Serving the Community

With a variety of locations that include cafés, all-you-care-to-dine dining centers, markets, fast casual, ISU Dining provides a variety of quality and sustainable culinary experiences that enhance the educational and cultural aspects of Iowa State University. ISU Dining serves as the main source of nutrition for students living on campus and also provides sustenance for staff, faculty, visitors and those living off-campus.

     

    To meet this ever-growing demand, ISU Dining takes multiple steps to ensure that it leaves a minimal footprint related to the procurement, production and distribution of food. From offering discounts for reusable mugs to providing local non-profits with food donations, ISU Dining does its part to feed our campus and support our community using fresh, local ingredients whenever possible.

    In striving to nourish a more inclusive and sustainable future for all Cyclones, ISU Dining continually looks for ways to improve its initiatives. Future goals include growing locally grown and produced food purchases , decreasing waste and sourcing more food from the Horticulture Research Station. However, to best serve its customers, ISU Dining is always open to feedback from those who use its services — contact dining@iastate.edu to share your voice!

    See the dropdowns below to see how ISU Dining is making an impact within each of the three facets of sustainability. Contact ISU Dining via email at dining@iastate.edu.

    • BYOC! Save $0.35 per coffee drink for bringing your own cup to any ISU Dining location. Not only does this save money for customers, it also prevents disposable cups from entering the landfill each year.
    • ISU Dining employs nearly 1,200 students per year, creating valuable job opportunities for our campus. Once student employees graduate, their work uniforms are donated to the Goodwill Good Wipes program, which repurposes clothing items unsuitable for sale into reusable cleaning cloths.
    • By selling its used grease, ISU Dining earns a profit while also reducing its carbon footprint.
    • ISU Dining spends at approximately 10% of its annual budget to support the Farm to ISU Program. Founded in 2007, the Farm to ISU Program includes purchases in three different categories:
    • Organic and sustainable products, such as fair trade coffee, candies, and snacks.
    • Iowa State, along with the University of Northern Iowa, contract together with Martin Bros., a local family-owned food distributor based out of Cedar Falls, along with dairy and convenience store purchases. By working together, this enables the regent universities to merge their buying power to ensure best purchasing prices.
    • ISU Dining employs nearly 1,200 students per year, offering beneficial economic sustainability opportunities.

    • All ISU Dining all-you-care-to-dine locations are “tray-less,” which reduces excessive food waste and also encourages diners to eat smaller, healthier portions.
    • Four of ISU Dining’s dining centers compost food waste that is processed at the ISU Compost Facility (pdf). This prevents food from entering the landfill and also provides ISU’s outdoor spaces with a sustainable, low-cost alternative to fertilizer.
    • ISU Dining locations use a “pulping system” for dishwashing that filters out food waste. This system is used to prevent unwanted items from entering our water supply.
    • A portion of used grease is sold to the ISU BioBus, a student group that seeks to make biodiesel from reclaimed vegetable oil and supply it to CyRide for use in one or more of the Cybrid transit vehicles that serve Iowa State and the community of Ames.
    • In addition to recycling traditional items such as glass and cardboard, ISU Dining recycles the plastic pallets used for food delivery. Broken kitchen equipment is also recycled as scrap metal. Learn more about ISU Dining’s recycling efforts via the educational video on the department’s YouTube page.
    • Rather than send unwanted materials to the landfill, items such as outdated dishware sets are sent to ISU Surplus so that they can be sold to community members who can use them in new ways.
    • ISU Dining retail locations throughout campus are utilizing compostable to-go containers and service ware reducing single-use disposables by nearly one-third. In addition, Hawthorn Market and Café has committed to reducing single-use disposables by over 50%. 

    • ISU Dining has a strong partnership with Food at First, a local non-profit organization that supplies meals and food items to Ames community members in need. Donations include perishable food items (typically during academic breaks) and items from campus events, as well as packaged retail products past their sell by date.
    • ISU Dining’s Registered Dietitian, provides educational opportunities to students and community members throughout the year. Events include Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness Week. You can follow on Instagram (@isudiningrd) to see examples how students can build balanced meals in the dining centers and around other ISU Dining locations.
    • ISU Dining maintains the Special Diet Kitchen for those with unique dietary needs. The kitchen can accommodate individuals with severe allergies, as well as those who need medically-prescribed meals following surgery or illness.
    • The ISU Dining website allows customers to see menus for each location, as well as filter these menus for food allergens and hide by dietary preference. Learn how to check this information via the ISU Dining educational video on YouTube.
    • ISU Dining provides the ability for student meal plan holders to donate portions of their meal plan to support peers who battle food security through the Give a Swipe program.

    We take pride in the Farm to ISU project. Not only does it involve our students, it involves our community...We are their kitchen.

    Karen Rodekamp, Interim Director of Dining