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The PlantForward Playbook Increasing Plant-Forward Entrées on College and University Campuses by Caroline Lim

University of California, Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability with

Humane World for Animals and

The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative

Abstract Many existing playbooks make a compelling case for plant-based dining and provide recipes, trainings, or menu resources. This playbook fills a different gap by drawing from UC Berkeley Dining's experience to provide colleges and universities with practical, operator-focused guidance for implementing plant-forward dining once a commitment has been made. Through stakeholder interviews, operational lessons learned, and ready-to-use templates, it highlights how leadership, procurement, culinary teams, sustainability professionals, and students each contribute to a successful transition. It also includes complete resources for planning plant-forward popups and hosting a Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge. Whether you are a dining professional advancing an existing initiative or a student working to catalyze one, this toolkit is designed to help move institutions from goals to implementation.

Publication Information Author Caroline Lim | UC Berkeley Student, MCURC Student Fellow, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability Food Literacy Coordinator Publication Date October 2026 Contact carolinelim@berkeley.edu Disclosure This playbook reflects data, interviews, and operations as they existed during late 2024 and early 2025. In institutional dining operations, staffing, and policies evolve rapidly; as a result, some information may change over time. Readers are encouraged to treat this playbook as a snapshot in time and adapt recommendations to their current context. Photography Unless otherwise noted, photographs are courtesy of UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability and UC Berkeley Dining. Additional photographs are property of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC) and the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and are reproduced with permission. Photographs were sourced from the following events: 2024 MCURC All-Member Meeting (Boston University) 2024 Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit 2025 Worlds of Flavor: Roots of Culture, Seas of Discovery (Napa Valley, CA) 2025 Menus of Change Leadership Summit (Hyde Park, NY) AI Acknowledgement This playbook was developed through stakeholder interviews, research, and collaboration with campus dining professionals. AI tools were used to support editing, organization, and clarity. All content was reviewed, synthesized, and verified by the author and reflects the expertise and insights shared by interview participants. Non-Endorsement Disclosure The organizations and resources listed throughout this playbook may provide useful tools, training, certifications, research, networking opportunities, or implementation support for C&Us interested in advancing plant-forward dining. Inclusion in this playbook is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or formal partnership by UC Berkeley Dining, Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability, or the University of California, Berkeley; the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative; or Humane World for Animals.

PLAYBOOK PARTNERS UC Berkeley's Housing & Dining Sustainability (H&DS) empowers students to advance sustainability through hands-on projects that improve campus housing and dining operations. Working alongside Residential & Student Service Programs and campus partners, H&DS develops and implement initiatives in areas such as sustainable food systems, waste reduction, energy conservation, decarbonization, urban gardening, communications, and environmental education. By combining student leadership with operational innovation, H&DS creates meaningful environmental and social impact. The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC) is a global network of over 90 colleges and universities using campus dining halls as living laboratories for behavior change. These dynamic learning environments are where applied research, education, and operational innovation join to advance the Menus of Change Principles of Healthy, Sustainable Menus. Cofounded and jointly led by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE), and Stanford Prevention Research Center, the Collaborative brings together academic researchers, campus dining leaders, administrators, students, and mission-aligned sponsors, Research Collaborators, and Network Partners. This project was made possible through this network and the MCURC Student Fellows program, which supported the stakeholder interviews and research underlying this playbook. Humane World for Animals’ Food Service Innovation team works with food service management companies, colleges and universities, K12 schools and hospitals to grow a healthier, more sustainable food system. They offer free plant-based culinary trainings, recipe and menu evaluation support, consumer engagement and marketing assistance, goal and glidepath development services, greenhouse gas assessments, additional consulting and more to those that set a goal with their Forward Food Pledge, all at no cost to the institution who makes a commitment to offer more plant-based meals and/or reduce their animal product purchases.

Contents Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ 6 Glossary................................................................................................................................

Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 9 Why Plant-Forward Dining is Critical.....................................................................................

Purpose................................................................................................................................. 11 I. Selling Plant-Based Dining........................................................................................... 12 II. Stakeholder Insights...................................................................................................... 15 Jo Mackness - Associate Vice Chancellor of RSSP.............................................................. 16 Christopher Henning - Executive Director of Dining.......................................................... 17 Shannen Casey - Sustainability Program Manager for RSSP.......................................... 18 Marcos Hernandez - Director of Culinary............................................................................... 20 Sunil Chacko - Associate Director of Purchasing................................................................ 22 Melvin Garcia - Director of Residential Dining..................................................................... 23 Brian Muganda Ashiali - Business Improvement Analyst................................................ 24 Jaylene Tang - Registered Dietician........................................................................................ 25 Stacey Williams - Systems Coordinator................................................................................. 26 III. Event Planning in Plant-Forward Transitions........................................................ 27 Event Planning Tips and Tricks................................................................................................. 28 IV. The Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge...................................................................... 30 Running a Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge......................................................................... 31 Design Your Challenge................................................................................................................ 31 Materials........................................................................................................................................... 31 Event Execution.............................................................................................................................. 32 Post Challenge............................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 35

Works Cited......................................................................................................................... 36 Appendices.......................................................................................................................... 37 Appendix A: Event Planning Resources................................................................................. 37 Appendix B: Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge Resources............................................... 38 PFRC Spring Sample Timeline.................................................................................................. 38 Appendix C: Additional Resources.......................................................................................... 39

Acknowledgments Thank you to the many dining professionals, administrators, and sustainability leaders across college and university dining who contributed their time and expertise to this project. This playbook would not have been possible without the generosity of the UC Berkeley Dining staff, chefs, directors, and university administrators who volunteered their time to participate in stakeholder interviews and share their expertise. A special gratitude to the following individuals for their contributions: Contributing Writer: Kalea Christine Doryon, University of California, Berkeley Editors: Abby Fammartino, Co-Director, Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Ashley Doyle, Senior Specialist, Food Service Innovation, Humane World for Animals Celeste Basken, University of California, Berkeley Kate Jarvis, Food Service Innovation Manager, Humane World for Animals Maureen Timmons, Student Fellows Impact Advisor, Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Shannen Casey, Sustainability Program Manager, Residential and Student Services Program, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability Sophie Egan, Co-Director, Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Valentina Córdoba, MS, MA, Research and Community Manager, The Culinary Institute of America and Menus of Change University Research Collaborative The author gratefully acknowledges the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative Student Fellows program for empowering this student project and providing invaluable mentorship, professional connections, and academic and professional opportunities. The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative’s diverse network, especially the contributors to The (Almost) Perfect Plant-Forward University, were invaluable in the development and organization of this playbook.

