Bravo Fall 2026 | The Flavor Issue by BAMCO

FALL 2026

THE SEMI-ANNUAL MAGAZINE OF BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY

32 A 40YEAR QUEST FOR FLAVOR 38 FLAVOR TRENDS BY REGION 44 THE JOY OF FLAVOR BOMBING

From Saajid Khan

When I first sat down with Fedele to discuss joining the Bon Appétit family, I knew I would be inheriting a profound legacy. His passion for flavor, ‘unreasonable’ hospitality, and environmental and social responsibility is clearly shared across this organization, and has helped earn Bon Appétit such a distinctive place in the industry. In the coming months, I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can. I want to hear your stories, learn what makes Bon Appétit special to you, celebrate what you’re proud of, and better understand the people and culture behind this remarkable company. I’m incredibly excited to join the Bon Appétit family and begin this next chapter together. Saajid

From Fedele

The Pursuit of Flavor

DEAR TEAM, ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME KNOWS THAT MY LOVE OF FOOD RUNS DEEP, ESPECIALLY FRESH, SIMPLE FOOD. IT’S WHY I FOUND MYSELF IN THE FOOD SERVICE BUSINESS AT A YOUNG AGE AND HAVE BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY MY WHOLE ADULT LIFE. When I started this company in 1987, I wanted it to be different. I wanted to change people’s expectations of what food service could be. That meant bringing chefs into our cafés, cooking from scratch, and constantly asking questions: Who is growing the best tomatoes? Where can we find the freshest greens? What ingredients will inspire our chefs to create something extraordinary? And when seeking answers to those questions, we were often led to farms and producers who were careful stewards of their land, their animals, and who cared deeply about their communities. Then, the lightbulb went off: we could do something to make a difference. In myriad ways, the pursuit of flavor led us to many of our industry-changing innovations, from the Farm to Fork program to our animal welfare standards. This issue of Bravo celebrates flavor in all its forms. But flavor wouldn’t exist without the people who think about it, develop it, and coax it out onto millions of plates per year. In this issue, you’ll hear from dozens of our people about the ingredients, techniques, and dishes that inspire them, and read about how flavor shapes so many facets of our company. I hope you’ll also gain a deeper sense of Bon Appétit’s distinct point of view, one where flavor is central to who we are as an organization. This point of view attracts some of the best people in the industry to join our ranks. I want to take a moment to welcome one such person, Saajid Khan, who joins us this fall as CEO. As you get to know Saajid in the coming months, I think you’ll understand why he felt like a natural fit to lead Bon Appétit. Simply put, he wholeheartedly embraces our point of view. At Bon Appétit, we often say that food is our passion. Flavor is how our people bring that passion to life. Whether you’re preparing a longtime favorite or introducing guests to something entirely new, you’re helping create meals that people remember long after they leave our cafés. I know that the pursuit of flavor — and everything it represents — will continue to define us as a company as we move into our next chapter and beyond.

With gusto, Fedele

COLUMNS OPENINGS NEWS ROUNDUP FOOD & COOKING COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR GET SOCIAL IN THIS ISSUE

FALL 2026

01 FROM FEDELE AND SAAJID — Fedele Bauccio — Saajid Khan

salty The soul of the sea on a French-fried potato.

04 COME IN, WE’RE OPEN! The opening of a lifetime at the Obama Presidential Center

06 BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

What else do we need?

Welcoming the season with additional openings and remodels

HAIKUS BY JENNY SLAFKOSKY

10 FROM THE FIELD

Inspiration from your fellow Bon Appétiters

20 THE ART OF STOCKS, SAUCES, AND DRESSINGS

58 PRODUCE PRINCIPLES

22 FLAVOR FUNDAMENTALS IN ACTION

50 THE FLAVORS THAT BRING US TOGETHER

24 FLAVOR IN THE FIELDS AT BUTLER

26 A PARTNERSHIP FOCUSED ON FLAVOR

Three teams helping shape the flavors and experiences within our cafés

Long before an ingredient reaches a cutting board, flavor gets its start in the soil at The Farm

Everything everywhere all at once… with gourds

68 CHEF OF THE YEAR

Meet Ty Paup, our 2026 Chef of the Year

Recipes from Home

Bon Appétit and Row 7 Seed Company

28 THE ECOSYSTEM IS THE INGREDIENT

Reflections on sourcing, scale, and what goes unseen

66 EARTH DAY RECIPE CHALLENGE

Battle of the blended burgers

32 A 40-YEAR QUEST FOR FLAVOR

34 WHAT FLAVOR CONTAINS

36 FLAVOR MATRIX

Flavor is the starting point for stories of all kinds

From familiar to unexpected and subtle to bold

38 FLAVOR TRENDS BY REGION

40 HOW BON APPÉTIT CHEFS ARE MEETING THE FLAVOR MOMENT

44 THE JOY OF FLAVOR BOMBING

A conversation with Fedele Bauccio

Starting a conversation about how to develop flavors on our menus

48 Q&A: CHEF JOANNE PONVANIT IS IN PURSUIT OF FLAVOR

A lifelong obsession that has been deeply rewarding

60 SOCIAL TOP 3

Make your posts delish

Thinking in-depth about flavor

52 PALATE PHOTOS

Flavor-forward photo essay

It’s at the heart of what Bon Appétit chefs do

THE OPC GARDEN

Come In, We’re Open! The Opening of a Lifetime at the Obama Presidential Center

BY LEIGH BELANGER

he Roots and Bruce Springsteen don’t show up for every Bon Appétit opening, but this one was special — and bigger than us. On June 19, three years of inspiration and collaboration culminated in the opening of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Chicago to the public, which includes the full-service Tafari’s Kitchen and the café that we operate as part of BAMJoy, the partnership between Bon Appétit and managing partner Chef Cliff Rome of Rome’s Joy Catering. Bon Appétit founder and CEO Fedele Bauccio was on hand for the grand opening and had the opportunity to hear both Barack and Michelle Obama speak. He wrote, “I was struck by the amazing outpouring of love the Chicago community showed for the Obamas and for what the new Center represents. It is a place of hope, dignity, and peace for everyone. It’s a place of shared values, integrity, and compassion for all. And it’s a place where people can find the power and the magic in community. I left profoundly inspired. For weeks leading up to the grand opening weekend, the Bon Appétit team, led by Regional Director Bryan Bruin, Executive Chef Doran Payne, and General Manager Ivy Magruder, was hard at work juggling many moving parts — from feeding the opening event crew to executing special events for the Obamas, VIP performers and guests, outdoor popups and more. Over 30 leaders from the region gathered to help with the historic opening. General managers, executive chefs, catering directors, and support staff from wellness, marketing, and safety were all on hand. “Everyone who came was self-sufficient, self-motivated, and everyone exceeded our expectations,” says Bryan. “People were patient and understanding, they worked long hours (sometimes coming in at 3:30 am!) and never complained. We were all so grateful.” It was a momentous occasion for many of our culinarians. “Contributing to something that means so much to so many people and providing the hospitality that becomes part of that experience was truly meaningful,” says Regional Culinary Director Nick Walker. Manny Uribe, director of community engagement at OPC, wrote,

FALL 2026

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: NEW YORK CITY COMMISSARY SENIOR SOUS CHEF LARISSA RAPHAEL, OPC EXECUTIVE CHEF DORAN PAYNE, OPC DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANNY URIBE, BARACK OBAMA, FORD FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE CHEF DAN MORGAN, REGIONAL CULINARY DIRECTOR NICK WALKER, NEW YORK CITY COMMISSARY CULINARY DIRECTOR BILL TELEPAN. BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: NEW YORK CITY COMMISSARY PASTRY SUPERVISOR SIGOURNEY BURCHETTE, ROME’S JOY KITCHEN MANAGER ROBBIE LEWIS, EXECUTIVE SOUS CHEF CHARLIE ANDERSSON, EXECUTIVE SOUS CHEF VINCE ZHANAY.

“President Obama’s DACA program opened doors and created opportunities that significantly shaped my life and career... Seeing my name displayed among the tribute honoring those who helped build the Obama Presidential Center is a deeply meaningful and humbling moment. It...reflects a journey built through sacrifice, opportunity, perseverance, and the support of countless people along the way. I am honored to play a small role in bringing this historic vision to life.” Thanks to the many Bon Appétiters who helped pull off a beautiful opening weekend, the energy at OPC was “beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before,” says Bryan. He described watching strangers’ conversations about their experience of visiting the center on opening weekend transform into bonding moments over shared values. “I knew opening OPC would be moving,” he says. “But I never expected to be so gratified by witnessing the guest experience.”

On opening day, said Regional Director of Activation Jennifer McGann, “The sense of hope and possibility was everywhere. It was an honor to play a small role in welcoming people to a place built with such purpose and heart.” Now that the opening is behind them, the team is working to deepen the connections to visitors, members of the surrounding community, and local businesses — a shared goal between Bon Appétit, the Foundation, and Rome’s Joy. It’s work that Doran looks forward to. “The more we can engage with the surrounding businesses and within the community, the better it is for them, and the better it is for us. That’s what we’re about [as a company] anyway,” he says. “We all want something bigger. The Foundation wants something more than just a museum, right? It’s a place where people can come and engage and be a part of something else that did not exist a few years ago.”

A GLORIOUS BOWL OF GUMBO AT TAFARI’S KITCHEN | PHOTO CREDIT: ANTHONY TAHLIER

THE SENSE OF HOPE AND POSSIBILITY WAS EVERYWHERE. IT WAS AN HONOR TO PLAY A SMALL ROLE IN WELCOMING PEOPLE TO A PLACE BUILT WITH SUCH PURPOSE AND HEART. TAFARI’S KITCHEN | PHOTO CREDIT: ANTHONY TAHLIER

BRAVO

Design Notes: Nothing is Random For designer Gordana Jordanovska of Studio Goga, helping to design the layout and interior of Tafari’s Kitchen and the café was a project close to her heart. Growing up a child of Yugoslavian immigrants in Chicago, her family ran Branko’s (named for her father), a beloved sandwich shop in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, for 48 years. “I’m just really proud to be an immigrant, to be an architect, and to be able to learn and understand what it takes to run a restaurant, from ordering food to throwing out the garbage, from mopping the floors to being nice to the customers,” she says. Being part of designing the hospitality spaces at OPC was an honor she never could have dreamed of as a little girl living above her family’s sandwich shop, she says. But as an architect and designer, she was thrilled to combine her many sources of inspiration into a design that reflected the idea of a “loving kitchen table” as articulated by Michelle Obama. Over three years ago, leaving a strategy session with the Obama Foundation, Gordana, Fedele, and Bryan Bruin stood together on a Chicago sidewalk and brainstormed how to bring the loving kitchen table to life. Inspired, Gordana sketched her initial thoughts of an open kitchen with a layout to optimize the space, and the process was off and running. For Gordana, inspiration was everywhere, from the Chicago skyline to the Obamas

O RDAN ONE OF G

A’ S EA RLY

SK ETC H ES

AC E O F TH E SP

themselves. “Everything is designed to anchor that narrative [of the loving kitchen table],” she says. To develop the look and feel of both Tafari’s Kitchen, she says, “I looked at Michelle Obama’s White House portrait,” she says. “I studied the portrait, the brushstrokes, the colors, the relaxed pose, everything about that spoke to me, this is how the restaurant should feel.” “There’s so many layers of their stories tied into the layouts, the lighting, the materials we chose, the color we chose. Everything is intentional,” says Gordana. “Nothing is random.”

GORDANA JORDANOVSKA

OPC Openings All-Stars: Big shout-outs to members of the teams from the region and beyond who came to help in the run-up to the opening! Knox College Š General Manager Mitch McCoy Š Catering Director Karissa Soper Š Sous Chef Tony Mason Š Sous Chef Rodolfo Martinez Andrews University Š General Manager Michelle Michalenko Š Catering Director Belle Tan New York Commissary Š Culinary Director Bill Telepan Š Executive Chef Ryan Pascullo Š Senior Sous Chef Larissa Raphael

FALL 2026

National AI account Š Sous Chef Max Loflin Ford Foundation Š General Manager Colin Maclean Š Executive Chef Dan Morgan Š Catering Director Marianna Deangelo Š Assistant General Manager Sammy Ang Bon Appétit Image & Style Team Š Customer Experience Manager Robert Kasnekaw Š Regional Director of Activation Jennifer McGann Abercrombie & Fitch Š General Manager Laszlo Marcze

But Wait, There’s More! BY CHLOE OBOLENSKY

his most recent season of openings around the country is full of delicious flavors and thoughtful design. Kudos to the teams who brought these new cafés and stations to life all over the country! Read on to hear how Bon Appétiters breathed fresh air into newly renovated workplaces and college cafés alike. Eckerd College

The first opening is in sunny St. Petersburg, FL, where Eckerd College celebrated the grand opening of the new Sanders Dining Center on May 5. Located in a brand-new facility, the dining center offers a variety of fresh concepts, with the Wok station quickly becoming a campus favorite. As the Eckerd team shared, “Our Wok station, which features a Mongolian Grill, is definitely our most popular station!” Although the Sanders Dining Center has only recently opened, it has already become a popular gathering place for students, faculty, staff, and guests from the surrounding community. As students return for the fall semester, the dining center is expected to become an even more vibrant hub on campus.

