow). Wish them luck! Awards will be announced at the annual BEST Awards on April 25th.
Excerpt from Sustainable Business Oregon: Where to find Portland's sustainable food leaders...
Pacificwild Catering was created by its parent company, ARAMARK, as an exclusive brand for the Oregon Convention Center, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, and Portland Expo Center. ARAMARK has partnered with these venues since 1999, but created Pacificwild to put greater emphasis on local, sustainable food systems on a large scale.
Given the freedom to adjust ARAMARK standard practices based on the venue and client needs, Pacificwild partners with each facility to develop, train and implement sustainable practices within all departments.
Over the past 12 years, Pacificwild catering has consistently purchased from local businesses within the 44-block area surrounding the Oregon Convention Center. This represents approximately $1.8 million annually in food and beverage spending. When in season, 70 percent of Pacificwild’s produce is locally grown.
Through the purchase of a unique type of Energy Star oven, Pacificwild Catering has seen about 20 percent less shrinkage of proteins during the cooking process. This has reduced the need to order larger meat portion sizes to accommodate for the old cooking process. Pacificwild also switched appetizer serving methods — from large platters to small, hand passed small trays — in order to reduce leftovers and allow any leftover food to be donated.
Read more about the most sustainable businesses in Portland in the full story from Sustainable Business Oregon: http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/columns/2012/03/where-to-find-portlands-sustainable.html.
Read more about the BEST Awards and Portland's free Sustainability at Work assistance program: http://sustainabilityatworkpdx.com/recognition/best-awards/
For more information, contact Brittin Witzenburg, Sustainability Coordinator for the Oregon Convention Center at BrittinWitzenburg@oregoncc.org.