Glossary UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability (H&DS) – The sustainability office housed under UC Berkeley's Residential & Student Services Program. Tasked with maintaining policy and legislative compliance, peer-to-peer education, and programming for all of UC Berkeley's residential departments including UC Berkeley Dining, Housing, Residential Life, and beyond. Composed of a team of student coordinators under the guidance of Sustainability Program Manager Shannen Casey. Dining Commons – UC Berkeley Dining has four on-campus all-you-care-to-eat dining commons. Each dining commons offers a variety of food stations with rotating menus such as salad bars, grill stations, and allergen-friendly platforms. Forward Food Pledge – The Forward Food Pledge is aimed at colleges and universities, K-12 school districts, healthcare institutions/hospitals, and foodservice management companies that are interested in working with Humane World for Animals Food Service Innovation team to increase plant-based menu items. The Forward Food Pledge offers the option to set a menu development goal and/or a procurement goal. A menu development goal allows institutions to commit to serving at least 50% plant-based meals within a five-year timeframe. A procurement goal allows institutions to commit to reducing their animal product purchases by at least 10% within a five-year timeframe. Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States) Food Service Innovation team – Humane World for Animals’ Food Service Innovation team works with food service management companies, colleges and universities, K12 schools and hospitals to grow a healthier, more sustainable food system. They offer free plant-based culinary trainings, recipe and menu evaluation support, consumer engagement and marketing assistance, goal and glidepath development services, greenhouse gas assessments, additional consulting and more to those that set a goal with their Forward Food Pledge (details listed above), all at no cost to the institution who makes a commitment to offer more plant-based meals and/or reduce their animal product purchases. Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC) – Led by R&DE Stanford Dining, Hospitality & Auxiliaries, the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and the Culinary Institute of America, the MCURC is a global network accelerating progress toward healthier, more sustainable, and delicious food choices using evidence-based research, education, and innovation. Menus of Change® - a collaboration between The Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health-Department of Nutrition, championing the integration of optimal nutrition and public health, environmental stewardship, restoration, and social responsibility concerns within the foodservice sector and beyond. Plant-Based – Used to refer to ingredients and foods themselves, i.e. fruits and vegetables (produce); whole grains; beans, other legumes (pulses), and soy foods; nuts and seeds; plant oils; and herbs and spices. Different from “plant-forward.”

Plant-Based Meals/Entrees - Plant-based means no animal products, including no meat, fish, eggs, dairy or honey. We define plant-based “meals” two different ways: 1. A center of the plate or entrée that is multi-component (e.g., a soup or stew), and 2. Build-Your-Own (BYO) – any protein/protein analog (a food product from non-animal sources engineered to mimic the appearance, flavor, texture, and nutritional profile of conventional meat) or multi-component bowl or plate. This would include any service line allowing the customer to build a complete meal. Individual side items purchased a la carte are excluded. For BYO lines, we count individual proteins or main components that are intended to be the center of the plate of a complete meal. Plant-Forward – Refers to the style of cooking and eating that emphasizes and celebrates plant-based foods, but is not limited to them. Also called flexitarian, plant-rich, and plantcentric. Plant-Forward (PF) Transition – The process an institution undergoes to increase their plant-based or plant-forward offerings in dining. This transition may include operational interventions, cultural shifts, policy commitments, and educational efforts for staff and customers. Specifically, mention of UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward transition in this playbook refers to the cultural, operational, creative, and political shifts being undertaken for UC Berkeley Dining to reach 50% plant-based entrees by 2027. UC Berkeley Dining’s Forward Food Pledge – UC Berkeley Dining’s 2023 commitment through Humane World for Animals to increase plant-based meal offerings from 30% to 50% by 2027. As of 2025, UC Berkeley Dining has achieved 48%. UC Berkeley Dining – The in-house dining business of the University of California, Berkeley servicing UC Berkeley’s diverse students and campus community. This toolkit focuses only on UC Berkeley Dining’s four on-campus dining commons; therefore, references to UC Berkeley Dining in this playbook will not include on-campus restaurants, stores, or catering.

Introduction All of the templates and written materials mentioned in this toolkit, plus more, can be found at this link: PF Playbook Resources Drive (also linked in the QR code at right).

Why Plant-Forward Dining is Critical Food choices have never been as impactful as they are today, and students know it. Food systems account for one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and today’s students are increasingly demanding sustainable, climate-friendly food from their universities to demonstrate commitment to climate action and students’ futures (About Plant-Based Universities, n.d.; Avelino et al., 2022; Crippa et al., 2021; Dixon et al., 2023). Furthermore, the world’s cuisines have never been more accessible to discovery and understanding, and today’s open-minded diners have palates primed to enjoy diverse, culturally authentic foods. This unprecedented receptivity, combined with

the availability of ingredients and the push to rediscover ancient ingredients has made the college and university (C&U) menu more dynamic than ever. Plant-forward is more than a trend. The science is clear that a plant-forward approach to eating is effective for optimizing both human and environmental health (Carey et al., 2023 and Viroli et al., 2023). Plant-forward cuisine does not exclude meat necessarily, but instead reimagines how to serve it. It asks chefs and managers to adapt their plate composition to reflect the changing climate, growing population, and inquisitive tastes of the college-aged student body.

The Forward Food Pledge

In December 2023, the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) signed the Forward Food Pledge with Humane World for Animals, committing 50% of entrees offered in on-campus dining commons to be plant-based* by 2027.

Grounded in a mission to responsibly care for the wellbeing of the people we serve, the planet we steward, and the long-term financial health of our dining operations, UC Berkeley was the first campus in the University of California system to take this step. The Forward Food Pledge put into writing UC Berkeley Dining’s commitment to ambitious socially and environmentally responsible action. Signing the pledge was a critical catalyst to increase UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward offerings, and codifying the goal in an official pledge has helped the 50% plant-based entrees target stay relevant for stakeholders during a busy time. *While UC Berkeley Dining’s objective with the Forward Food Pledge was increasing fully plant-based entrée offerings, the strategies applied by UC Berkeley Dining and detailed in this playbook are equally applicable to institutions seeking to expand plant-forward, omnivore offerings.

Purpose As UC Berkeley Dining works toward the Forward Food Pledge’s 50% plant-based entrees goal, a process hereafter referred to as UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward (PF) transition, this playbook documents lessons learned, challenges encountered, and strategies tested along the way. Institutional dining is a complex multi-layered organizational structure. This resource is designed to help campuses navigate that complexity, identify where decision-making power lives, and leverage the right stakeholders at the right moments for their own plant-forward transition. Over the past two years, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability has conducted in-depth interviews with key dining operators, administrators, and leadership to understand their roles, constraints, and leverage points within the plant-forward transition. This research was conducted as part of the author's MCURC Student Fellows project, which provided the framework, mentorship, and crossinstitutional context that shaped how these interviews were designed and synthesized. Collectively, these administrative stakeholders bring decades of experience across operations, culinary, procurement, systems, and leadership. Their insights underscore that an institutional plantforward transition is more than a simple menu change. It is: A cultural shift (mindsets, habits, assumptions) An operational shift (procurement, labor, menu cycles) A creative shift (culinary training and expertise) A political shift (buy-in, funding, and risk tolerance)

This playbook is meant to be used as a practical guide to map your institution's dining structure; clarify student, administrative, and staff stakeholder responsibilities; anticipate common pitfalls; and spark informed conversations across departments for a successful plant-forward transition.

Additionally, this playbook contains complete templates, timelines, and best practices for planning special events to support your institution’s plant-forward transition. Comprehensive resources to execute a Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge, including marketing templates, event signage, and timelines ready for use, are available for free. See ideas for new plantbased events and promotions, understand student engagement and feedback mechanisms, copy sample surveys and questionnaires, and more. For free help assessing your institution’s baseline plant-based offerings and identifying future menu targets, consider signing the Forward Food pledge or getting in contact with Humane World for Animals at forwardfood.org. No matter where your institution is on the path toward plantforward dining, we hope this resource helps you move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and impact.

Diagram courtesy of the MCURC’s (Almost) Perfect PlantForward University resource.