A STUDENT SURVEYS HER OPTIONS AT ECKERD’S NEW DINING HALL PHOTO CREDIT: PENH ALICANDRO/ECKERD COLLEGE

Gleeson Café We brought a fresh dining destination to the University of San Francisco (USF) in California. Gleeson Café, located in Gleeson Library, was designed to complement the library’s environment. It features an elegant and sophisticated aesthetic inspired by the USF’s signature green and gold colors. The menu, created by Bon Appétit at USF Culinary Director Andrew Baechler, features fresh, seasonal offerings for every part of the day. Guests can enjoy breakfast sandwiches, build-your-own parfait bowls, artisan sandwiches, seasonal salads, flatbreads, grab-and-go options, espresso drinks, and refreshing Italian sodas. The response from the university community has been overwhelmingly positive. The café was featured in the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences newsletter, and sentiments on social media were enthusiastic. The university shared the following in its video post:

THE COUNTER AT GLEESON CAFÉ

DIRECTOR OF CULINARY OPERATIONS ANDREW BAECHLER (L) AND COOK KIT CHUNG

“New café at Gleeson Library, it’s the perfect place to grab a quick bite and study...I love this location because of the spacious seating, comfortable couches, and natural light. It is a great place to grab coffee in the morning, enjoy a meal with a friend, or pick up a study snack.”

BRAVO

U.S. Venture We’re also pleased to welcome U.S. Venture, the privately held business solutions company headquartered in Appleton, WI, to the Bon Appétit family. The company recently celebrated the opening of its newly renovated headquarters in a historic building in downtown. U.S. Venture chose to breathe new life into one of Appleton’s most iconic landmarks, transforming it into a modern workplace while contributing to the continued revitalization of downtown Appleton. The grand opening featured an open house, giving employees the opportunity to explore the new headquarters, including the café, fitness center, and other amenities. Bon Appétit’s new café, Community Table, opened for lunch in June and breakfast service soon after. Since opening, the pizza station and global station have emerged as faves, with opening menu highlights including Orange Sake Tempura Chicken and Tofu Stir Fry. The excitement has been evident from day one, with many guests walking into the café and simply saying, “Wow,” as they take in the beautiful space and wide variety of offerings. The vibrant workplace reflects U.S. Venture’s commitment to its employees and the Appleton community and has created a destination that celebrates the building’s rich history while embracing the future.

CONGRATS TO THE OPENING TEAM AT U.S. VENTURE!

Medtronic At Medtronic’s Rice Creek campus, the Marketplace Café at Rice Creek officially reopened this spring. Located at Medtronic’s global headquarters, the café underwent a complete transformation, turning what was once a dark space with low ceilings into a bright, modern dining destination. Employees have enthusiastically welcomed the refreshed café. The Near and Far is drawing crowds, while many guests are especially excited to have The Grill back after it had been closed for renovations. Guests have also embraced the fresh menu offerings, with the Grilled Chicken Mediterranean Greek Salad and Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon receiving great reviews. Beyond the food, employees have shared how much they appreciate the café’s bright, open atmosphere and the return of the full Bon Appétit team to the front of the house. Many commented that they had missed the personal interactions and friendly conversations with the café staff, highlighting the meaningful connections that make the dining experience special.

RETAIL MANAGER LAURA WIEDL (L) AND GENERAL MANAGER TRACY HARALDSON AT MEDTRONIC’S CAFÉ REOPENING

FALL 2026

THE COMMUNITY TABLE CAFÉ AT U.S. VENTURE

THE MARKETPLACE CAFÉ AT RICE CREEK

FROM THE FIELD

Everyone’s favorite highlight reel is back! From graduation innovations to flavor-focused events and activities, Bon Appétiters are constantly raising the bar on hospitality, chefdriven deliciousness, and all things wellness. Keep reading to learn what your counterparts are up to at cafés across the country.

IS IT CAKE? EXECUTIVE CHEF JESSE FAIRMAN’S SMÖRGÅSTÅRTA.

BRAVO

Bringing the Flavor! FROM THE FIELD

PLAYFUL COOKIES!

A Surreal Soirée at Reed College

THE MACARON TREE AT REED’S SURREAL SOIRÉE

The team at Reed College in Portland, OR, “raised the bar to stratospheric heights,” said one guest, with the menu for the school’s end-of-year luncheon to celebrate Reed’s staff. The planning for this annual event always starts collaboratively between the dining team and the planning committee, says Catering Director Gina Warnecke, who, along with Executive Chef Jesse Fairman, helped take the “surreal soiree” theme from idea to execution. Running with ideas from the planning committee that were extra playful and colorful, Jesse and his team, including Pastry Chef Jake Sanseri, designed a trompe l’oeil menu that felt straight out of Alice in Wonderland. The team assembled a macaron tree with brightly colored cookies (peep the tiny cheeseburgers), sandwiches on house-made bread tinted with ube to turn them deep purple and mimic chocolate cake, and the pièce de résistance, a savory Swedish cake called smörgåstårta that delighted guests and the culinary team alike. “The smörgåstårta was...one of the most breathtaking and delectable things I have ever been served,” said one guest. The salads, sides, and drinks followed suit, with unusual colors and textures amping up the overall visual effect. “Everything either looked or tasted like something it wasn’t, or if you knew what it was, it was just super vibrant and colorful and different,” says General Manager Mike Bucuvalas. “It was just a lot of fun,” says Jesse, to have the leeway to play with ideas and let the team push their creativity to the edge.

PASTRY CHEF JAKE SANSERI AND HIS OAT FLOUR MACARONS

FALL 2026

STRAWBERRY AND PICKLED ONION FRISÉE SALAD WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR AT SCAD

Small Bites, Big Flavor at SCAD At Ration Café at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA, Executive Chef Kelly Spell and her team are redefining what campus dining can be by creating unique, chef-driven small plates every day. Each dish showcases fresh ingredients, creativity, and thoughtful preparation, giving students, faculty, and guests something new to discover with every visit. It’s a simple yet impactful way to prove that campus dining can be innovative and memorable. The rotating small plates have become a favorite among guests, who appreciate the variety, quality, and care that go into each offering, turning Ration Café into a campus destination for inventive, exciting meals.

LOOKS COOL UNDER THERE!

Fun Flavors, FUNbrella In the Bay Area, they kept cool this past summer with unique ways to chill out under the FUNbrella. In San Jose, CA, eBay’s adventure included four different horchatas with plant-based milk as a base to capture as many guests as possible. AppLovin in Palo Alto, CA, launched their outdoor barbecue with a sweet finish: Coconut Matcha Sago with Mango and Blueberry and its trusted sidekick, Strawberry Banana Pudding Parfaits.

Culinary Arts and Collaboration The team at a Bay Area tech company in Mountain View, CA, recently brought a true nose-to-tail moment to life. Behind the scenes, Campus Executive Chef Rick Pettigrew led a hands-on breakdown of a whole Alaskan halibut, teaching the kitchen team proper fish butchery from start to finish. Later at a guestfacing activation, Sous Chef Abby Newhart presented Rick’s original creation: Frog Hollow Farm Pluot-Shiitake Halibut Ceviche with Halibut-Skin Chicharrón. The dish struck a beautiful balance: a light, delicate ceviche against a crisp, savory chicharrón made from the fish’s own skin, letting nothing go to waste. Guests lined up to taste the finished plate, unaware of the skill-building happening in the kitchen just hours before. It’s a great example of investing in our cooks’ craft and turning that training into something memorable for guests!

EXECUTIVE CHEF RICK PETTIGREW BREAKS DOWN A WHOLE ALASKAN HALIBUT IN THE KITCHEN

SOUS CHEF ABBY NEWHART WITH THE FINISHED DISH

BRAVO

FROM THE FIELD

MIXED NUT TROPICAL CAKE!

Spotlight on Sweets: Target’s From-Scratch Pastries When the dining team at Target North Campus near Minneapolis, MN, introduced their from-scratch pastry program, “the selection had been pretty limited, and the goal was to offer something more elevated,” says Pastry Chef Andrew Dinsmore. The team introduced 15 new items for Target team events, and the response was so positive that the program continued to grow. “Today, about 95% of our pastries are made from scratch,” says Andrew. Andrew loves working with seasonal fruits and unique flavors like lemongrass, sage, and plum. Some of the recent favorites have included Mixed Nut Tropical Cake, which is a hazelnut almond sponge cake with toasted cocoa nib crunch, hazelnut cremeux, and sunshine compote made from orange confit, passion fruit, and mango, mirror glazed and finished with hazelnut crunch. Another is Almond Chocolate Lime Coconut Cake, an almond chocolate sable with Malibu whipped ganache and lime confit, mirror glazed and finished with toasted coconut. “I think it’s nice for people to have access to a higher-quality pastry program at work. We’re able to offer desserts that feel more like something you’d get at a restaurant or bakery, at an affordable price. It’s a small perk, but it can make someone’s day when they can grab a high-quality dessert without having to leave the campus,” says Andrew. Kudos to the team for their success with this program!

FALL 2026

ANDREW (L) BAKING BREAD WITH FELLOW BAKER KATIE HODGES

THE HOT SAUCE SPREAD AT ONE OF THE LOCATIONS!

Bringing the Bon Appé-Heat to Chicago When a friendly hot sauce competition rolled out across offices at a national transportation technology company, the Chicago café team saw an opportunity to take it further. Each station developed its own signature hot sauce inspired by its cuisine, cultural influence, and team identity, turning the competition into a café-wide activation full of creativity and pride. Marketing Manager Delia Reif collaborated with Culinary Director Terrence Crandall and each station to shape the different concepts. The sauces all received a custom name and logo reflecting the station’s personality. The branded bottles and large-scale visuals throughout the café gave the activation a cohesive and distinctly Chicago feel.

and voting. Guests compared heat levels, debated favorites, and rallied behind their stations. The following week, the winning sauce returned as a pop-up feature. Several voters were invited into the kitchen for a behind-the-scenes tour, where they met the culinarians and tasted a prepared bite from each station. The activation showcased chef-driven creativity, reinforced each station’s identity, and boosted active engagement with guests. In the end, the hot sauce competition became a fun, practical way to strengthen community and demonstrate everyday hospitality!

On activation day, each station featured a dish incorporating its hot sauce, while a central tasting table displayed all six branded bottles for sampling

Beautiful Breakfast Bowls at Adidas Chef Imelda Garcia Perez has been working at Adidas in Portland, OR, for 20 years creating beautiful bites all day. Her specialty is amazing seasonal bowls and smoothies. The Village Canteen offers a variety of açaí bowls, yogurt bowls, and chia pudding with fresh fruit, granola, flax seed, and hemp hearts. Adidas employees can customize to their dietary and taste preferences by adding a variety of nut butters, seasonal fruits, and toppings for an added crunch. The chefs at Adidas really know how to make a delicious and nutritious breakfast!

BEAUTIFUL, NOURISHING BREAKFAST BOWLS AT ADIDAS

BRAVO

Community FROM THE FIELD

The Vassar Table: Bringing Community to the Plate Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, recently brought together campus history, food, and community (all around a shared table shaped like a V!). “The aim was to bring the Vassar community together around a shared meal that fosters community and a sense of belonging,” said Amanda Goodman, Vassar’s director of administrative affairs, who pitched the idea to Resident District Manager Steve Scardina and the Vassar Dining Services team. A Menu with Meaning The menu drew from Vassar’s rich history and the traditions of the Hudson Valley. Three Sisters Stew recognized Indigenous agricultural practices in which corn, beans, and squash are grown together. Other dishes referenced founder Matthew Vassar’s brewing legacy, as well as campus favorites including Vassar Angel, Devil, and Gremlin desserts and Vassar Fudge. The event built on Vassar’s Community Care Days, while offering a new format for campus engagement: a meal that combined food, storytelling, and collaboration. It also reflects how Vassar Dining Services is expanding its work beyond café spaces through pop-ups and partnerships tied to campus life and academic programming. “[We’re moving] beyond traditional café spaces through collaborative pop-up events that integrate food with campus life and academic programming,” Steve says. Recent efforts have included events on the library lawn and partnerships supporting student wellness, sustainability, and local food systems. Powered by Partnership Collaboration shaped the Vassar Table from the start. Dining Services works with campus partners, including the Office of Community Care and the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, to develop programs that reflect campus priorities. An ongoing partnership with the Vassar Student Association also gives students a direct role in shaping menus, events, and dining experiences. Since the debut of the Vassar Table, the team is now considering how to build on the concept through future events that bring students, faculty, and staff together around food and shared campus traditions. THE VASSAR TABLE IN ACTION

FALL 2026

MARTIN YAN SIGNS A BOOK FOR A FAN

MINI CHARCUTERIE PLATES IN PROGRESS

THE TEAM, LEFT TO RIGHT: COOK CARLOS MERCADO, CATERING MANAGER TRAVIS SOULIA, CLIENT URIAH PAIVA, SOUS CHEF DEREK HUM, MARTIN YAN, COOK PHIL LEE, GENERAL MANAGER DANIEL WILLIAMS, CAFÉ MANAGER DULCE GARCIA

Yan Can Cook — In Our Cafés! A Bay Area gaming company welcomed culinary legend Martin Yan, author of 37 cookbooks and longtime host of the PBS cooking show Yan Can Cook, to campus for a live cooking demonstration, book signing, and retail pop-up, while our café team featured recipes inspired by his cookbooks throughout lunch service. More than 300 additional guests joined the team for lunch that day, but beyond the turnout, the event created buzz, excitement, and connection. Employees gathered around the demo, shared stories about growing up watching Martin Yan on television, introduced coworkers to favorite dishes, and stayed long after lunch to meet him in person. The chefs took pride in bringing Chef Yan’s recipes to life, and guests embraced the opportunity to experience something special together. Through this team’s collaboration with the AAPI group on the company’s campus, the team turned lunch service into a shared experience that brought the community together around food, memory, culture, and conversation.

