Our food system has major impacts on the environment. Agriculture occupies half of all ice-free land on Earth, and the global food system is responsible for 20%-37% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Animal products have a much larger environmental footprint than plant-based foods, using more resources and causing more greenhouse gas emissions. For example, it takes many pounds of crops used as animal feed to produce just one pound of meat; it would be more efficient to feed those crops to humans directly. In addition, breeding, housing, transporting, killing and processing animals uses a massive amount of energy and produces an enormous amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
A shift toward plant-based foods is the most impactful way food companies can reduce their carbon footprint, prevent deforestation, minimize demand for water and land resources, improve food security and preserve natural habitats.
Due to client demand and public sentiment, nearly every major food service company has sustainability goals. But if the goals don’t center on food, particularly shifting to climate-friendly, plant-based offerings, then they get into the infamous territory of “greenwashing” (the practice of making deceptive claims about your company’s environmental record). That’s why we developed this Protein Sustainability Scorecard: to figure out which food service companies are actually committed to their social responsibility of protecting the environment and which are just greenwashing.
Our survey focused on three main topics to determine how much a company is truly doing when it comes to sustainability: transparency, goals and a plan of action. This survey was designed to gauge where the nation’s largest food service companies are currently on this issue, as well as to understand what resources are still needed to support their sustainability objectives.
The results are in
The following companies are ranked from best to worst.
To see a detailed analysis of each company and to learn more about the Scorecard process, view the full report [PDF].
Rank
Company
Score
Grade
1
ISS Guckenheimer
290
A
2
Sodexo
270
A
3
Fresh Ideas Food Service Management
245
A
4
Café Services
240
A
5
Southwest Foodservice Excellence
240
A
6
Whitsons Culinary Group
235
A
7
HHS Culinary & Nutrition Services
230
A
8
Metz
230
A
9
Creative Dining Services
210
A
10
Elior North America
200
A
11
Epicurean Group
200
A
12
Pomptonian
180
B
13
Thompson Hospitality
170
B
14
AVI Foodsystems
160
B
15
Food For Thought Enterprises, Inc.
155
B
16
Aramark
145
C
17
Taher, Inc.
130
C
18
Compass Group USA
125
C
19
Quest
125
C
20
Brock & Company, Inc.
105
C
21
Delaware North
80
D
22
MMI Dining
80
D
23
Better 4 You Meals
75
D
24
Prince Food Systems
75
D
25
Linton’s Managed Services
50
D
26
LPM & Affiliates, dba Epicurean Feast
40
F
27
Parkhurst Dining
40
F
28
Thomas Cuisine
30
F
29
Guest Services Inc.
20
F
30
American Dining Creations
10
F
31
Lessing’s Hospitality
10
F
32
Spectra Hospitality
10
F
33
Culinary Services Group
0
F
34
Food Management Group
0
F
35
Global Connections to Employment
0
F
36
Lunchtime Solutions
0
F
37
NexDine Hospitality
0
F
38
SLA Management
0
F
39
Southern Foodservice
0
F
40
The Nutrition Group
0
F