I. Selling Plant-Forward Dining A transition to a more plant-forward menu in colleges and universities requires buy-in from stakeholders ranging from administrators to dining staff to students. Leveraging certifications, organizations, and pledges can help raise the value of a plant-forward pitch and ease pushback. Here are some ways to sell plant-forward change to your school. National Association of College & University NACUFS The Food Services (NACUFS) is a professional trade for those who manage dining SUSTAINABILITY organization programs at higher education institutions. The aims to foster excellence in campus AWARDS organization foodservice through education, networking, best practices, and resources for sustainability, nutrition, and innovation. Member institutions gain access to a considerable catalogue of information and resources, programs like benchmarking surveys, conferences, and professional development; and become eligible to compete for, or be nominated for, prestigious awards in a variety of categories. Increasing plant-based dining can make significant contributions towards institutional sustainability goals increasing competitiveness for the Sustainability Awards category. For more information about NACUFS Sustainability Awards click here.

AASHE STARS The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) is a program from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and serves as a transparent, self-reporting framework for C&Us to measure their sustainability practices and performance. Through participation in STARS, institutions can earn points toward a STARS Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum rating, or earn the STARS Reporter designation. Since 2021, UC Berkeley has achieved the highest possible ranking of STARS Platinum. Although there are numerous ways to improve STARS scores, transitioning to a more plant-based menu is a potent opportunity for C&Us to gain points. At UC Berkeley Dining, procurement and student surveys are two ways the plant-forward transition is directly tied to increasing AASHE STARS. For more information about AASHE STARS click here.

Procurement for PF menus increases plantbased purchasing and decreases spending on meat options, contributing to Section OP-7: Dining Service Procurement (8.00 points available). As part of the PF transition, UC Berkeley Dining hosts a semesterly Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge (PFRC) where students gain exposure to new plant-based menu items and fill out a survey on plant-based food preferences, dining experiences, and sustainability knowledge. These regularly scheduled PFRC surveys help us understand campus climate and change over time. These surveys contribute to Section EN-4 Sustainability Culture Assessment (3.00 points available).

HUMANE WORLD FOR ANIMALS:

PROTEIN SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD

Humane World for Animals has the “Protein Sustainability Scorecard,” an A+ to F scale report that shines light on the largest selfoperated* colleges and universities in the country and their commitments to sustainability and plant-based menus on their campuses. Their specific criteria focus on both current menus and the concrete steps these universities are taking to improve their menus. This rewards universities working towards plant-forward futures with time-bound, public live-casts that demonstrate their goals, plans, and how they’re following through. Each institution on the scorecard self-reports their data in a survey and submits their menus and purchasing data for verification. Once submitted, Humane World for Animals gives personal recommendations to each school detailing how they can increase their scores. *For contracted foodservice schools, Humane World for Animals has another “Protein Sustainability Scorecard” that focuses on the 50 largest foodservice management companies’ commitments to plant-based menus. You can find the 2026 report here: The Food Service Industry Protein Sustainability Scorecard.

The 2025 report indicated that UC Berkeley scored in 7th place with an A rating. UC Berkeley gained this ranking through coordinated efforts, including tracking plantbased meal percentages, tracking greenhouse gas emissions, and having measurable and specific targets and goals to increase plantbased options in dining commons. Friendly competition and peer learning with other schools through networks like the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative have been key motivators and enablers in UC Berkeley’s transition. All but one school on the list at right are members of the MCURC.

2025 C&U Scorecard Ranking

For more information about Humane World for Animals’s Protein Sustainability Scorecard click here. For more information about joining the MCURC click here.

COST SAVINGS

MCURC Collective Impactive Cost Modelling Using Protein Portfolio Cost Metric

Additionally, according to a 2019 Climate Policy journal article, “If all [University of California system] students replaced 1 serving [per week] of beef with beans [...], net savings would be >$9 million yr−1.” (Cleveland & Jay, 2020). Furthermore, “savings could be $10 million yr−1 from on-campus meals once these diets had been established for some time.” This is because plant-based foods (vegetables, grains, legumes, etc.) often cost considerably less than animal proteins (beef, chicken, fish, etc.).

The business case for plant-forward procurement is a strong driver for increasing plant-forward dining. In the MCURC 2025 Collective Impact Initiative Progress Report, a pilot case found that plant-forward shifts drive cost savings. The report found: 11% reduction in food costs per kg food purchased Estimated $22 million in food cost savings in 2023, attributable to collective plantforward shifts, that can be used to reduce the overall cost of education Reduction in CO2 intensity metric strongly associated with reduction in cost per kg of food at the university level (p<0.001) Reductions in food costs appear to be driven primarily by: Reductions in beef purchases (p<0.01) Increases in bean/legume purchases (p<0.01) For more information, check out the 2026 published MCURC Business Case for PlantForward Procurement and supporting webinar.

Adding even a few new plant-based meals to menus can generate considerable cost savings.

OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED For more organizations, certifications, and ways to get involved with the plantforward C&U movement, see Appendix C*. These various pledges, collaborations, and initiatives can make the transition to plant-forward dining less intimidating and more accessible for both institutions and students making sustainable change. *The organizations and resources listed throughout this playbook and in this appendix may provide useful tools, training, certifications, research, networking opportunities, or implementation support for C&Us interested in advancing plant-forward dining. Inclusion in this playbook is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or formal partnership by UC Berkeley Dining, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability, or the University of California, Berkeley; the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative; or Humane World for Animals. 14

II. Stakeholder Insights How to Use This Section To better understand how plant-forward transitions happen in practice, we interviewed key UC Berkeley Dining staff, directors, chefs, and senior university administrators involved in UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward transition. Each profile highlights how a specific role contributes to increasing plant-based offerings and explores lessons learned, challenges encountered, and opportunities for impact. This section is organized by role to show readers how someone in the same or a similar position at other C&Us might successfully approach bringing more plantbased options to their institution. For

students and advocates, these profiles can serve as a guide for identifying potential partners and starting conversations. For dining professionals, these profiles offer practical insights into the operational realities of implementing plant-forward dining and the strategies UC Berkeley Dining has found effective. While each profile can be read independently, reading them together reveals the interconnected nature of plant-forward transitions. Successful change requires coordination across many roles, departments, and levels of leadership. This section is not intended to be prescriptive. Rather, it serves as a collection of perspectives, ideas, and lessons that readers can adapt to their own institution.

Associate Vice Chancellor of Residential and Student Services Program

Jo Mackness

Interview conducted: Jan. 17, 2025. Role Overview

The Associate Vice Chancellor for Residential & Student Services Programs (RSSP) oversees Housing and Dining operations for the University and serves as the executive sponsor for major strategic initiatives. In this role, they ensure that teams responsible for on-the-ground implementation have the necessary tools, staffing, and funding to succeed. The position involves regular check-ins to monitor progress, remove barriers, and support problemsolving across departments, helping align day-to-day operations with institutional priorities.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services, Vice Chancellor for Residential Life and Dining, Assistant Vice President for Campus Services, Executive Director for Housing and Dining Services, and more.

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition As an executive sponsor, this role helps situate plantforward commitments in the organization’s broader strategic planning. By overseeing resource allocation and crosscampus coordination, this position ensures that teams implementing the pledge have the authority, funding, and support needed to succeed. This role may help elevate plantforward dining as a values-driven commitment aligned with broader institutional goals.