Graduation Innovations at Rose-Hulman At the annual Senior Celebration during commencement time for seniors at RoseHulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN, the event included 800 mini charcuterie plates to be passed to grads and their guests. With help from the culinary team at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, the team completed all plates with extra time to spare. The event was held in the Mussallem Union on Rose-Hulman’s campus. The teamwork and partnership between Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and DePauw University made this event seamless and smooth.

BRAVO

Andrews University President’s Lunch

FROM THE FIELD

The team at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI, was invited to host a luncheon in nearby Kalamazoo for the Michigan Colleges Alliance, a collective of top-tier colleges and universities in Michigan with whom Bon Appétit has a longstanding relationship. Andrews General Manager Michelle Michalenko wrote the menu, which SCAD campus executive chef Peter Schott helped her execute. The menu evolved to highlight ingredients that were at their seasonal peak, like wild mushrooms and ramps, allowing the natural flavors of the region to take center stage. The final menu celebrated both the season and the sense of place that defines Andrews University’s surrounding farming community, offering guests an authentic taste of Michigan’s spring harvest. Shout-outs to leaders in the region who came together to pull off a beautiful event. Regional Vice President Kellie Piper, Regional Director Liz Simmonds, District Manager Amanda DeWitt, Director of Business Development Katherine Jones, Regional Director of Activation Jennifer McGann, and Fuqua School of Business General Manager Licelys Hamman were all on hand to support Michelle and Peter.

THE SPREAD AT THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL LUNCHEON HOSTED BY THE DINING TEAM AT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY

Paying it Forward at Eckerd College At the end of the school year, students’ campus currency expires. This year, the team at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, tried something new to encourage students to use their remaining balance. They added a donation section where students could choose to purchase non-perishable items with their Flex Dollars and have them donated to a local food bank! This way, their funds weren’t going to waste, and students could put them toward something meaningful in their community. Director of Operations Leonor Aguilar and Marketing Coordinator Madi Kaine (both pictured) coordinated donations and delivery of non-perishables to Feed St. Pete, a local food bank. The Eckerd team hopes the success of this first year means even greater participation next year. Kudos to the team for their creative and community-oriented problem solving!

spicy Scoville units can ECKERD’S DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS LEONOR AGUILAR (L) AND MARKETING COORDINATOR MADI KAINE WITH THEIR DONATION TO FEED ST. PETE

FALL 2026

never measure my love for your painful beauty.

Sustainability & Food Education Culinary Creativity Shines at the Getty for their Zero Waste Recipe Contest Executive Pastry Chef Joanne Ponvanit and her team at the Getty in Los Angeles, CA, hosted a Zero Waste Recipe Contest for Earth Day. The event highlighted creativity, sustainability, and our commitment to reducing kitchen waste through thoughtful menu development. The winning recipe was created by Virginia Holland, a seasoned restaurant cook who has been with the company for over 25 years. Virginia’s passion for minimizing waste and utilizing all parts of an ingredient was reflected in her submission, Crispy Potato Skin Nachos. She repurposed potato skins from the restaurant, then blended cilantro stems and lime juice and zest into a bright cilantro crema, finished with green onion tops typically discarded. She finished the dish with a pico de gallo made from tomato ends from sandwich prep and Swiss chard stems. This zero-waste initiative fostered strong team engagement and deepened the collective appreciation for sustainable practices in the kitchen. It reflects the Getty team’s ongoing commitment to minimizing kitchen waste, honoring ingredients in their entirety, and continuing to evolve menus through creative, sustainable ingredient use. CONGRATS ON THE WINNING DISH, VIRGINIA!

Emory University Students Weigh the Waste and Turn Data into Action The dining team at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, recently hosted a Weigh the Waste initiative at Dobbs Common Table along with the Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI). The event encouraged students to think more intentionally about food consumption and waste through an interactive dining experience, said Emory Dining Marketing Coordinator Chau Nguyen. During the event, 132.4 pounds of edible food waste was collected, along with 22.8 pounds of non-food waste, including napkins, cupcake liners, cracker wrappers, and other packaging materials. One of the most encouraging outcomes was the increase in plate completion. Through a survey, the team learned that 304 diners finished their meals, compared to 120 diners during last year’s event. Chau noted that “the percentage of students who reported being served too much dropped significantly from 15.7% last year to 4.6% this year, likely reflecting the success of increased self-service options that allow diners to choose portions that fit their appetite.” Survey responses further revealed that the most common reason students cited for food waste was taking more food than they could finish. These findings suggest that personal portion decisions (rather than food quality or portion sizes provided by Dining Services), were the primary drivers of waste during the event. Through direct engagement with students, Emory Dining has been able to encourage more mindful habits around portioning and disposable usage within the dining hall. “The event demonstrated that sustainability is not just about reducing waste after the fact, but also about empowering students to make small decisions every day that collectively have a significant environmental impact,” says Chau. A special thanks to the OSI volunteers who helped make the event a success!

THANKS TO THE CAMPUS VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED WITH THE EVENT!

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Hospitality

Safety FROM THE FIELD

CONGRATS TO THE TEAM AT SCHOOLSFIRST ON THREE YEARS SAFE!

Celebrating Three Years Safe — With Cake!

SOUS CHEF INGRID PORTILLO BOXES UP MEALS FOR THE WINGATE SPRING BREAK MEAL PROGRAM

Over and Above, from Teams to Guests and Back Again At Wingate University in Wingate, NC, the team provided grocery boxes to support students who were on campus for spring break. Each box was designed to provide students with varied and balanced meal options throughout the week — for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The team was proud to support 224 student-athletes and other students staying on campus, helping ensure they had the nutrition and convenience needed to stay focused on practices, competitions, and their academic success! Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, has built a strong partnership with the Food Recovery Network over the past several years, working alongside students dedicated to collecting surplus food for local food banks and supporting neighbors in need. This year, that partnership grew even stronger through collaboration with the program’s new faculty sponsor, Professor David Rupke. During a campus visit, David toured the operation to learn about the Waste Not™ system and how the team tracks, packages, labels, and transports recovered food for distribution. Inspired by the commitment of our hourly team members, David and several student volunteers organized giving gift cards as thanks to employees who consistently support the program. The gesture recognized the effort and care that make food recovery possible at Rhodes and strengthened the collaboration — a win all around! For Executive Chef Mur Rae Glenn at DreamWorks in Glendale, CA, her birthday this spring was made extra special by a surprise birthday card signed by over 100 DreamWorkers. “It had me in tears with all the intimate messages,” says Mur Rae. “I am so overwhelmed and appreciative. I love Bon Appétit, I love DreamWorks, I love my career, and I love feeding and interacting with different people daily!”

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Bon Appétit at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union in Santa Ana, CA, recently celebrated an awesome milestone — three years without a medical incident. “Safety is a top priority for the team, and we believe that creating a safe workplace can go hand in hand with having fun,” says General Manager Tim Lanergan. Safety is always the first agenda item discussed during 10@10 meetings at this account. They also review allergens weekly to keep the team informed and aware. The managers are committed to maintaining a strong safety culture through monthly SMBWA reviews, quarterly combined safety assessments, and the team’s own efforts. Every piece helps ensure that safety remains at the forefront of everything the team does. “As we all know, safety is not just the responsibility of an individual — it is a team effort,” says Tim. “I am incredibly proud of our team’s dedication, accountability, and commitment to keeping one another safe every day. Congratulations to the entire team on this outstanding achievement. Here’s to another three years of working safely together!”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHEF RAE

Hold for ARTWORK

to what your fellow Read on for deeper dives in g happen nationwide! Bon Appétiters are makin 19

The Art of Stocks, Sauces, and Dressings BY ALLY PADRICK

HE SIGNS OF FLAVOR AREN’T LOUD. BUBBLES BARELY BREAK THE SURFACE OF A STOCK. RACKS OF RECENTLY ROASTED CHILES AND ONIONS AWAIT TRANSFORMATION INTO SALSA. A COOK DRAGS A SPOON THROUGH A FRESHLY MADE DRESSING, TASTING AND ADJUSTING WITH HERBS BEFORE ADDING MORE SALT.

Cooking from scratch is a standard, but more than that, it is one of the purest expressions of our commitment to flavor, sustainability, and quality. Through their daily production of stocks, sauces, and dressings, Bon Appétit chefs create memorable flavor, one day and one layer at a time.

Amping Up Stocks with the Seasons For Executive Chef Bedri Inkaya at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) in Palo Alto, CA, building flavor starts with paying attention to what others might discard. “In the summer, corn is everywhere,” he says. “Most people think about the kernels, I think about the cobs. There’s so much flavor there, it just needs time.” Corn cobs contribute to summer stocks, either as an accompaniment to standard ingredients or as a pure corn stock showcased in a seasonal risotto or soup. Stocks shift with the seasons, and vegetable stocks at Stanford GSB change constantly, depending on what’s coming out of the fields. This ever-evolving practice helps develop unique flavors while supporting efforts to reduce waste. “You stop seeing waste,” Inkaya says. “You start seeing ingredients that just haven’t had their moment yet.” A Signature in Every Sauce Inkaya’s menus often reflect his Turkish roots, expressed through bold sauces that bring both brightness and heat. A traditional harissa-tahini-labneh sauce carries subtle spice with cooling relief, or a reduction featuring

pomegranate molasses might introduce sweetness and acidity to a dish. “These are the flavors I grew up with. They’re not complicated, but they are very intentional.” Inkaya embraces our from-scratch philosophy through mezze-style offerings inspired by his culture. Spreads and dips like baba ghanoush and muhammara invite guests to explore different flavors and textures. Dishes like this “slow people down,” he adds. “They make you pay attention to what you are tasting.” Scaling Without Shortcuts Cooking in our commissary kitchens means sending food out and adding more variables. As production volume grows, so does the expectation that the flavor and integrity of each dish must hold regardless of service location. At Custer Commissary in San Francisco, CA, Culinary Director Matt Azevedo sees scale as a test of discipline. “When you’re cooking for one café, you can adjust on the fly. When you’re cooking for twelve, you need systems — but the standard stays the same,” he says. “We’re still making our dressings, our marinades, our sauces in-house daily. That’s where the flavor is.” The approach looks different than a standard café. Recipes are built to travel. Production is

timed and layered to account for multiple delivery routes. But the foundation holds: building flavor from the ground up. Guests taste this in the details. Elements like sauces, salsas, and dressings carry more weight in a commissary model. They bring freshness and variation to menus that need to operate within a consistent framework. Mexican and Indian menus are the most popular for the diners Custer Commissary serves, and the house-made sauces and salsas are a key factor. These cuisines often rely on multiple condiments to customize and enhance the experience of a dish without changing its structure. “You can serve the same base,” Azevedo says, “but the second you change a salsa or chutney, it becomes something new.” Across Bon Appétit kitchens, stocks, sauces, and dressings reflect a shared approach to cooking grounded in building flavor through seasonality and technique. Whether it’s a seasonal stock made from what might have been discarded, or a salsa that transforms a familiar dish, these elements bring our Food Standards to life in ways guests can taste. They show how consistency and creativity coexist, even as our operations continue to grow and evolve.

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Flavor Fundamentals in Action BY CHLOE OBOLENSKY

F YOU’VE EVER BEEN PART OF A BON APPÉTIT ACTIVATION, YOU KNOW THE CREATIVITY AND COORDINATION IT TAKES TO MAKE EACH ONE A SUCCESS.

This year, our teams have brought that energy to countless activations across the country, creating memorable experiences while also introducing guests to bold flavor profiles and unexpected pairings. Today, we are highlighting three teams that are experts in helping shape the flavors and experiences within our cafés.

Cookbook Club with Jorge Gaviria and Vitamina T As part of the Vitamina T book tour, cookbook author and chef Jorge Gaviria joined cafés up and down the West Coast to bring the rich traditions of Mexican foodways directly into guests’ lunch experiences. The book tour traveled across multiple corporate dining locations in both the Bay Area and Seattle, bringing guests an immersive experience inspired by the rich culture and diverse food spirit of the cookbook’s Mexican roots. At one such event at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, WA, the culinary team used authentic techniques and ingredients to recreate the bold flavors of a late night taqueria, which gave guests the opportunity to experience the recipes and the stories behind them firsthand. They featured Chilaquiles Verdes from Vitamina T, and invited guests to vote on a future activation for a chance to win a signed copy. The event celebrated the heritage, craft, and everyday joy of Mexican street food through Gaviria’s book and perspective.

THE TEAM AT A NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY ACCOUNT AT A VITAMINA T BOOK CLUB ACTIVATION

Bon Appétiters and guests alike were excited to participate in the events. “I cook from MASA religiously, so I was really excited to hear Jorge was visiting us with his new book,” one Bon Appétit employee shared. Another guest added, “It’s amazing to have events like this in the workplace. It’s one of the reasons I love Bon Appétit so much.” Whether introducing students to unexpected flavor pairings or celebrating the traditions behind beloved dishes, activations like these show that every meal has a story to tell, and every flavor is a story waiting to be shared.

THE VITAMINA T BOOK CLUB SET-UP AT THE GATES FOUNDATION

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SOUP FOR THE WIN AT WINGATE’S PALATE CHALLENGE

GENERAL MANAGER AMY TOMES (L) AND DIRECTOR OF DINING CHRIS JUDAS AT MACALESTER’S PALATE CHALLENGE

The Palate Challenge This new-to-the-rotation activation, the Palate Challenge, is designed to educate and excite guests’ palates by exploring the five fundamental tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Borscht for the Win(gate)

Exploring Contrasts at Macalester

At Wingate University in Wingate, NC, Brand Activation Manager Colleen Rolf introduced the Palate Challenge to bring the campus community together through food and get students thinking about unique flavor profiles.

At Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, the Palate Challenge also proved to be a fun and engaging way to introduce students to new flavor combinations. Brand Activation Manager Keane Amdahl says the activation was designed to spark curiosity and encourage students to think differently about the food they eat.

The lunch menu featured Creamy Borscht, Butternut Bisque, Lemon Rosemary Chicken and Rice, and Beef Pozole, each paired with complementary toppings. Guests were invited to match each dish to its flavor profile through a custom QR code activity promoted across digital and print channels.

“The activation fits what we thought students would enjoy and be engaged with,” Keane says. Through a variety of thoughtfully paired foods and flavors, students were encouraged to step outside their comfort zones and try combinations they may have never experienced before.

For many participants, one of the most memorable dishes was borscht. “I think for many college students, borscht is a really uncommon dish to see in a dining hall,” Rolf says. “The sweetness of the onion jam paired with the earthiness of the borscht, plus the tang of the sour cream and dill, was a great way to experience multiple flavor profiles in one dish.”

Favorites included mango and lime, while more unexpected pairings, like watermelon with feta and Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple, showcased how contrasting flavors can complement one another. “We can sometimes take these flavor combinations for granted because they’re familiar to us,” Keane says.

The activation generated excitement across campus, with Wingate’s marketing and communications teams stopping by to sample the menu and feature the event in a story and photoshoot. For Colleen, experiences like this set Bon Appétit apart. “Any time we can connect students back to the ingredients in a dish, or a reason behind a dish, is what makes us uniquely Bon Appétit.”

With the Palate Challenge, says Keane, “we’re creating an experience that encourages people to try something new.” By inviting students to explore unfamiliar ingredients and flavor pairings, the activation helped them learn more about how flavor works and build a deeper connection to the food on their plates.

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Flavor in the Fields at Butler BY KEVIN ASSELIN, SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER AT BUTLER DINING

T BUTLER UNIVERSITY IN INDIANAPOLIS, IN, LONG BEFORE AN INGREDIENT REACHES A CUTTING BOARD, FLAVOR GETS ITS START IN THE SOIL AT THE FARM AT BUTLER.

The Farm is a one-acre sustainable agriculture project managed by Butler’s Office of Sustainability. Since breaking ground in 2010, it has served as a living classroom, a model for sustainable urban agriculture, and a source of campus-grown produce. Today, its food is sold directly to Bon Appétit for use in campus dining, creating a direct line from campus soil to student plates.

In a campus dining program, peak flavor and abundance don’t always coincide with the dining program’s busiest times. Some of The Farm’s largest harvests happen during quieter summer months, when many students are on summer break, and café traffic is lighter. Having a plan for preserving the harvest gives the Butler Dining team a chance to capture those ingredients at their peak and use them when the full campus community returns. Locking in Flavor “Pickling, freezing, and other preservation methods are huge for us,” says Stephen Scott, Butler Dining’s campus executive chef. “The Farm has abundant crops during months when we may not have as much café traffic, so preservation lets us carry that freshness outside of the quieter summer months.” The techniques extend the useful life of the harvest, but they also retain the qualities that make a particular crop worth using in the first place. Take dill and campus-grown garlic as an example. Butler Dining chefs use both to build flavor into pickled produce, making the farm’s herbs and aromatics the backbone of café-ready ingredients. The result carries flavor from one crop into another and eventually onto student plates.

PICKLED RADISHES AND KOHLRABI

The culinary team has already frozen kale for future soups, sautés, sauces, and seasonal café features. Radishes and kohlrabi are being pickled in sweet-and-spicy and bread-and-butter preparations that can bring crunch, brightness, acidity, and contrast to future menus.

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BEETS!

CAMPUS EXECUTIVE CHEF STEPHEN SCOTT AT THE FARM

STEPHEN (L) AND FARM MANAGER TIM DORSEY

The Power of Proximity

An Abundance of Benefits

The proximity of The Farm also allows chefs to see what is growing, understand when ingredients will peak, and plan their use before the harvest reaches the kitchen door. A bumper crop can become a preserved ingredient. A row of herbs can become the foundation for a brine or sauce. A short-lived seasonal flavor can be incorporated into a future café feature.

Campus dining can make food-system ideas tangible. Students may encounter The Farm through a class, research project, volunteer opportunity, or on a walk past the fields. They may also encounter it through a meal: a sauce, a pickle, or frozen summer kale folded into a later dish. Those ingredients connect a meal to the land around campus and to the work required to use a harvest well.

Visits to the nearby farm give chefs the chance to walk the rows with Farm Manager Tim Dorsey, talk through crop timing, and consider how ingredients could move through the dining program. Some crops may be best served fresh and simply prepared. Others may be suited to a station feature, small-batch tasting, catering menu, or special café activation. The partnership gives The Farm a direct campus market for the food it grows and gives the culinary team a local, seasonal ingredient pipeline, which, in turn, students encounter in their daily visits to the café.

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Preservation also supports a practical approach to sustainability. When a crop is abundant, the goal is to use it thoughtfully, reduce waste, and extend the harvest beyond a brief window of availability. The Farm’s produce does not disappear from the menu simply because the season moves quickly or campus traffic slows for the summer. At Butler, preservation helps the dining team extend the harvest and bring campus-grown ingredients into student meals throughout the year. Flavor starts outside the kitchen. The craft is carrying it forward.

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A Partnership Focused on Flavor: Bon Appétit and Row 7 Seed Company BY PETER TODARO

AY BACK IN 2019, BON APPÉTIT CHEFS FROM ACROSS THE COMPANY FOUND THEMSELVES GROWING UNIQUE VARIETIES OF SQUASH, BEETS, POTATOES, AND PEPPERS IN THE GARDENS OF THEIR CORPORATE OR COLLEGE CAMPUSES, THEN TRIALING THEM IN THEIR KITCHENS.

Then-executive chef, now-District Manager Duke Walsh partnered with the Oxford College Organic Farm at Oxford College of Emory University to test Badger Flame beets, while Wellness Team Executive Chef Chris Lenza partnered with a local organization to grow Habanada peppers and 7082 cucumbers, a stubbled and intricately flavored pickler. The initiative was part of a fledgling partnership with Row 7 Seed Company, which was co-founded by award-winning chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns; Michael Mazourek, a plant breeder and professor at Cornell University; and organic seed grower Matthew Goldfarb. Very much akin to Bon Appétit’s founding quest for flavor, Row 7 began with a focus on innovative and flavorful new vegetable varieties. According to Gayle Miner, produce sales manager for Row 7, the company formed around the idea of “tapping into a network of plant breeders, finding and developing produce varieties without a current commercial market, and elevating farmers and chefs and bringing them into conversation.” Fast-forward seven years and the company has expanded from simply selling seeds to marketing produce to grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts Farmers’ Market, as well as wholesale distributors. They’ve also made their vegetables available on the MOG for Bon Appétit chefs during the growing season. Miner notes that Row 7 contracts with a network of organic farmers in regions across the country, so produce doesn’t need to travel far to reach plates. While Row 7’s list of seed varieties is long, the varieties that most often end up on wholesale lists include Badger Flame beets, “which eat like carrots and are super sweet,” Sweet Garleek (a delightful cross between garlic and a leek that can be cooked whole), Koginut squash (described as a stately pumpkin with sweetness and smooth texture), Honeypatch squash (imagine the flavor of a butternut concentrated into a squash one third of the size), and more.

HONEYPATCH SQUASH | PHOTO COURTESY OF ROW 7 SEED COMPANY

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sweet The highest high note. A thousand birds singing on the roof of your mouth.

LEFT: THROWBACK TO 2019! LEFT TO RIGHT, THENEXECUTIVE CHEF DUKE WALSH, FORMER EMPLOYEE MATT MELDRUM, AND THEN-SOUS CHEF JASON DUMEK WITH THEIR BADGER FLAME BEETS. BELOW: BADGER FLAME BEETS | PHOTO COURTESY OF ROW 7 SEED COMPANY

Bon Appétit chefs have taken notice of Row 7’s innovative varieties and have been using them in a variety of applications in their kitchens. Bon Appétit at Genentech Chef Manager Nikki Victoria found that the Badger Flame beets were perfect for her team’s poke station. “The beets didn’t bleed through…and the flavor was more pronounced and concentrated, perfect for a vegan poke.” Nikki also notes that Row 7’s kabocha holds its texture well and is very flavorful. At a large technology account in the Bay Area, Chef de Cuisine Erika Zazueta offered a tip for how to use Row 7’s Honeypatch squash. “We split them in half, roast them, and stuff with chicken and almonds,” Erika says. “It’s sweet, deep orange in color and about the size of a medium baked potato.” Row 7 continues to identify new varieties and has plans to expand its wholesale line-up. “We work with 55 different breeders and... we’re doing a ton of work behind the scenes to test varieties before we scale and push to the commercial part of our portfolio,” says Miner. As Row 7 continues to expand, Bon Appétit Local and Equitable Sourcing Specialist Shira Kaufman has been instrumental in helping chefs access their produce, even putting together a weekly email flagging the Row 7 varieties that are available on MOGs, most often through Charlie’s Produce, Vesta, and Baldor. She encourages chefs to give their vegetables a try, and who knows, maybe you’ll want to grow some in your garden, too!

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The Ecosystem Is the Ingredient

Reflections on sourcing, scale, and what goes unseen BY PATRICK MCELROY, SENIOR PURCHASING MANAGER

T BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY, WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT INGREDIENTS: WHERE THEY’RE FROM, HOW THEY’RE GROWN, AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND THEM. BUT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, SOMETHING BRINGS ALL OF THAT INTO MUCH SHARPER FOCUS. FOR ME, THAT MOMENT HAPPENED RECENTLY IN CÀ MAU, VIETNAM.

While visiting shrimp farms there, I found myself standing between two operations less than a kilometer apart. On paper, they existed in the same place. On the ground, they couldn’t have been more different. The first farm was built around efficiency. Large ponds were carved into the land and lined with plastic. Paddle wheels turned constantly to aerate the water. Everything about this farm was engineered for output and consistency. But it felt empty. There were no birds overhead, no trees, no sense of anything beyond the mechanics of production. Not far away, the second farm told a completely different story. It was situated within a mangrove forest, shaded by a dense canopy of trees. You could hear the water moving naturally with the tide. Even the ground felt alive. This wasn’t a system forcing production; it was working with the environment around it. The farmer, Phạm Thanh Tuấn, explained that he raises shrimp the same way his family has for generations. No chemicals, no added feed. Just the tidal system, the mangroves, and time. The shrimp grow as part of that ecosystem, rather than apart from it. The contrast was hard to ignore. Two farms, two fundamentally different approaches to how we produce food. The Reality of Shrimp Farming What I saw in Vietnam reflects a much bigger reality. A significant portion of the shrimp that ends up on U.S. plates comes from small-scale farms across South and Southeast Asia. These farmers are essential to the global supply chain, but many haven’t had a clear way to demonstrate how they operate or improve their practices.

ONE OF THE SHRIMP FARMS PATRICK VISITED LOCATED WITHIN THE MANGROVE FOREST

For a long time, the system hasn’t worked in their favor. Sustainability ratings are often applied broadly at the country level, which doesn’t capture what’s happening on individual farms. Certification programs can be expensive and complicated, putting them out of reach for many small

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producers. As a result, farmers who are doing things responsibly haven’t always had the ability to prove it or benefit from it. That disconnect is starting to change. Helping Farmers Shift Their Practices While I was there, I was encouraged to learn about the development of new tools designed specifically for these farmers, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Verification Platform.* It gives farmers a practical way to measure their operations against established sustainability standards using something as simple as a tablet or smartphone. More importantly, the verification platform helps farmers identify where they can improve and gives them a credible way to show buyers how they perform. For farmers who have been doing the right thing all along, it opens the door to markets that finally recognize and reward those efforts. From my perspective, that’s a big shift. It makes it possible for more producers to meet the standards and benefit in the marketplace as a result. Better Systems = Better Flavor Back in the kitchen, this process shows up in ways you can’t ignore. Shrimp raised in a natural mangrove system cook differently compared to shrimp from intensive systems. They hold their structure in the pan. The texture is firm, and the flavor carries a clean, slightly sweet depth that doesn’t disappear, reflecting the environment where they were raised.

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After spending years in kitchens, restaurants, large-scale operations, teaching, and now culinary purchasing, I have a solid understanding of how much sourcing matters. But seeing it firsthand like this brings a different level of clarity. Especially when you consider economies of scale. The decisions we make don’t just impact a single plate. They influence supply chains that move millions of pounds of product every year. Those choices either support systems that restore and sustain, or systems that deplete. That’s what stuck with me the most coming back from Vietnam. Sustainability isn’t something abstract. It’s not just a policy or a goal. It’s something you can see, smell, hear, and stand in. It exists in ecosystems like those mangrove forests, and in the communities that depend on them. And in a very real way, we help shape what gets farmed by what we choose to buy and serve. The good news is that a better system already exists. We saw it. The challenge now is making sure more of our decisions support it. *Editor’s Note: Patrick McElroy is part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, a group of chefs who are advocates for sustainable seafood. While the product discussed in this story is not yet available to Bon Appétit chefs, Patrick’s story demonstrates the efforts we make to find and then work to secure the best products.

bitter Lend edges to sweet. Elevate rich to complex. Give shape to flavor.

For this issue, we took a deep dive into the idea of flavor — an idea that’s driven our company since the very beginning. If you’ve thought much about flavor, you recognize that much like any given dish we serve at cafés all over the country, it’s layered. There’s more to it than how food tastes. Flavor is connected to how food is grown and produced. It depends on culinary technique to shine. And it can’t be untangled from people, memory, community, and curiosity.