Key Takeaways

Advice for Peers People closest to the work know it best. Maintain a collaborative and accessible leadership style by engaging regularly with staff and students. For example, try meals at special events, check in with teams in informal settings, and stay visible across dining spaces. This approach is critical for making informed decisions about how to best support ongoing efforts and allocate resources effectively. “Because I’m the one that oversees how the resources get allocated, I can better make sure that the resources are allocated appropriately if I’m talking to the people that are closest to the work and are most knowledgeable about what we need.”

When sustainability is not explicitly named as a guiding principle, it is more likely to be deprioritized during periods of crisis.

Anchor sustainability in your organization’s guiding principles. One challenge at UC Berkeley Dining has been clearly defining where environmental sustainability fits within institutional decision-making, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing structural, financial, and staffing pressures. When sustainability is not explicitly named as a guiding principle, it is more likely to be deprioritized during periods of crisis. Instead, frame pledges and transitions like this as a shared, forward-looking commitment and lead with a clear marketing plan and values-based narrative to help align campus leadership and reinforce sustainability as a core organizational priority. Benchmark against peer institutions. Comparing strategies and outcomes from similar universities can be an effective way to secure buy-in from senior administrators and campus stakeholders. Borrowing proven approaches helps avoid reinventing the wheel, and friendly competition especially with peer or “rival” institutions can be a powerful motivator. For UC Berkeley, comparisons to the University of California, Los Angeles or Stanford resonate strongly with both students and leadership, and membership in the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative has been a key driver and enabler of plant-forward initiatives. Embed plant-based expertise in leadership. When we first started plant-forward special events in 2021, it exposed limited vegan culinary expertise as a major barrier to scaling plant-forward dining. Rather than relying on external champions or side roles, Jo emphasizes embedding plant-based expertise directly into positions of authority. For example, hiring an executive chef who is already a plant-based expert ensures 16 change is institutionalized, not optional or dependent on influence without authority.

Executive Director of Dining

Christopher Henning Interview conducted: Oct. 30, 2024.

Role Overview The Executive Director of Dining oversees all operational and fiscal aspects of UC Berkeley Dining, including residential dining, retail, and catering. This role manages budgeting, menu planning, staffing, vendor relationships, and operational quality, while ensuring alignment with institutional values and constraints.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Director of Foodservice, Campus Dining Director, Executive Director of Dining Operations and more.

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition The Executive Director of Dining sets the vision and authorizes institutional commitments. This role has the authority to sign pledges, establish policy, and signal that plant-forward dining is a strategic priority supported at the highest level for dining. This role maintains the long-term vision of the pledge while balancing operational, financial, and staffing realities. They set program goals and objectives and facilitate communication across key directors, including procurement, culinary, and residential dining.

Advice for Peers Plant-forward dining must be attractive and craveable. For example, we often default to plant-based analogs, but this can limit creativity. Rather than mirroring animal-based dishes (e.g., BBQ chicken BBQ tofu), plant-forward entrees should stand on their own as compelling dishes.

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“Even menu items that have animal protein have to be engineered as such that they’re very plant-forward. It’s not necessarily about taking choices away. It’s about reducing the overall impact [of our food]... reducing the overall procurement of animal proteins.” - Christopher Henning

Key Takeaways Provide resources to support creativity and execution. This role can allocate budgetary and logistical resources to support training, including bringing in guest chefs, leveraging vendor partnerships, and organizing field trips for culinary staff. External partners (e.g., vendors, nonprofit organizations, and culinary experts) can help overcome creative “writer’s block” and inspire new plant-forward dishes. Facilitate relationships across the organization. The Executive Director can help connect chefs, directors, and external experts to support ideation and execution. In collaboration with the Procurement Director, Culinary Director, Chefs, and Sustainability Manager, Christopher helps ensure plant-forward goals are supported across departments. Maintain commitment to the pledge. By signing a pledge and reinforcing its importance, this role ensures plantforward dining remains a strategic priority rather than a short-term initiative. Sustained leadership support is essential for keeping momentum amid daily operational pressures.

How to Leverage This Role The Executive Director of Dining is uniquely positioned to champion plant-forward initiatives across dining operations. This role can support and resource other directors (culinary, sustainability, procurement), align plant-forward goals with institutional values and leadership priorities, and maintain accountability to meet pledge commitments over time. Less involved in day-to-day kitchen operations, this position is well suited to maintain the broader vision of a pledge and ensure sustained institutional support.

How to Leverage This Role Sustainability Program If your institution has a dedicated manager, make them the central Manager for Residential and sustainability coordinator of the transition. Because plantdining spans procurement, culinary, Student Services Program forward operations, nutrition, communications, and

Shannen Casey

Interview conducted: June 15, 2026. Role Overview

The Sustainability Program Manager for Residential & Student Services Programs (RSSP) leads sustainability strategy, policy implementation, legislative compliance, programming, and peer-to-peer education across University Housing and Dining operations. At UC Berkeley, this position is housed within the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor of RSSP, providing a unique ability to create policy.

leadership, someone must be responsible for coordinating efforts and maintaining momentum. A Sustainability Manager is often uniquely positioned to serve as this central project lead tracking progress, engaging stakeholders, and ensuring plant-forward goals remain a priority amid competing operational demands. If a dedicated sustainability role does not exist, another stakeholder should be formally empowered to serve as the project lead and maintain momentum over time.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Sustainability Coordinator; Sustainability Manager; Sustainability Program Director; Associate Director of Sustainability; Dining Sustainability Manager; Environmental Health and Sustainability Manager. At some institutions, sustainability responsibilities are embedded within another role rather than assigned to a dedicated sustainability position. Common examples include staff working in environmental health and safety, compliance, nutrition, or campus sustainability.

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition This role serves as the primary champion and coordinator of UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward transition. Shannen led UC Berkeley Dining’s partnership with Humane World for Animals and initiated the institution's adoption of the Forward Food Pledge. Today, this position oversees implementation efforts, develops programming, tracks progress, facilitates communication among stakeholders, and helps ensure that plant-forward goals remain a priority across dining operations.

Advice to Peers Plant-forward dining can support climate, financial, nutrition, and student wellbeing goals.

Plant-forward dining is a remarkably versatile initiative. Plant-forward dining can support climate, financial, nutrition, and student wellbeing goals. By identifying which levers matter to your institution, you can meet stakeholders where they are and frame plant-forward dining through the priorities of your audience. Plant-based meals can support a wide range of institutional goals, from climate action and Scope 3 emissions reductions to nutrition, cost savings, and dietary inclusivity. Identify what matters most to the stakeholders you are trying to engage and connect plantforward dining to those existing priorities.

Key Takeaways Embed the transition in policy. Plant-forward initiatives are easier to sustain when they are tied to existing institutional commitments rather than individual champions. Connect plant-based goals to existing policies and strategic plans whenever possible, such as climate action plans, Scope 3 emissions targets, sustainability policies, or departmental strategic goals. If no relevant policy exists, commitments like the Forward Food Pledge can help build momentum and establish accountability. Use programming to build momentum and gather data. Pop-ups, challenges, and special events naturally generate excitement around plant-forward dining while creating valuable opportunities to collect student feedback. Use these events to not only introduce new foods and engage students, but also to gather student data. Always gather student feedback and data to support future menu changes and strengthen the case for continued investment. Leverage students as partners in implementation. Students are more than a source of feedback, they should be active contributors to the transition. Whether through internships, project management, outreach, menu development, research, or event support, student involvement expands organizational capacity while creating meaningful experiential learning opportunities.