In the following stories, we explore the many facets of flavor. We hear how it all started for Fedele, how our chefs are interpreting flavor trends, and how they develop flavor in their kitchens. And we look at what flavors have stuck with our people in the past year, and why. In essence, we go back to our roots, considering flavor as a way of being in the world.

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FEDELE’S TOMATOES

A CONVERSATION WITH FEDELE BAUCCIO BY JENNY SLAFKOSKY

The conversation, as you might expect, starts with tomatoes. Fedele has just been out to his greenhouse to check on them. They’re doing well, he says, promising to send pictures, which arrive via text minutes later. Robust vines, guarded by sentry marigolds, climb out of their cages toward the roof of the greenhouse. They’re heavy with orbs at all stages of tomatoey ripeness: vibrant red, glowing orange, and a light, expectant green whose color leaves a tartness in the mouth. Outside, raised beds with neat rows of lettuces and peppers, and a cluster of strawberries flanked by lavender stretch to the sun. This is the garden of a man who is obsessed with flavor — but who has the patience to wait for it. WELL, MAYBE.

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hen we started the company, if I saw a lug of tomatoes in the refrigerator, I would go crazy,” he says, his voice rising a decibel with emotion. “They don’t belong in there! You don’t refrigerate tomatoes, okay?!”

Shortly after Bon Appétit’s founding, a chef told Fedele he had a relationship with a farmer he could get really good product from. “I said, ‘Yeah! Go talk to him!’ and that was kind of the beginning of Farm to Fork,” he says. A few years later, Fedele was asked to join the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production.

When Fedele walks into a Bon Appétit kitchen, he says he knows by the smell if the team is cooking the way he expects: It just smells right. “You need to understand how I grew up with an Italian mother in the kitchen and a grandmother who came from Italy who lived with us. We had a garden full of basil and oregano and lemons and pepper and zucchini and artichokes and tomatoes and all of that… The smells in the kitchen were just unbelievable. I can still feel that flavor and sense it today. Things were so simple, nobody rushed… And I just thought to myself, this is what food should be.”

THINGS WERE SO SIMPLE, NOBODY RUSHED… AND I JUST THOUGHT TO MYSELF, THIS IS WHAT FOOD SHOULD BE.

A SIMPLE MANTRA While simple cooking can mean different things to people depending on their cultural backgrounds and experiences — something Fedele says is important to acknowledge — the pursuit of authentic flavors and respect for ingredients is universal. “It took us two or three years to convince chefs to come over to that side [food service] because it wasn’t a sexy side of the business. I said to a number of potential chefs, ‘Look, we’re not going to give you any recipe boxes. We’re not going to give you six weeks of menu cycles. You just decide what you think is right based on what’s in the marketplace during that period of time and use your craft to do something that’s special and customize it.’ So that was the beginning.” There were a lot of competitors in the food service business at that time, but, ironically, no one was focused on the food. “Everybody kind of laughed at us. And I thought to myself, you know, we’re gonna be a change agent. We’re gonna change the industry for the better.”

FROM FLAVOR TO REVOLUTION Seeking the best ingredients — pursuing flavor as a way of being — became the hallmark of Bon Appétit’s offer to clients and, perhaps surprisingly, the force behind the company’s more elevated purpose: food service for a sustainable future.

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“I spent two or three years going to factory farms all over the country,” he says. “And that was the beginning where the light bulb went off. I decided that we needed to do a much better job of sourcing and stay away from factory farms, concentrated animal feeding operations, and so forth. And it pushed me to the point where I said to the chefs, go in the fields and find the best farmers, find the best ranchers, and let’s get as many products as we can. So that we get an apple that’s from a tree, you know, a couple of miles away and not an apple that’s brought across the United States. That was the beginning of how I felt about sustainability… But it was all about taste and it was all about flavor and it was all about going back to my childhood and what I saw in an Italian home.” Fundamentally, the pursuit of flavor drove Bon Appétit to commit to a long list of industry firsts, from sustainable seafood to gestation cratefree pork. While the notion that food should taste good seems like a simple, even obvious, idea, it’s one that sparked a revolution. For nearly 40 years, Bon Appétit chefs have had the freedom to pursue flavor, and for Fedele that fundamental principle has made all the difference. For him, this company’s purpose, beyond serving food, is about connecting to each other through flavor and memory. Fedele’s father, Salvatore, raised chickens in the backyard, and the family had one every week for Sunday dinner. Cooking on a grill fashioned out of a wheelbarrow, Salvatore basted the bird with a mixture of oregano and lemons grown in the garden using a celery stalk as a brush. “And I tell you, the taste with those fresh lemons and that oregano that we grew with that chicken that he barbecued was amazing. I still remember that taste. I still cook it that way.”

BY LEIGH BELANGER

WHAT FLAVOR CONTAINS

Over the summer, we asked you what we thought was a simple question: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE DISH OF THE YEAR? We thought the answers would yield a spectrum of dishes with “hero” flavors that would allow us to identify a few trends and map them on a grid. One hundred and twenty-four answers later, we came away with much more than that.

The answers spanned the globe’s cultures and cuisines, and they revealed surprising common ground. People repeatedly described meals that reminded them of home, introduced them to new places, celebrated family traditions, or captured a moment they wanted to relive. Flavor was the starting point for stories of all kinds.

HERE’S SOME OF WHAT WE LEARNED:

TEXTURE RULES: Often when people described what they liked about a dish, it was a texture call-out: creamy, crispy, tender, chewy, flaky. Texture elevates flavor, from the “melt-in-your-mouth texture” of a salmon vichyssoise that Vassar College’s General Manager Steven Scardina described, to Colorado College’s Café Manager Robyn Bridgeman’s portrait of a “soft and luscious” Colorado Palisades peach pie. Crisp-edged potatoes, “wonderfully crunchy” fried fish — we love our mouthfeel around here.

FLAVOR SPARKS (AND CEMENTS) MEMORY: So many of your entries were inseparable from memory. Target’s Resident District Manager Salvatore Rosa described, “A spoonful of caponata, with its delicate balance of sweet and sour, recalls the ingenuity of Sicilian cooks and my own mother who celebrated every harvest and wasted nothing.” When making familiar childhood dishes with his daughter, “the kitchen becomes a place where history is preserved...in taste, aroma, and ritual.” And Exelixis’ Senior Executive Chef Sammuel Sanchez wrote that the oden at San Francisco’s famed izakaya Rintaro was “simmered into [...] memory.”

BRAVO

CRAFT MATTERS: We notice execution. For Sean Lim, catering sous chef at Airbnb, a restaurant dish with a “perfectly cooked” scallop set off by smoky beurre blanc with “just the right amount of umami” was his favorite of the year. Others noted the craft in a plate of barbecued beef ribs and cheeks, their account’s cheese-stuffed jalapeños, and a pumpkin soup that Director of Strategic Projects Sarah Gill at a national tech account described as “VELVET. Well-rounded and perfectly balanced.”

HOSPITALITY ELEVATES: As we all know, environment affects the experience of flavor, for better or for worse. During a work trip to Portland, OR, Brand Activation Manager Richard Uribe tried Colombian food — succulent beef empanadas and cheesy arepas — for the first time and noted, “the food was delicious, but the hospitality is what made it memorable.”

CONDIMENTS FOR THE WIN: Sauce, pesto, salsa, aioli, dressing, oh my! You gave all the props to condiments for their role in boosting flavor. Whether it’s a green strawberry and cucumber relish over a buttermilk brined pork chop highlighted by Resident District Manager Ryan Wilson at Pinterest, a hit of chili oil finishing tantanmen ramen called out by Chef Manager Bryan Pollock at College of Idaho, or a pistachio pesto enlivening whole roasted cauliflower in Proposal Writer Tara Baranowske’s kitchen, this crew knows their way around an intense dollop, smear, or sprinkle to finish a dish.

CONTRAST IS EVERYTHING: Ah, but what would crispy be without tenderness to offset it? One-note, that’s what. At least, that’s the story your responses told. Colorado College’s Culinary Director Edward Salazar shared delicious details of a barbecue feast that included “a balance of flavors and textures. The beef rib had a deep smoky bark with juicy, meltoff-the-bone meat. The crispy tostada added a satisfying crunch to contrast the soft, succulent barbecue.”

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FLIP THROUGH THE NEXT FEW PAGES TO SEE WHAT FLAVORS, TEXTURES, AND VALUES MADE FOR THE MOST MEMORABLE MEALS OF THE YEAR!

We mapped your tastes based on a highly unscientific understanding of where they fell on a matrix of unexpected/familiar and subtle/bold. How did we do? Discuss.

FLAVOR

“Umami flavors in

SUBTLE

ODEN (JAPANESE FISHCAKE SOUP)

VEGAN SASHIMI PLATTER

every bite”

“I can still smell the aromatic broth”

“Tasty and simple, w ith flavors I would not have put together”

STRAWBERRY MISO TOAST

RAINIER CHERRY AND TAHINI SOFT SWIRL 4

“A play on sweet and savory”

TUNA TARTARE

COQ AU VIN “The last meal of my honeymoon!”

rites!” “One of my favo

NORTH FORK OYSTERS 10 WITH MIGNONETTE “Clean and briny”

“so good, so co

nsistent”

CLASSIC CHEESE PIZZA

PUMPKIN SOUP “VELVET!”

CHICORY SALAD WITH KUMQUAT AND CRISPY ANCHOVY “fresh, fatty, acidic, cri

spy”

“Succulent mouthfeel”

HOKKAIDO SCALLOP WITH SMOKED DASHI BEURRE BLANC 6 “simple but e

loquent”

SLOW-ROASTED SALMON “VICHYSSOISE” COLORADO 13 PALISADE PEACH PIE “every element worked together without any part overpowering the others”

FAMILIAR 36

BRAVO

UNEXPECTED

BÁNH MÌ PHO DIP

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“spin on an American classic”

” “Nostalgic but still creative

VEGAN SOUL BOWL

“A smoky sm orgasb of pure indulg ord ence”

TEXAS-STYLE BARBECUE FEAST 24 KOJI-WHEY BUFFALO CAULIFLOWER

sed me” “the depth of flavor surpri

“Absolutely wonderfu l... made my taste buds tingle!”

GINGER SHOYU 17 CHICKEN MUSUBI GOCHUJANG STICKY WINGS

“flavor & texture!”

CRISPY PORK BELLY LECHON

“A balanced and modern take on a classic”

“Every sip a smile”

GREEN PORK POZOLE

“Bright flavors, crisp garnishes, tender meat” “Absolutely wonderful... perfectly balanced”

TANTANMEN RAMEN

BOLD

MATRIX UNEXPECTED FRIED WHOLE 16 BASS WITH GREEN SICHUAN “Nice and crispy, balanced”

FIRECRACKER STEELHEAD 19

BEEF PASTITSADA

“Dark, rich, silky, perfect for cold weather”

“After every bite, I want more!”

KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN 26

FAMILIAR

BY ELLA GMELICH

FLAVOR TRENDS BY REGION WEST COAST

Š Bright fruit-forward, chile-driven heat. Š Smoky-sweet, cedar-planked salmon flavor. Š Umami-forward, fermented chile depth.

ROCKIES

Š Roasted, smoky green chile depth. Š Earthy, lean game meat flavor. Š Sweet, high-altitude produce flavor.

SOUTHWEST

Š Earthy, toasted chile-and-chocolate depth. Š Bright, charred tomatillo acidity. Š Smoky-sweet corn flavor.

hen it comes to responding to trends, the trick is to view a trends report as a lens into what’s already happening on the ground where you’re cooking. The real skill isn’t knowing that “swicy” is having a moment; it’s knowing what swicy already looks like on your street, and which guests are seeking it out. A green chile stew in Denver and a mango habanero glaze in San Diego share similar trend DNA, with different regional faces. The regional flavor trends identified here are just the beginning of a conversation about how to develop flavors on our menus. They’re rooted in demographics, local foodways, and global influence. The work isn’t chasing what’s trending; it’s recognizing it when it’s already sitting in your walk-in.

BRAVO

MIDWEST

NORTHEAST

Š Molten, cheese-forward richness.

Š Creamy, smoky chowder richness.

Š Savory, slow-simmered comfort depth.

Š Bright, herbal garlic-and-oil flavor.

Š Creamy, tangy buttermilk richness.

Š Sweet, woodsy maple flavor.

MID-ATLANTIC

Š Salty, griddled pork-and-egg richness. Š Briny, spiced seafood richness. Š Tangy, cured deli flavor.

SOUTH

Š Honey-forward heat with familiar spice. Š Earthy, sesame-forward coastal flavor.

umami

Š Savory, slow-built trinity depth.

Not one thing, but all. Ineffably familiar, deep satisfaction.

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BY WILLIAM PERSSON

HOW

BON APPÉTIT CHEFS ARE MEETING THE FLAVOR MOMENT In speaking with Bon Appétit chefs around the country for this story, the takeaway was clear: Our chefs think in-depth about flavor. All the time. These conversations revealed various flavorways across the country regardless of region, connecting us all in our love for great-tasting food. In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, chefs are adding layers of flavor to rich clam chowder with smoky bacon or grilled corn — even grilling or smoking the mirepoix in some cases to add a unique umami smokiness. The depth of flavor from mirepoix shone true in comforting flavors from the South, too! “Newstalgia” is the norm on menus in the South and Midwest, with classic comfort foods taking on a new life with flavors like hot honey on crispy chicken in the South and mac and cheese paired with house-made pickles in the Midwest. But “newstalgia” isn’t just for the so-called Comfort Belt — it’s showing up in those chowders from the Northeast and desserts on the West Coast.