“Do not underestimate the vast amount of intelligence that is at your fingertips by utilizing student labor and student experiential learning to further [this plant-forward transition]…use their labor, hire them, pay them!” Shannen Casey

Director of Culinary

Marcos Hernandez Interview conducted: Jan. 29, 2025. Role Overview

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition The Culinary Director is central to making plantforward dining viable, appealing, and institutionalized. Through menu design, recipe development, and balancing financial and labor constraints with sustainability goals, this role determines how plantforward commitments are executed on student plates. This role is uniquely situated to introduce students to new flavors, cuisines, and ways of eating as they transition to C&U life, and through input on procurement, the Culinary Director can influence vendors and the supply chain.

The Director of Culinary oversees menu strategy, recipe development, and culinary standards across the residential dining program. This role exists at the intersection of creativity, operations, finance, and sustainability by translating institutional values and student needs into menus that can be executed consistently at scale. Job responsibilities include researching, testing, selecting, and curating menu items, managing ongoing menu cycles, and adapting offerings in response to changing demographics, supply chain realities, and student preferences.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Executive Chef, Foodservice Director, Culinary Expert, VP of Culinary

Key Takeaways Invest in culinary fundamentals to enable quality at scale. The success of plant-forward menus depends on the culinary team’s ability to consistently execute core fundamentals at scale. Gaps in technique are quickly exposed in plantbased dishes. Investing in foundational culinary education and regular on-going training across all staff will dramatically improve food quality in new plant-forward menus. Create structured, reliable channels for student feedback. UC Berkeley Dining actively engages student organizations like multicultural affinity groups and the student government to gather meaningful input on menus and dining experiences. These groups often have aligned priorities and strong incentives to advocate for students. In 2026, UC Berkeley Dining is also piloting a dedicated student dining focus group to further institutionalize feedback. Sponsor creativity intentionally. Chef Marcos leverages unit-specific culinary focus groups (including chefs, general managers, and himself), special events, and pop-ups to test ideas and inspire innovation. These lower-risk environments allow new plant-forward dishes to be developed before moving into regular menu cycles.

Chef Marcos’ Pro Tips Consider these easy swaps and changes that can be implemented easily to increase your institution’s plant-based meal offerings. Most vegetarian dishes that contain dairy can easily be made fully plant-based with increasingly accessible plant-based butters, oils, or milks. Replace animal proteins with creative forms of soy. Don’t get stuck using just firm tofu! Consider analogs. Although they can limit creativity if used too much or with a narrow focus, there remains student demand for them and they can seem more familiar to both students and operators.

Key Takeaways Continued Model and invest in continuous culinary education. As Culinary Director, Marcos sees it as his responsibility to remain the culinary expert. He actively seeks out books, trainings, conferences, and industry exposure, then intentionally shares insights, techniques, and inspiration with his team. When possible, he brings staff along in the learning process to build confidence and capability. Ongoing exposure to new ideas, cuisines, and peers accelerates learning and raises the organization’s overall culinary ceiling. Be present in recipe development. Effective culinary leadership requires being on the ground during recipe development. Marcos observes and steps in when necessary to improve technique, balance flavors, or correct execution. Knowing when and how to intervene is critical; this role must carry both authority and credibility as the culinary expert. Elevate plant-based dishes through presentation. Presentation is often an underused strategy for improving plant-based meals. Even when labor and ingredient budgets are constrained, thoughtful plating and visual appeal can significantly increase student interest.

How to Leverage This Role Engage the Culinary Director as the central integrator of plant-forward meals into dining operations. This role should lead menu decisions with financial discipline and sustainability intent, and use sales, waste, and satisfaction data to continuously refine offerings. They should engage deeply in recipe development and procurement, pilot new ideas through pop-ups and challenges, and incorporate successful dishes into regular menu cycles.

Advice to Peers Keep your finger on the pulse of food trends and customer preferences. Regularly check in on what students and diners are excited about by monitoring social media, food media, and industry publications. Consistent sources include Cook’s Illustrated, Food & Wine, and Saveur to stay ahead of emerging flavors, formats, and plant-forward inspiration.

Associate Director of Purchasing

Sunil Chacko Interview conducted: Oct. 16, 2024. Role Overview The Associate Director of Purchasing oversees food sourcing, vendor relationships, contracts, and distributor coordination for campus dining. This role manages what products are available, from which growers and manufacturers, at what price points, and under what contractual terms. They balance cost, supply reliability, labor demands, and institutional priorities.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Purchasing Director, Director of Procurement, Director of Vendor Management

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition The Associate Director of Purchasing determines what ingredients can be sourced affordably and at scale. Through vendor selection, contract management, and close coordination with distributors and growers, this role enables access to high-quality plant-based products and seasonal vegetables that can reduce costs and support sustainability goals. By working closely with culinary, dining, and sustainability leadership, procurement ensures plant-forward menus are financially viable, operationally feasible, and aligned with student demand.

Advice for Peers Flexibility is essential in a shifting food system. Stay diversified and avoid rigid vendor commitments. Maintaining vendor flexibility allows purchasing patterns to evolve with menus, student demand, and sustainability goals.

Key Takeaways Campus demographics should guide procurement strategy. Understanding your campus community demographics helps align sourcing decisions with student preferences. For example, consider what cuisines might be popular from students’ homes and how those can be leveraged to enter new plant-based recipes. Balance competing interests. Effective procurement requires weighing financial realities, labor capacity, sustainability goals, and student feedback in close coordination with dining leadership including culinary, sustainability, and dietetics teams. Cost is often not the barrier. In fact, seasonal, local vegetables can lower costs and offset expenses through plant-forward transitions. While meat analogs have their place, they can be more expensive.

How to Leverage This Role

Image: The Mushroom Council booth at the 2024 Menus of Change All-Member Meeting.

Leverage vendor and board resources. Vendors and commodity boards (Mushroom Council, Lentils.org, etc.) offer valuable trainings, tastings, and technical support, often free of charge. Coordinating these resources can build culinary capacity and improve execution of new plant-based dishes.

Director of Residential Dining

Melvin Garcia Interview conducted: Oct. 31, 2024. Role Overview

The Director of Residential Dining oversees the day-to-day operations of residential dining, with direct responsibility for menu planning, protein offerings, and meal execution across UC Berkeley Dining’s dining commons. This role translates institutional goals and dining leadership direction into operational reality by coordinating chefs, products, vendors, and production constraints. Because this position is close to meal implementation, the Director of Residential Dining plays a critical role in determining what is feasible, scalable, and successful on students’ plates.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Director of Campus Dining, Director of Dining Operations

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition This role bridges dining leadership commitments and day-today operations, determining how plant-forward goals are implemented across menus, products, and service. By managing protein offerings and menu execution, the Director of Residential Dining ensures plant-forward dining is operationally viable, repeatable, and scalable.

Advice for Peers The biggest challenge is not operations, it’s mindset. Plant-forward transitions require a culture shift among chefs, students, and stakeholders who often assume plantbased food is limited, bland, or unappealing. In the past, this has confined our plant-based dishes to analogs or tofu prepared with the same technique as meat dishes (Orange Chicken and Orange Tofu). Instead, generate excitement through creativity: lean into sharing through groups like NACUFs; gain inspiration from local restaurants and vendors; bring in innovative new products for tastings, popups, or station takeovers; and use challenges as incubators for new recipes rather than one-off events. When plantbased dishes are flavorful, inventive, and craveable, they earn a natural place on regular menus and perceptions begin to change.

Key Takeaways Design challenges for real-world adoption. Plant-forward competitions such as the Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge are powerful tools for sparking creativity, but they should be structured to produce recipes that can realistically enter the regular menu cycle. Set clear parameters around ingredient lists and labor demands, and reserve highly elevated or complex dishes for special events or seasonal menus. Treat plant-forward dining as a matter of inclusivity. As a proud vegetarian himself, Melvin cares deeply about offering complete, delicious plant-forward meals for a diverse student body. The same intentionality, resources, and commitment dedicated to kosher, halal, and allergen-safe dining should also be applied to vegetarian and plant-based meals. Build two-way communication with students. Transitions require transparency and feedback. Use multiple channels to communicate menus and initiatives (student leadership groups, digital menus, social media, residential staff), and pair them with easy, anonymous feedback mechanisms. To communicate initiatives and menus, UC Berkeley Dining hosts regular meetings with established student body organizations like the Residence Hall Assembly (RHA) and Residential Student Advisors and maintains an online presence with online menus, Instagram, and Facebook. Equally as important is establishing avenues for student feedback.

How to Leverage This Role The Director of Residential Dining is a key operational owner of the PF transition. A plantforward champion in this role should be deeply embedded in all decisions that touch menu planning, protein offerings, and plant-forward meals. This role is uniquely responsible for balancing creativity with labor, cost, sourcing, and student demand to turn ideas into executable menus. By staying present in crossfunctional meetings and actively guiding menu decisions, the Director ensures plant-forward initiatives are feasible, consistent, and scaled into everyday dining.

UC Berkeley Dining has found success with a Text-and-Tell messaging system advertised on napkin holders throughout dining commons that sends students’ feedback anonymously straight to dining leadership phones. These avenues inform leadership and strengthen trust with students.

Business Improvement Analyst (BIA)

Brian Muganda Ashiali Interview conducted: Oct. 10, 2024.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Business Analytics Manager, Policy Analyst, Dining Operations Analyst

Role Overview The Business Improvement Analyst (BIA) operationalizes institutional commitments by translating goals into processes, timelines, and accountability structures. This role ensures that complex initiatives like the plant-forward transition are embedded into day-to-day operations, maintained over time, and fit into the larger business model.

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition While executive leadership sets direction and signs pledges, the BIA ensures those commitments are implemented, monitored, and sustained. This role focuses on process design, follow-through, and alignment with business models and market realities.

Advice for Peers Sustainability is tied to markets. Plant-forward initiatives must appeal to customers, align with institutional business models, and make financial sense. Use data, cost implications, and risk mitigation to build the case. Stay up-to-date on policies and emerging regulations to anticipate compliance risks and position sustainability as a strategic advantage. Leverage external organizations and certification schemes (see Appendix A) that will allow your institution to publicly celebrate and tout their sustainability commitments.

Key Takeaways

Map processes and clearly delegate responsibilities. The BIA maps workflows across purchasing, menu planning, and ordering to identify where plant-forward transitions must be embedded. By clarifying roles, responsibilities, and handoffs, this position ensures that new policies and practices are incorporated into existing systems. Track commitments to maintain pressure. A signed pledge only creates impact if progress is continuously monitored. The BIA tracks timelines, purchasing reports, menu cycles, and costs to ensure commitments are being followed in practice. This role provides regular follow-up and accountability that leadership may not have capacity to maintain daily. Align the plant-forward target with business goals and models. The BIA evaluates how plantforward initiatives interact with institutional business models, budgets, and market behavior. This includes reviewing financial reports, assessing cost impacts and savings, and ensuring sustainability goals support, not undermine, financial viability and student demand. Secure buy-in across stakeholders. Because the BIA has visibility across operations, finance, sustainability, and compliance, this role helps build buy-in by framing plant-forward initiatives in ways that resonate with different stakeholders. The BIA connects sustainability goals to operational efficiency, risk mitigation, policy compliance, and business performance.

Unique Value of the BIA The BIA acts as a thought partner to executive leadership, gathering information from across departments and identifying barriers, risks, and opportunities. This role bridges strategy and execution by ensuring that commitments remain visible, feasible, and reinforced over time.

How to Leverage This Role Engage the BIA early to plan plant-forward transitions and delegate tasks responsibly. The BIA can help with the integration of plantforward goals into purchasing systems, workflows, and reporting structures. Use this role to maintain accountability, coordinate across departments, and support continuous improvement once the transition is underway. 24

Registered Dietician (RD)

Jaylene Tang

Interview conducted: Dec. 11, 2024. Role Overview

The Registered Dietitian (RD) ensures nutrition, ingredient, and allergen compliance across dining operations. This role reviews recipes, ingredients, menus, and food labeling while supporting students with dietary needs and working closely with culinary teams to maintain consistency and food quality.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN); Campus Dietitian; Dining Services Dietitian; Nutrition Services Manager

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition Because the RD is involved in ingredient sourcing, recipe development, menu review, and student dietary support, this role is embedded throughout the plant-forward transition. The RD helps ensure plant-based meals are nutritionally balanced, accessible, operationally feasible, and aligned with student needs.

If your institution is just beginning a plantforward transition, the Registered Dietitian is often an excellent place to start because they are already embedded in ingredient sourcing, recipe development, menu review, and student dietary support.

Advice for Peers Create a standardized process for introducing new plantbased recipes. At UC Berkeley, successful recipes are reviewed by the Dietitian, Culinary Team, and Sustainability Manager before being tested with students and refined based on feedback. A structured, cross-functional review process improves recipe quality, reduces risk, and increases stakeholder buy-in.

Key Takeaways Prioritize plant-based entrées, not just sides. Expanding meaningful plantforward dining requires nutritionally complete plant-based entrées rather than relying on vegan side dishes or salad bar offerings. Diversify plant-based proteins. Move beyond tofu by incorporating legumes, lentils, chickpeas, tempeh, edamame, quinoa, and other whole-food plant proteins to increase menu variety and accessibility. Evaluate ingredients through multiple lenses. Nutrition, allergens, operational feasibility, cost, and sustainability should all be considered when selecting new products and recipes. Favor whole-food proteins when possible. While plant-based analogs can be useful, whole-food plant proteins often provide greater flexibility and fewer allergen or operational challenges.

How to Leverage This Role Involve the RD early in menu planning and product evaluation. Registered Dietitians bring expertise in nutrition, allergens, ingredient sourcing, and student dietary needs, making them valuable partners for identifying plant-based products, reviewing recipes, and ensuring new menu items are both nutritionally sound and operationally practical. If your institution is just beginning a plant-forward transition, the Registered Dietitian is often an excellent place to start because they are already embedded in ingredient sourcing, recipe development, menu review, and student dietary support.

Systems Coordinator

Stacey Williams Interview conducted: Nov. 19, 2024. Role Overview

Advice for Peers

The Systems Coordinator manages dining technology systems, menu databases, and operational workflows. This role works closely with procurement, culinary, and operations teams to maintain accurate menu data, standardize processes, troubleshoot system issues, train staff, and ensure dining stakeholders have access to the tools they need.

Prioritize data accuracy from the beginning. Only accurate data can be used for tracking and reporting; inaccurate data slows system workflows and creates risk. Additionally, errors only become increasingly difficult and timeconsuming to correct later.