ROCKIES

Embracing Smoky Green Chile Depth and the Flavors of HighAltitude Produce in Denver At the Denver location of a national financial services account, General Manager Anthony Cutajar had a lot to share about the burgeoning food scene in Denver and how it has inspired his menus. From Colorado’s “green chile hyperfixation” and Denver’s love of tapas to an ever-growing shift toward more local sourcing, the TexMex flavors popular to Coloradans are becoming influenced by crops that thrive in Colorado’s short growing season and the diverse groups moving to the state, including Filipinos and their cuisine! Anthony’s flavor-forward fave: Š Crispy Pork Belly Lechon with CRISPY PORK BELLY LECHON

garlic rice and green papaya pickle slaw served with sweet lemongrass soy sauce. The pork belly is cooked in a wood-fired oven to add a smoky quality to the dish.

(noun): Newstalgia nostalgic familiar, Blending a odern twist on am flavor with gredients. texture or in

WEST COAST Southern California: Umami Depth in Los Angeles Thanks to a Fish Sauce Obsession Although Disney Studios’ chefs draw inspiration everywhere from LA’s barbecue scene to its plethora of Armenian restaurants, Executive Chef Jared Levy highlighted one consistent flavor note throughout their menus: fish sauce. Southeast Asian cuisine is a big part of the food culture at Disney, but fish sauce is a menu mainstay. “Just in our pantry alone, we have three types of fish sauce, using them in different ways to create nuanced flavors,” says Jared. Š See the winning burger in our Earth Day

recipe challenge on page 66 for an example of how Disney chefs use fish sauce. BRAVO

WEST COAST

WEST COAST FERMENTED STRAWBERRY AGUACHILE WITH SCALLOPS

MUSHROOM AND LENTIL CONSERVA BLENDED BURGER

Northern California: Turning Up the Heat, Smoke, and Fermented Flavors in San Jose

General Manager Joseph Valenzeula and his team at C3.ai paired umami with fermented brightness in their Earth Day Mushroom and Lentil Conserva Blended Burger, featuring a cooked down mushroom, garlic, and shallot mixture seasoned with fish sauce and sherry vinegar.

At Adobe, Executive Chef Jesus Munoz is inspired by Korean foods popular in the Bay Area, adding fermented flavors to heat for additional depth of flavor. “People don’t just want heat, they want depth,” Jesus says. In part, that depth comes from smoking foods (like trout) in their electric smoker! It also comes from trendy Asian ingredients like matcha, ube, yuzu, and black sesame in familiar dessert formats to incorporate more flavor notes: Ube Chantilly Cake, Yuzu Lemon Curd Pie, and Black Sesame Basque Cheesecake have all been featured at their retro diner concept. Jesus’s fermentation meets heat: Š White Strawberry Aguachile with

Scallops combines fermented white strawberries with classic aguachile ingredients. Fresh strawberries gave contrast to the bitter, acidic flavors of the pickled strawberries.

CHARRED OCTOPUS WITH CANNELLINI BEAN PUREE, CASTELVETRANO OLIVE, AND HEIRLOOM TOMATO RELISH

WEST COAST

Southern California: San Diego Embraces Bold, Layered Flavors

Pacific Northwest: Letting Bold Flavors Shine in Portland

ServiceNow’s Executive Chef Chelsea Westbrook looks to trends in SoCal to inspire menus, drawing upon fruit paired with heat, umami from fermented foods, and smokiness. She also pairs her background in Latin American cuisine with California Coastal flavors. Trends are always introduced as limited features to gauge popularity, and here’s what’s stuck around recently:

At Adidas, Executive Chef Jessica Boisture embraces the bold flavors of the Portland, OR, food scene, which is heavily influenced by Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Southeast Asian, and Indigenous foodways. Jessica has embraced these flavors with seasonal menus, using more chiles in finishing oils and marinades, and creating more fermented and pickled foods. “Fermentation has been finding its way [into menus]...giving a flavor punch without overwhelming,” says Jessica.

Š Smoked Candied Salmon,

Jessica’s umami meets smoky meets fermented flavors:

marinated in a sugar-soy glaze. (Smoked food is always a hit at ServiceNow, and the client got a smoker for both sites!) Š Weekly rotating global tapas, featuring small bites like Charred Octopus with Cannellini Bean Puree. “Everyone is looking for a quick, flavor-packed bite,” says Chelsea. Š Gochujang Grilled Chicken Thighs with rice and pickled vegetables (using leftover seasonal produce)! FALL 2026

Š Cedar-Roasted Salmon with a

Miso Gochujang Glaze served with roasted vegetables Š Korean-Inspired Braised Beef Bowl with mushrooms, kimchi, and pickled vegetables, finished with chili crisp and toasted sesame seeds Š Charred Vegetable Grain Bowls tossed in a fermented red jalapeño vinaigrette

MID-ATLANTIC International Flavors Shine in Philadelphia

Simple is better . You don’t need 40 component s on a plate to wow people anymor e. I think there is a renewed appreciation fo r si ingredients prep mple, high-quality ared with intent ion and authenticity. — Ty Paup

“Our goal is to be the most inclusive food program, attempting to satisfy the diversity of our student body,” says University of Pennsylvania’s Culinary Director Shazad Khan, and that means embracing popular food trends from social media, for example. Students are seeking the diverse flavors of street foods over straightforward, familiar comfort foods and rotating concepts over familiar classics. This year, one of their residential outlets will celebrate an international cuisine for an entire week, diving into the flavor profiles, trends, and traditions. Shazad’s future-focused menus this year will include: Š Indonesian smashed fried chicken Š Dirty sodas Š Butter chicken pasta Š Pakistani chopped cheese

MID-ATLANTIC New York City Commissary Pastries Get a Savory Spin Senior Sous Chef Larissa Raphael’s background as a pastry chef gives her a different perspective on building flavor. Maple may be trending in savory applications, but it’s usually just a sweetener. On the other hand, pastries have been getting the savory treatment with layers of richness and umami from a range of cheeses. Think croissants with mortadella and cheese or ham and cheese Kouign Amanns. “You want dessert to be balanced in flavor, not a sugar bomb,” she says. Here’s how she does it: Š Citrus for brightness Š Adding salt to chocolate dishes (it

might be mainstream, but it’s good for a reason) Š Pairing herbs and berries (blackberries and lavender, anyone?)

NORTHEAST Building Flavors at Every Step in New England Regional Culinary Director Ty Paup has seen his New England chefs embrace newstalgia by taking flavors in different directions at each step of a dish. For example, he’s seen chefs transform a clam chowder by charring or smoking the mirepoix or adding grilled corn. Other coastal mainstays, like lobsters or oysters, can get refreshed by adding flavors from different cuisines. Ty suggests embracing freshness from herbs and garlic in a new way. Herb emulsions with global inflections pack more of a flavor punch. Think salsa verde, romesco, or artisan chili crisp.

ways As chefs, we’re al to flavor trends. paying attention out and nice thing ab g in th ng ti ci ex The ty to dream er ed is the abili working in high justments. big and make ad — Peter Tracy

NORTHEAST Next Level Flavor Customization in Massachusetts Executive Chef Peter Tracy may be new to Bon Appétit, but he is excited to bring his background from Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; and Lancaster, PA, to bear on the menus at MIT in Cambridge, MA. As he worked with his team to develop menus for this year, he focused on customization and fresh, authentic flavors. They’re drawing from flavor trends like woodsy maple and bright citrus and herbs and incorporating more global flavors. His diverse group of chefs will each bring their own flair to the House they oversee.

BRAVO

MIDWEST “Meat and Potatoes” Menus Meet Global Flavors in Minneapolis Senior Executive Chef Jorge Guzman pointed out how Medtronic marries flavors inspired by the global Minneapolis food scene with comfort foods. Though it is difficult to compare the food scene in Minneapolis to that of Chicago or Indianapolis, “one thing they all have in common is a consistent desire for comfort foods and rich flavors,” says Jorge. The Medtronic team often features one station with dishes slightly out of the norm that would still feel familiar to guests, such as regional cuisines from Mexico, bringing in hearty flavors like adobo sauce.

Our ould be sh od fo e want an experience. W the enjoy guests to feel it, ‘D*MN.’ go d experience, an ld onto I want them to ho good e and that. A good plat ange hospitality can ch — someone’s day. ke al Nicholas W r

SOUTH

FRIED LOCAL OYSTER MUSHROOMS WITH TRADITIONAL SOUTHERN SIDES

...and Southern Staples with Layered Flavors

Nick Walker Gets Newstalgic Over Midwestern Comfort Foods The Southeast-Midwest’s Regional Culinary Director Nick Walker has noticed a popular flavor trend: curating familiar meals to your own unique flavor preferences. Newstalgia demands that his accounts take something familiar and add in another layer of flavor. Guests can pair their hearty Midwestern faves like mac and cheese with fermented pickles or a house-made hot sauce, adding layers of heat, smoke, or fermented brightness to a comforting classic.

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Part of embracing flavor trends is understanding how our guests are approaching them. A newstalgic approach for Gen X or Millennials might not work for their kids in Gen Z or Gen Alpha. Luckily, Ella Gmelich helped us break down the upcoming generations’ flavor expectations so you know how to build your menus for years to come. Millennials want novelty that still fits a weeknight dinner, not trend for trend’s sake. Nostalgia is the entry point, but it needs a twist (“newstalgia”). And over 70% say they’ll share a new flavor find online, so it needs to be photogenic.

MIDWEST

SO MANY HOT SAUCES FOR CUSTOMIZATION AND PERSONALIZATION

Generational Flavor DNA

Savory, slow-built flavors form the root of comforting flavors. “Guests want to add layers of sweetness and heat,” says Nick, pairing hot honey with something familiar like chicken wings. As in every region, in addition to flavor, guests are seeking varied and unique textures. Flavor meets texture for Nick: Š Fried Local Oyster Mushrooms,

Mac and Cheese, and Collard Greens. Crunchiness meets bitterness and acidity from the greens. With a sweet-heat glaze, it all comes together with layers of newstalgic flavors.

Gen Z is all about swalty and swicy, desiring comfort-forward fare with a bold global contrast. Sweet notes drive the majority of desired flavors. Their winning flavor formula: layer a base flavor with a contrasting one. Gen Alpha wants a lot of customization. Comfort is more important than global or elevated dishes. Their palates are “bold from birth” because of Millennial parents, meaning unique flavor pairings are an expectation, not novelty. (Think swangy: spicy + sweet + tangy). [Sources: IFT (Institute of Food Technologists), “Outlook 2026: Flavor Trends”; Food Dive, “From ‘newstalgia’ to ‘swangy’: The flavor trends taking over 2026”; Food Business News, “Flavors to move beyond taste in 2026,” citing Morgan Myers’ 2026 Consumer Food & Flavor Trends Report; Tastewise, “Gen Z Food Trends 2026: B2B Consumer Insights Guide”]

BY APRIL MARKS

THE JOY OF

BOMBING BON APPÉTIT CHEFS LOVE TO TALK ABOUT FLAVOR, AND FOR GOOD REASON. IT’S AT THE HEART OF WHAT THEY DO. Most build flavor with familiar ingredients: a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of sugar, a pat of butter. But in many Bon Appétit kitchens, chefs go beyond the expected, turning common ingredients into flavor powerhouses. Mushroom stem powder. Dehydrated Satsuma mandarin peel. Charcuterie dust. Developing techniques to coax flavor out of ingredients and dishes is part of the craft. “Flavor isn’t [always] enhanced by adding more [of it],” explains Joanne Ponvanit, Executive Pastry Chef at Getty Center & Getty Villa, “but by adding texture, acidity, temperature variation, or aroma. It’s why roasted strawberries taste different from fresh strawberries, or why roasted carrots develop sweetness and depth.” It’s all in the technique.

swicy Hey there, hot honey. No, I’m not hitting on you: Meet my fried chicken. BRAVO

“Is there really anything better than a tomato at the height of tomato season?” asks Nicolai Tuban, Culinary Director for the Sand Hill Collection. “How do we [preserve] and translate that flavor into our dishes year-round?” For him, the answer lies in dehydration.

G IN

DE H

AND POW G N I AT DE R D R Y

When dehydrating a ripe tomato, you remove moisture and concentrate sugars, acids, and natural flavor compounds. The result is an intense, highly concentrated version of that perfect ingredient. Grind it into a powder and sprinkle on a tomato salad, and “you are reinforcing everything that’s great about that tomato.” At Sand Hill Kitchen, the kitchen staff applies this flavor-enhancing method to more than fruits and vegetables. They dehydrate and crush leftover charcuterie trim into a semi-coarse powder, concentrating the flavor and umami. What’s left is a magical charcuterie dust that when sprinkled on a caprese salad, roasted cabbage, or a pizza, transforms into what Nicolai calls “porky deliciousness.”

Is there anythi better than a to ng mato at the height of tomat o season? — Nicolai

The kitchens at Sand Hill rely on a handful of tried-and-true powders: vegetable scrap powder, citrus powder, charcuterie dust, and “Bruno.” Yes, that’s right, and they don’t talk about Bruno, except to say that this addictive seasoning for French fries is a powdered mélange of dehydrated mushrooms, seaweeds, garlic, onion, and salt, made especially for those with a salty-umami obsession.

CHARRING Nicolai wishes that bitter flavors weren’t an afterthought. They add complexity, especially when intermingled with something sweet. Take radicchio; caramelize it in butter or oil and drizzle on a maple syrup or honey-based dressing. A bittersweet combo.

r isn’t Sometimes flavo r m ding ore flavo enhanced by ad e, by adding textur — it’s enhanced or n, io ture variat acidity, tempera aroma. — Joanne

He hopes to make the taste more accessible and recommends keeping a little char on your peppers when you roast them. “Those carbon compounds are going to create a little bitterness. In a salad, the sweetness of the blistered pepper, the bitterness of the char, parsley, and olive oil, the sourness of the lemon, and the saltiness of the chunky sea salt and anchovy play together so nicely.” After years of cooking, Nicolai has learned what works. “That’s where the fun is. Once you understand what an [ingredient] can do, you can freestyle from there.” “That’s our contribution [as chefs],” he adds. “Some processes take time, but it’s so worth it to make sure it tastes really good.” Full of flavor, indeed.

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TAT IO

JEC

TS G

A LO

R E AT

E LS

G WITH C N I T N ON E M T RI

EX PE

ST RA

At Edwards Lifesciences (ELS) in Irvine, CA, Sous Chef Jayson Nguyen is in experimentation mode. The mushroom stem powder he recently developed is now the base for a vegan furikake used to garnish sushi. He’s also repurposed scallion ends by charring and dehydrating them to create scallion ash. Mixed in a garlic aioli in place of fresh green onions, the ash adds a spicy, smoky earthiness, and an aromatic char, which he acknowledges is “closer to barbecue than fresh herb.”

For Jayson, flavor goes beyond the five elements of taste: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. “It’s what you smell, how it tastes, the viscosity, and the mouthfeel.”

SOUS CHEF JAYSON NGUYEN (L) AND SENIOR EXECUTIVE CHEF JON SODINI IN THE KITCHEN AT ELS

He watches for contrast. The intense citrus aroma of powdered Satsuma mandarin peels releases a vibrant but slightly bitter taste into his orange chicken sauce. The sweetness of the pineapple pulp from the juice bar balances the sour notes from rice wine vinegar to give the teriyaki sauce a tangy lift. The pulp also serves as a natural thickener for the perfect mouthfeel. Scraps at ELS get a second life. The pantry is bursting with powders made from mushroom, ginger, and beet trimmings as well as turmeric pulp that otherwise would go to waste, saving the kitchen hundreds of dollars in spice purchases every quarter.

t you Flavor is also wha the rature, smell, the tempe mouthfeel. e viscosity, and th — Jayson

BRAVO

MENTING R E F Chef and General Manager Michael Cleary, along with Sous Chef Kenny Tribett, introduced a fermentation station at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD. Students happily sample from a daily curated assortment of house-made pickled and cold fermented vegetables, like pickled beets and cucumbers, giardiniera, kimchi, and sauerkraut. Michael is proud of how his team elevates the flavor profile of sauerkraut. They start with a typical base: a mixture of brown and yellow mustard and coriander seeds, caraway, carrots, and fresh herbs like dill. They add fresh turmeric for bright flavor and color for a vividly hued sauerkraut. For an added punch, Michael saves what he calls his most essential flavor bomb: caramelized onions. Added to the kraut and served with sausages, “there’s a sweetness as well as a savory depth. Whether they’re vegan sausages or pork, it’s beyond delicious.”

Flavor bomb (n oun): Any concentrat ed in gr edient, condiment, or cu linary base that injects an instant, inte nse upgrade of fla vor and complexity into a dish.

Simple Flavor Boosters Š Nutritional yeast can amplify the savory in any

What Happens When You Dehydrate or Ferment Water dilutes flavor. When you dehydrate an ingredient, you remove moisture and concentrate sugars, acids, aromatic compounds, and natural flavor molecules. The result is often an intense, focused, and concentrated taste. During fermentation, salt and seasonings draw out moisture in the process of osmosis. With the right balance of salt to ingredient, you’ll reproduce a process called lacto-fermentation. This is how probiotic- and acid-rich fermented foods acquire their tangy taste.

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dish. Michael mixes mayonnaise with caramelized onions and nutritional yeast for a full-flavored sandwich spread. Or try a dollop on sausages, burgers, and fish. Š Preserved lemons. Nicolai blends them whole

into potato leek soup to add depth and brightness. Or use them to dress coleslaw, adding honey, mayo, black pepper, and dill. Š Chopped parsley for a hint of mild bitterness,

suggests Nicolai. Š Brown butter because why not. “No matter if

you make it fast or slow, it’s a classic,” says Michael. “Pasta, brown butter, and sage. I must’ve made this [dish] a thousand times.”

Q&A

WITH APRIL MARKS

Chef Joanne Ponvanit is in Pursuit of Flavor For Joanne Ponvanit, Executive Pastry Chef at Getty Center & Getty Villa, flavor is a lifelong obsession that has been deeply rewarding. April: As a chef, what do you wish people knew about flavor? Joanne: Flavor has the power to transport us to a place, a season, a culture, or a long-lost memory. People may not remember every ingredient on a plate, but they remember how a dish made them feel. Flavor should tell a story. It should create curiosity, spark conversation, and leave a lasting impression. The goal isn’t necessarily intensity, but a certain balance, depth, and purpose that you can taste.

A: You’ve embraced all sorts of techniques to coax flavor out of food. How has your process evolved? J: Early in my career, I focused on creating delicious food and beautiful presentations. But as I grew as a chef, I became interested in understanding where flavor comes from and how we can unlock more of it while respecting the ingredient itself. Today, my process begins with the ingredient rather than the recipe. What is this ingredient capable of? What part is typically overlooked? How can I express its full potential? I started exploring techniques: dehydration, powdering, fermentation, infusion, poaching, and whole-ingredient cooking. What started as a sustainability practice eventually became a creative process. Instead of seeing peels, stems, tops, leaves, or trimmings as waste, I began seeing them as opportunities for [building] flavor.

A: When it comes to baking, how do you think about complexity, diversity, and complementing flavors? J: I imagine developing flavors is like composing music. You need the lead melody, supporting notes, contrast, rhythm, and moments of surprise. Sweetness alone can be one-dimensional, so I often build layers using acidity, bitterness, salinity, umami, floral notes, herbs, spices, texture, and aroma. With desserts, complexity often comes from restraint. Rather than adding more, I focus on creating more dimensions from fewer ingredients. For example, a strawberry dessert may feature fresh strawberries, roasted strawberries, strawberry leaf powder, and strawberry vinegar. It’s all strawberry, but each preparation contributes a different note to the overall experience.

BRAVO

A: You love powders. Describe a few you’ve made and their flavor profile. J: Some of my favorites come from ingredients that are typically discarded and each one behaves differently: Š Citrus peel powders give brightness, bitterness, and concentrated aromatic oils. Š Herb powders add freshness and grassy complexity. Š Mushroom powders are umami and savory depth. Š Roasted vegetable powders bring caramelized sweetness and earthiness.

What fascinates me is how powders don’t simply intensify flavor; they transform it. Dehydration removes water and concentrates the flavor compounds and aroma to create a more impactful expression of the ingredient.

A: Your desserts also benefit from the power of powder. J: Sometimes the powders are folded into doughs, creams, mousses, and custards. Or they’re dusted onto a finished dessert, blended into sugar or into tuile batters. One of my favorite techniques is whole-ingredient baking. I’ll use the entire orange. Fresh segments add brightness; roasted sections, sweetness; candied peel, the texture; and dehydrated peel powder delivers a concentrated fragrant aroma. You end up with a dessert that tastes more like a true orange than adding orange juice ever could.

JOANNE PONVANIT AT WORK IN THE PASTRY KITCHEN

A: How would you encourage other kitchens and chefs? J: Start small. Choose one ingredient and commit to using every bit of it. Maybe it’s carrots. Use the root, roast the peels, turn the tops and tips into a powder or pickle them. Make a stock from trim and see what happens. I’ve learned that flavor is rarely created by a single technique. It’s usually the result of multiple thoughtful decisions layered together. My goal is always the same: respect the ingredients, minimize waste, maximize flavor, and create something memorable.

FALL 2026

Recipes From Home: The Flavors that Bring Us Together BY TARA BARANOWSKE

E ARE A COMPANY MADE UP OF PEOPLE WHO THRIVE IN KITCHENS. NOT EVERYONE AT BON APPÉTIT COOKS FOR A LIVING, BUT WE ALL APPRECIATE GOOD FOOD AND THE FLAVORS AND STORIES BEHIND IT, WHICH IS WHY, THROUGHOUT OUR CAFÉS, OUR PEOPLE LOVE TO SHARE THEIR OWN FAMILY RECIPES AND THE ANECDOTES THAT GO WITH THEM.

Over the years, our teams have hosted pop-ups under different names, such as Family Meals and Home Cooked Meals, that are the same at the core: they give guests a taste of what home is for their Bon Appétit staff. One example took shape at a California college during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regional Marketing Manager Merilee McCormick used the WOWS activity All About Me to get staff talking. Soon they were sharing stories about their heritage, favorite cuisines, and the flavors and recipes that had shaped them. Those conversations evolved into time in the kitchen. Starting with two employees from El Salvador who wanted to make their pupusas for the team, the team started rotating making home cooked meals for one another. At first, it was family recipes from employees, but it quickly expanded to guests. “As we would welcome them back, we started asking students ‘Can we make something from home?’” says Merilee. What better way to get to know others than through the flavors of their past? Coming out of the pandemic and the slower operations it brought, more accounts like Merilee’s were showcasing family recipes, inspiring Image + Style to formalize the idea into what is now called Recipes from Home. Now the activation has spread to Bon Appétit cafés across the country, with staff making dishes of their own and those requested by students and employees.

SCU COOKS ARACELI PEDROZA (L) AND SILVIA DIAZ WITH THEIR CHILAQUILES BOWLS

California College of the Arts San Francisco, CA

Wingate University Wingate, NC

Merilee’s favorite Recipes from Home story comes from California College of the Arts. “We had a student who’d had a tough year...away from her family. So she put in a recipe for her grandmother’s meatballs.” Despite worries over how the meatballs would be received, Merilee decided our team would make them. They turned into the most popular dish for students, with the campus asking for it and the student telling Chef Andrew “this is as good as my grandma’s.”

During opening week at Wingate University, Bon Appétit team members were excited to share their Recipes from Home with students. Featuring Utica Mushroom Stew from Chef Mike and Beef Pozole from Chef Ingrid, the café station welcomed a larger crowd when the dishes were served — a testament to the event’s success! In true Bon Appétit fashion, Chef Ingrid’s recipe celebrates family tradition while Chef Mike’s reflects true hospitality, modified to omit pork and be inclusive of his unit’s Muslim members.

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THE WOMEN CHEFS AND COOKS OF SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY ON A SPECIAL RECIPES FROM HOME ACTIVATION DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA To celebrate Women’s History Month this year, Santa Clara University (SCU) did a Recipes from Home takeover. Women on the culinary team made recipes reflecting their family traditions and favorite flavors, sharing a bit of their stories with the students. Dishes were featured at multiple stations throughout the café, from Colombian Style Fried Rice at the Spice Market to Crispy Cauliflower Wings & Baked Carolina Chicken Wings at Simply Oasis, showcasing the diversity and culinary talents of the team.

SCU COOK KENIA LEYVA WITH HER BYO MACRO BOWLS

Illumina San Diego, CA

LEFT TO RIGHT: SCU COOKS MIRIAM RIVAS, PATTY TORAL, SANDRA SANCHEZ WITH THEIR MISO GLAZED SALMON BOWL

Carleton College Northfield, MN Carleton College gets a few Recipes from Home submissions each school year, and Executive Chef Mike Carlsen makes a point to work each one into the menu. One of the most memorable came from a student worker, Julia, who had a recipe for a Green Tomato Chocolate Cake. Growing up, Julia and her brother would pick the green tomatoes, and together with their mom, they would make the cake for birthdays or holidays. At Carleton, Julia would ask for it every year for her birthday, even coming to the bakery to help make it.

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Every year during the holidays, Illumina runs Recipes from Home as a weekly station takeover. A new recipe from a team member is showcased each week, along with their family background and why the recipe is special. “We’ve highlighted dishes from 12 different team members, with some of the favorite recipes making their way back onto the menu as a daily special throughout the year,” shares Resident District Manager Caroline Garfink. This past holiday season, Jacob’s Beef Tacos were a hit, with one employee commenting, “I’m a bit jealous of Jacob who got to eat this at home with his family. Definitely one to bring back!” Every Recipes from Home dish is an invitation to glimpse part of someone’s story. By sharing flavors and cultures through cherished recipes, we bring memories to life and encourage personal connections among everyone who pulls up a chair.

BY WILLIAM PERSSON

swalty

Palate Photos

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A Flavor-Forward Photo Essay

wants to taste it now.

As a company, we’ve been driven by the pursuit of flavor since the very beginning. So it’s no wonder that year after year, Bon Appétit chefs consistently create astounding flavor-first dishes that also happen to be good for us and good for the planet. Although most chefs present dishes with a balance of flavors — swicy or swalty, anyone? — these dishes tend to home in on a specific flavor “hero” like umami or bitter to serve as the unifying taste for the dish. Sour? Sweet? Savory? Salty? Umami? Delicious.

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Spicy (Okay, so this one technically isn’t a flavor!) From chicken wings slathered in sauce to ‘nduja sausage, we love spice in foods because it amplifies ALL of our favorite flavors.

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PRODUCE PRINCIPLES: EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE… WITH GOURDS

IT’S FALL, AND GOURDS ARE EVERYWHERE. Stacked in markets, featured on menus, perhaps even sneakily shared with you by neighbors as home gardens burst at the seams (a gesture so common it inspired its own holiday: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day). In Bon Appétit kitchens, this abundance is celebrated and translated in very different ways.

BY ALLY PADRICK

The Gourd Glow-Up

The Gourd Goes Global

At a global transportation technology company’s Bay Area offices, Executive Chef Andrea Cesca watches this ingredient transform across stations. “Seasonality drives everything we do, but not everyone can serve the same butternut squash on the same day.” One station might offer a silky butternut squash purée and the following day another station features Roasted Squash Stuffed with Quinoa and Seasonal Vegetables.