Similar Titles at Other Institutions

Key Takeaways

Food Management System Coordinator; Dining Systems Coordinator; Foodservice Administrator; Dining Operations Coordinator

Connection to Plant-Forward Transition Plant-forward transitions rely on accurate data and consistent processes. The Systems Coordinator supports implementation by standardizing recipe intake, maintaining menu management systems, improving communication across stakeholders, and developing reliable methods for tracking and reporting plant-based offerings. Additionally, the Systems Coordinator works with vendors and the Procurement Director to obtain accurate information and set up order guides in the system.

How to Leverage This Role

Standardize processes early. Standardized recipe intake forms, procedures, and approval pathways improve accuracy, reduce duplicate work, and make new plant-based recipes easier to implement at scale. Communication drives consistency. Regular meetings between culinary, operations, and systems staff help align procedures, troubleshoot challenges, and keep plant-forward goals visible throughout the organization. Prioritize usability. Systems should be intuitive and accessible for everyone who uses them. User-friendly tools and training reduce errors, improve morale, and increase data accuracy.

Use the Systems Coordinator to establish standardized workflows and tracking systems for plant-based meals. This role can create the operational infrastructure needed to measure progress, improve communication, and integrate new recipes into dining operations efficiently and consistently.

Use systems data to track progress. Recipe tags, stock card classifications, and menu management software can make plant-based reporting nearly instantaneous and provide clear metrics to monitor progress toward plant-forward goals.

III. Event Planning in Plant-Forward Transitions Section Overview Any transitions in dining take time, trialing, and buy-in. For plant-forward transitions in particular, incorporating new plant-based meals into the menu cycle can be a lengthy process. UC Berkeley Dining has found that pop-ups and special events are powerful opportunities to trial new meals, test operations, and engage with students, making them a critical part of our plantforward transition. Event planning can take some practice to establish, and exact organization will differ between institutions, but below are some of our best practices for event planning for a plant-forward transition. Additionally, this section contains data from a 2024 survey of 246 UC Berkeley student attitudes on plant-forward dining, as well as free, complete resources for running a pop-up event including timelines, form and email templates, standard operating procedures, and event signage.

Key takeaways from this section include: Engage students as partners, not just participants. Student organizations can help design, promote, staff, and evaluate events while building trust between dining and the campus community. Plan early, adapt existing models, and standardize event processes. Clear timelines, stakeholder communication, and event SOPs improve coordination and make successful events easier to replicate. Use special events to test future menu items. Competitions and pop-ups, such as UC Berkeley Dining’s Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge, can generate student feedback, inspire culinary creativity, and create a pipeline of new plant-based dishes for regular menu cycles.

Event Planning Tips and Tricks Involve students. Engage student organizations with sustainability, food, or plant-based/vegan related missions for a mutually beneficial collaboration experience. Through helping co-design, staff, publicize, and assess the event students gain an empowering, handson learning opportunity. Meanwhile, the dining organization gains creative solutions and the opportunity to build relationships and trust with customers.

Be aware of survey fatigue.

Surveys are a powerful way to gather student data, yet student time is valuable, and students are often quick to turn surveys down. To increase your surveying success rate: keep surveys short (under 2 min, incentivize students with eye-catching prizes (pins, stickers, reusable utensils, gift cards, swag from Humane World for Animals, etc.), or set up tables at the exit of busy dining commons. Berkeley H&DS has had great success tabling with a prize wheel. The wheel is attractive on the table and makes taking surveys fun for students! Humane World for Animals has sponsored significant swag for prizes including reusable bags, cooking aprons, and measuring cup sets. Image at left: Prize wheel tabling set up for the PFRC at Foothill Dining Common.

Image above: UC Berkeley undergraduate interns with UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability table in Crossroads Dining Common with a prize wheel.

Student Perspectives on Plant-Forward Dining

Image at right: Tabling prizes set up for the PFRC at Clark Kerr Dining Common. UC Berkeley Student Opinions on Plant-Based Proteins Question: How do you rate analogue meat products (meat alternatives made from vegan ingredients, such as Beyond Meat) as opposed to whole foods protein sources (such as legumes, beans, and tofu)? 1 - I strongly prefer whole-foods protein 3 - I have no preference

Want current student perspectives on plant-based dining? See Appendix A Item 2 for the results of a survey conducted in 2024 assessing UC Berkeley students’ stance on UC Berkeley Dining’s Forward Food Pledge and plant-based dining. The survey received 246 responses from current UC Berkeley students and asked over 25 questions. See the pie chart at right for sample data from the survey.

5 - I strongly prefer analogue meats 4 6.2%

1 - I strongly prefer whole-foods protein 21.3%

2 18% 3 - I have no preference 50% 2024 UC Berkeley Dining Plant-Based Dining Survey

Begin planning early. Establish the date for the event as early as possible (ideally the beginning of the academic term). This allows time to review recipes, prepare the dining common, and publicize the event. Ask for appropriate approvals, begin publicizing, and write SOPs at least one month in advance.

Don’t recreate the wheel. Utilize existing challenges or campaigns, like the Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge in this playbook, as guides for your own institution’s special events. Tweaking existing emails and procedures for your own operations is far easier than starting from scratch. Consider partnering with organizations like Humane World for Animals, vendor councils, or pledges who can provide templates for special events along with swag for students and even personnel to help staff the event.

Leverage vendors, commodity councils, and partner organizations for pop-ups.

They often provide free resources, products, and expertise while gaining valuable opportunities to engage directly with students. It’s a win for both partners and the campus community.

Create a Standard Operating Procedure. Document best practices by creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for each event throughout your transition. SOPs are helpful to ensure communication across all stakeholders during the event, establish measurable success metrics to reflect on after the event, and improve the event for future years. Appendix A Item 1: PFRC SOP provides a sample template of an SOP from the Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge.

Image above: Screenshot of Appendix A Item 1: SOP from UC Berkeley Dining’s Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge.

Image at right: Tabling prizes provided by the vendor spotlighted in the 2026 Spring PFRC.

Image at left: Current UC Berkeley student staff and interns with H&DS got to meet and collaborate with the local vendor spotlighted in the Fall 2024 PFRC challenge when they hosted a pop-up during the event. Image at right: The product spotlighted in the Spring 2025 PFRC also hosted a pop-up during the event allowing students to speak directly with the company founder about her food innovation process and product.

IV. THE PLANT-FORWARD RECIPE CHALLENGE In C&U dining, getting new dishes incorporated into the menu cycle is one of the hardest parts about increasing plant-based offerings. At UC Berkeley Dining, our semesterly Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge (PFRC) is a competition that has helped us create, trial, and incorporate new plant-based recipes into our menu cycles. The challenge asks four chefs to create an original plant-based meal that fits the challenge’s theme and parameters and can feasibly be incorporated into the menu cycle. Each chef’s dish is featured in a pop-up during one lunch period while student sustainability staff and interns promote the dish. Student feedback collected via surveys determines the winning dish, and the winning dish is then incorporated into the regular meal cycle or featured in a special event.