For some chefs, ingredients are tied to memory as much as technique. Time abroad can shift how something as familiar as gourds are seen. At a major studio in Southern California, Executive Chef Jared Levy traces his approach back to years spent living in Japan, where kabocha squash is part of everyday cooking, often grilled or battered into tempura.

Cesca still remembers a farmers’ market pop-up from early in his tenure. The preparation of butternut squash was almost bare: squash, cooked and blended smooth, touched with salt. “It needed nothing else,” he says. The appeal was in the restraint, a reminder that sometimes the most effective way to feature an ingredient is to stop just short of interfering with it. At a different location of the same account, Culinary Director Dominick Maietta sees squash as a chance to flip expectations. His take on delicata starts with a familiar reference point — bone marrow — but lands somewhere entirely new. Butter bean purée delivers that same rich mouthfeel while crispy accompaniments bring texture and balance. The goal isn’t imitation so much as invitation. By borrowing the structure and satisfaction of a familiar dish, Maietta creates an entry point for diners who might not otherwise gravitate toward a plant-forward option. It’s a way of meeting guests where they are, then nudging them somewhere new.

“In the U.S., we tend to turn gourds into soup and purée,” Levy says. “But it behaves like any other vegetable if you let it.” At Santa Clara University in California, Executive Sous Chef Jericho Hutchison approaches gourds with reverence. Having spent nearly two decades growing up on Guam, including five years working in the island’s hotel industry, Hutchison understands what it means to cook where much of the produce has to be shipped in. Now, in Santa Clara, the proximity to farms still feels like a privilege. “When you have access to this kind of bounty, you start to think differently about what it can do. Gourds can be sweet, savory, roasted, or pickled, and I love having the freedom to keep exploring.” Jericho explores kabocha squash through a take on Korean jajangmyeon — kabocha noodles enrobed in a deep, savory sauce — finished with pepita chili crunch and a crisp slaw of summer squash. A study in showcasing multiple applications of an ingredient, informed by experience and curiosity.

IN EVERY KITCHEN, GOURDS ARRIVE T H E S A M E WAY. W H AT H A P P E N S N E X T D E P E N D S O N W H O P I C K S I T U P. 58

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PRODUCE PRINCIPLES

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PE RSSO N

s t s o P r u o Y Make BY W IL LI A M

h s i l De

These days on social media, a photo of a well-plated, colorful dish just doesn’t have the same pull as it once did. Similarly, content that looks professionally made isn’t going to perform well. People are going to social media for authenticity, so keep this in mind and follow these tips to make your posts delicious. I’ve included an Effortometer rating to help you gauge how you can make these ideas come to life! In general, they only require a little more time to get more return on your social media investment.

TIP #1

Create Movement EFFORTOMETER : 1 OUT OF 5

Easy Shift

Instead of having a single dish featured in an image, add a beverage, side, or cutlery to create visual depth and movement. Shooting from a 45-degree angle helps create depth. (P.S. this works for video, too!)

Foundry & Lux added a beverage and side behind their wings to add some visual depth, creating a clear path for your eye to follow, with bright, simple backgrounds.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Provenance’s video of a meal with a person pouring a glass of wine in the background creates visual interest through movement.

Think of these video ideas lik e taking a still p hotograph bu t with one moving ele ment! Much ea sier to film (and ed it, if needed) a nd could be easily captured in on e go, just like a p hoto.

University of Pennsylvania shared a video of their Butterfly Pea Lemonade. The only movement was the hand building the drink! An interesting background and some light scene styling made the video pop.

Santa Clara University featured a Fresh Bytes menu by photographing an assortment of the dishes in one go.

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TIP #2:

Add Text and Sound EFFORTOMETER : 3 OUT OF 5

Requires Creativity and a Few More Minutes

Make standalone photos or carousels more interesting with the in-app Instagram text editor. Stick to basic fonts like Elegant, Deco, or Squeeze, and always stick to one font across all of your content! Finish it off with fun, upbeat audio.

Photograph your dish(es)

Yum!

#2 Upload into Instagram using the Stories editing window, which allows for more flexibility!

#4 Use the stickers button to add in arrow design elements. (It doesn’t matter if they are moving. Make sure they are all the same color!)

#3 Add in a brief heading like, “What’s on the table?” and list off all key ingredients. Pro tip: Use eyedropper cothe picker to se lor ct a single color le fr your image fo om r text boxes! all 62

Pro tip: Consider adding a box beneath your text. Aim for maximum visibility. BRAVO

SOCIAL MEDIA

#5 Download the image by selecting the “...” in the navigation on the right.

#6 In your camera roll, take a screenshot of the final product and crop to the image’s full size.

Reupload the static image into the Instagram app as a standalone post. Write your caption, add some (royalty free) music, and hit post! (You can also schedule it out through the Hootsuite phone app.)

Check out the final post on @bamcosocialmedia on Instagram! FALL 2026

TIP #3:

EFFORTOMETER : 4 OUT OF 5

Requires Creativity, a Little Planning, and a Few More Minutes

Use Instagram Edits to Whip Up a Quick Video Instagram Edits really will make you look like a video-making pro. Here’s what you can do:

1 Save videos or trending audio for later while looking at content on Instagram to serve as ideas for your own videos!

2 Pro tip: You n toggle to th tab with the ca ecording” icoe to record wit“R n built-in came hin the app. The ra has a bit m functiona ore than your stliaty for creating Reels ndard phone camera.

Create a project (and come back to it later). You can upload images from your phone or use the app to record.

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Get inspiration for videos. Anything you save in IG shows up in Edits, so you can revisit saved videos for inspo when you’re ready to record.

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3 4 On the same tab, you can also explore video Templates that other creators added to Edits. At any point, you can hit the “Use template” button to recreate the template.

Pro tip: Adju with your constteing text to align you can use yo nt is easy, and font. Just clicukr usual Instagram preview or in ththe text in the below to pull ue editing bar p options!

5 Once you start using a template, you’ll be taken to the editing window. All elements from the video remain other than the images, meaning you just have to upload either pictures or videos one-by-one by clicking the frames with + symbols and you’re done! Just hit Next and walk through the steps to publish it.

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Double Down “Shroom” Burger General Manager Caroline Garfink, Illumina

Wild Mushroom Burger Executive Chn,ef Eric Morga e Whittier Colleg

Earth Day Recipe Challenge:

Battle of the Blended Burgers

Blended Umami Burger Sous Chef Sinai Canche, Disney Studios

or this year’s Earth Day, the National Promotions team invited both chefs and guests to consider how small changes can meaningfully reduce environmental impact without sacrificing flavor. Enter the blended burger.

Blended burgers combine ground beef with plant-based ingredients such as mushrooms, legumes, grains, or other vegetables. By reducing the amount of beef in each patty by at least half, we can significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining delicious taste and texture. These patties can be a vehicle for integrating more plant-based ingredients into familiar favorites, as well as a springboard for creativity. By inviting chefs to think more broadly about what a burger can be, the flavor-building possibilities become endless. We know our chefs love a little friendly competition, so we staged a blended burger recipe contest and watched the entries roll in from around the country. RVPs cast their votes in a very tight contest

CHEF AARON

filled with creative entries. After several rounds of competitive voting and much deliberation, a winner was named: Executive Chef Aaron Graham from Disney Studios in Burbank, CA, and his Blended Beef and Mushroom Thai Umami Burger! In his submission, Aaron noted, “This burger was inspired by one of my former sous chefs, who taught me the proper use of fish sauce as a seasoning element. Although Cambodian by heritage, this chef brought with him a deep understanding of Vietnamese, Filipino, and Thai-influenced cuisines. That knowledge is reflected in this recipe, where the balance of salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and umami flavors truly stands out. Additionally, the beef blend incorporates nearly fifty percent mushroom, enhancing both flavor and texture in a way that remains subtle and nearly imperceptible.” Congratulations to Aaron, who joined Bon Appétit in 2022, and to all of the other chefs who entered their creative and delicious blended burgers into the contest. THE WINNING BURGER

The Car Crash Blended Bu rger Executive ef Scott SchumCh ach OHQ Medtron er, ic

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Check out the other inventive entries from our chefs:

Huitlacoche Beef Burger

BY EXECUTIVE CHEF AARON GRAHAM

INGREDIENTS

Additional Components 1 handful arugula 3 brioche buns, split

MushFroaoble Beef Blem and Burgenrded

Enterpris e Senior Chef Erik Ex Akers, Adecutive obe

Mushroom Base: Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook until all liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat, add garlic, and stir for 1 minute. Deglaze with fish sauce and cool completely. Patty Mix:

Slaw 1 Persian cucumber, sliced into thin ribbons 1/2 carrot, sliced into thin ribbons 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped 1/2 red onion, julienned fine 1 jalapeño, seeded and julienned fine 3 limes, juiced 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce 1 teaspoon black vinegar 1 teaspoon granulated sugar Citrus Jalapeño Aioli 4 ounces Kewpie mayonnaise Zest and juice of 1 lime 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced fine

Senior Executive Chef Zulma Rodriguez Rios, University of the Pacific

Makes: 3 burgers Approximately 5.5 ounces per patty

Patty 10 ounces ground beef 12 ounces portobello mushrooms, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon fish sauce 1 ounce garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 3 slices Swiss cheese

Sous Chef Jack Wolffers Genentech SSF

Paul’s Better Burger Mix Assistant General Manager Thomas Chao, Gates Foundation

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place into a strainer and allow excess liquid to drain.

Soy Seasoned Umami Burger Blend

Citrus Jalapeño Aioli: Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. Cooking: Sear patties on a hot flat top or cast-iron surface until a deep crust forms. Flip and cook to desired doneness. Top with Swiss cheese and melt.

Executive Chef Sidoe Dukemajian, Biola University

Sou VeggiethBwest urger Senior So Greg us Chef Trine UnGroll, iversity

Assembly: Bottom bun, citrus jalapeño aioli, arugula, patty with cheese, slaw, additional aioli, top bun.

entil Red Ltt Pa y e Chef ExecutivTrue, Ron College t Westmon

Forest and Flame Burger

Turkey Edamame Meatballs Executive Chef Miguel Rubio, Soka University

Miso Maple Charred Sweet Potato and Beef Smash Burgers

Blended Kimchi Burger

Executive Chef Jacob Eayrs, Macalester College

Duxelle Delu xe Burger wsith Shallots anFrdied Truffle Aioli

Executive Chef Davin Klippel, Jessup University

Chicken White Bean Burger Executive Chef Kris Koch, St. Olaf College

Executive Chef Pey Poulson, Californiaton Institute of the Art s

Director of Culinarychler, Bae Operations AndrewFrancisco University of San

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Executive Chef Bedri Inkaya, Stanford Graduate Scho ol

Slaw:

Rustic Earth Burger

Executive Chefe, Usanee Pistolrsity Master’s Unive

Ground Lamb Spinach Falafe Blended Burgerl

Blended “Gene-ius” Patty with Chicken

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine ground beef and cooled mushroom mixture. Mix until fully incorporated and sticky. Portion into three 5.5-ounce patties and flatten gently.

Bean There, Beef That

Senior General Manager AJ Gonzales, Torrey Heights

SOCIAL EARTHMEDIA DAY

Blended Beef and Mushroom Thai Umami Burger

“The Greek” The Earthbound Forge Garden Blended Burger

Senior Chef Manage r Arwi Odense, KKR SF

Senior Sous Chef Jericho Hutchinson, Santa Clara University

CHEF OF THE YEAR

BY CHLOE OBOLENSKY

For over 20 years, our 2026 CHEF OF THE YEAR, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF CULINARY TY PAUP, has embodied everything it means to be a Chef of the Year. Through COVID, record breaking snowstorms, and campus challenges, Ty has consistently demonstrated the very best in culinary leadership, along with an unwavering commitment to people and community. In addition to being recognized by leaders and peers at Bon Appétit, Chef Ty accomplished a first for the company in 2026: Being named Compass Group’s Top Chef of the Year! Congratulations, Ty! As the leader of one of Bon Appétit’s most demanding accounts at an elite private college in the Northeast, Ty consistently goes above and beyond to create exceptional experiences for students, faculty, staff, and guests. As Regional Vice President Paul Bulau, who nominated Ty for this award, shared, “I can say without hesitation that no one embodies Bon Appétit’s values more proudly than Ty.” Ty’s influence extends far beyond his day-to-day responsibilities. His colleagues describe him as often the first person to respond when his community faces a challenge, providing comfort, stability, and care when students and staff need it most. He also consistently makes time to mentor fellow chefs and support other Bon Appétit accounts, always willing to step in wherever he is needed. “If another Bon Appétit account needs help, Ty is always the first to raise his hand and the last to leave. Whether he’s mentoring chefs, jumping on a plane or train to support another account or a high-profile opening, or creating unforgettable dining experiences, he gives every assignment his whole heart,” says Paul. Chef Ty’s career is a testament to the power of hospitality and the impact of leading with both excellence and heart. As he looks to the future, Ty says, “The future of Bon Appétit is incredibly bright, and I am excited to help shape it alongside the talented people who will carry our profession forward for years to come.” 68

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sour The tongue arches up, a clearing on the palate. Fresh as a rainstorm.

BRAVO IS THE SEMI-ANNUAL MAGAZINE OF

BON APPÉTIT MANAGEMENT COMPANY | A MEMBER OF THE COMPASS GROUP 201 Redwood Shores Parkway, Suite 100 Redwood City, CA 94065 650-798-8000 www.bamco.com

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