Section Overview The following section contains complete templates and resources for how to run your own “pop-up” special event using UC Berkeley Dining’s semesterly Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge (PFRC) as an example. 30

Running a Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge Design Your Challenge 1. Brainstorm Goals a. Why is your institution doing this? Is it to increase awareness of plant-forward (PF) dining nutrition? To increase the number of PF dishes on the menu? To introduce students to interesting new PF recipes? 2. Design preliminary competition guidelines using your brainstormed goals to guide priorities. If your priority is… a. Nutrition = Engage your dietician so all dishes created meet nutritional requirements to be entered into the regular menu cycle. b. Exciting recipes = Impose fewer constraints, allow chefs to utilize special ingredients, and consider requiring all chefs to use the same “star” ingredient (e.g., sunchokes or soft tofu). c. Increasing plant-forward dishes = Strictly regulate labor, costing, and nutrition for all submissions, so they can feasibly be incorporated into the menu cycle. Consider how much time and labor each dish requires, cost per plate, and ease of sourcing ingredients. 3. Meet with the Director of Culinary to establish dates for the challenge. a. The best days are Tu, W, Th during lunch. b. The challenge is most effective if done on the same day of the week, four weeks running. i. One event at each location per day because we have four dining halls. E.g., The PFRC runs the lunch period every Wednesday of April arriving at a different dining common each week. 4. Select dates. Put them on the managers’ shared special events calendar, make a timeline of the challenge, and begin gathering materials. 5. Draft an email to chefs announcing the guidelines, deadlines, and dates of the challenge. See Appendix B Item 1 for ready-to-use email templates for the PFRC. For a sample timeline for the PFRC, see Appendix B Item 6.

Materials 6. Marketing Materials a. For each week’s dish, you will need signage describing the dish and a survey QR code for students to rank the dish. Wherever there is dish signage, there must also be a QR code. You need a minimum of 3 of each for: i. Hot line ii. Table (with students and prizes) iii. Door (entrance and exit) b. Contact the Communications or Marketing Team to make the posters at least one week in advance. This means you need the recipes/dish from each chef at least one week in advance. See Appendix B Item 2 for full sample posters (screenshots below). Sample posters from previous PFRCs with UC Berkeley Dining; from left to right: door signage for the event, survey QR code, napkin holder displays, and dish signage.

7. Advertising a. Coordinate with your Communications or Marketing team to make a post on Instagram or another popular media platform at the beginning of the event. For Instagram, post a story the morning of each day the event is running. The story should include: the dish, where it is being offered, when it is being offered, and something along the lines of “Come try this dish!” See below for sample Instagram posts from previous PFRCs with UC Berkeley Dining.

8. Surveys a. PFRC surveys must ask students to rank the dish, but they are also a great opportunity to survey the student body for their opinion on relevant issues. Keep the surveys short! PFRC surveys should take under a minute to complete. Google Forms are easy to create and examples of previous PFRC surveys from which you can copy questions are in Appendix B Item 3. b. Student interns can do this! 9. Tabling Materials - See Appendix A Item 3 for a list of items to bring tabling. Take inventory of prizes early to allow time for ordering more if necessary. 10. Create a sign-up spreadsheet to organize staffing the table. This is particularly important for coordinating student volunteers. See Appendix B Item 4 for a ready-to-use template: Event Tabling Sign-Ups.

Click here for an EXAMPLE Event Tabling Sign-Ups Form

Event Execution 11. Table through the entire meal period. a. Arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of the meal period with the wagon full of supplies from Appendix A Item 3. b. Email the General Manager of the dining common ahead of time to coordinate a table and chairs for set up. 12. Gathering survey responses. a. The primary goal of tabling is to gather as many survey responses as possible because these fuel the challenge. Engage students as they enter the dining common telling them about the special dish. Engage students as they exit the dining common or enter the dish area to ask them if they tried the dish. b. While they are at the table, use this as an opportunity to educate and engage them about what the challenge is, why you are running it, and any current or upcoming plant-forward/sustainability initiatives. You’ve captured their attention briefly, how can you make the most of it? 13. Get one meal carefully plated by the chef who created the dish and place it on the table to draw students attention. 14. Lay out the prizes across the table. 15. Take plenty of pictures of the set up, dish, and engagement for use in future marketing.

UC Berkeley Dining’s Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge Through the Years

Post Challenge 16. Determine the winner. Analyze all four surveys to find the average score of each dish. Compile all the averages into a single spreadsheet and include the student feedback on the final results spreadsheet. See a screenshot of an example results spreadsheet below. See Appendix B, Item 5 for a copyable spreadsheet template with pre-built formulas. Enter your survey results, and the spreadsheet will automatically calculate the percentage of students who liked the dish.

17. Announce the winner. Within a week of the last date of the challenge, send an email announcing the winning chef and dish. See Appendix B Item 1 for a template. 18. Award winners. Coordinate with relevant dining personnel to bring the winning dish into the menu system or plan the dish’s feature at a special event. Award the winning chef a prize to commemorate and highlight their win. Consider a poster or framed picture posted somewhere in their dining common celebrating their win, an exclusive patch for their chef coat, or a knife or toque sticker. Image at right: Screenshot of email announcing the winning chef and dish. Available for copying in Appendix B Item 1..

Conclusion This playbook demonstrates that a successful plant-forward transition cannot begin or end with menus. A plant-forward transition requires a multifaceted approach consisting of operational interventions in procurement and menu cycles; cultural shifts in leadership and staff; creative shifts in upskilling culinary teams; and a political shift to sustain progress toward institutional sustainability goals. While many resources explain why institutions should increase plant-based offerings, fewer provide practical guidance for navigating the operational realities of implementation. Drawing from UC Berkeley Dining's experience pursuing Humane World for Animals' Forward Food Pledge, this playbook was created to document lessons learned, stakeholder perspectives, and actionable resources for colleges and universities seeking to increase plant-based offerings. Despite representing different departments and responsibilities, stakeholders consistently emphasized the importance of culinary quality, cross-functional collaboration, institutional commitment, and student engagement. Interviews with various UC Berkeley Dining stakeholders and various MCURC members revealed several recurring themes: Plant-forward dishes must be nutritious, delicious, and visually appealing. Analog proteins should be used strategically. Embedding plant-forward goals in institutional policy or commitments like the Forward Food Pledge is necessary for maintaining focus on sustainability goals. Investment in human capital through training of kitchen staff to execute culinary fundamentals and new plant-based meals is critical to enable quality at scale. Aligning plant-forward goals with institutional values through narratives and marketing can help achieve buy-in for a coordinated and unified plant-forward transition. Cross-team communication is essential; everyone has a role to play. Activate the student body as partners in a plant-forward transition.

This playbook also highlighted the role of popups and special events in UC Berkeley Dining’s plant-forward transition as a means to ideate and incorporate new plant-based meals into the menu cycle, engage with students, and test operations. UC Berkeley Dining’s Plant Forward Recipe Challenge was used as an example to provide a comprehensive overview of event planning processes and a plethora of free resources for other institutions to use. Ultimately, this playbook revealed that no single stakeholder can achieve a plant-forward transition alone. While the transition needs a champion, progress occurs when leadership, procurement, culinary teams, operations staff, sustainability professionals, and students work toward a shared goal. Through this playbook, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability celebrates the progress UC Berkeley Dining has made towards a more sustainable future while recognizing the work that remains to be done. As UC Berkeley Dining continues working toward its 2027 Forward Food Pledge target, new challenges, opportunities, and lessons will undoubtedly emerge. We encourage other colleges and universities, especially our peer institutions across the University of California system, to join us in the plant-forward transition and consider making a Forward Food Pledge or joining the MCURC. This playbook has shown that meaningful change happens when people across an organization align around a shared vision and commit to making that vision operational. The transition to plant-forward dining will look different at every institution, but the opportunity remains the same: to nourish people, care for our natural resources responsibly, and build dining systems that reflect the values of the communities we serve.

Works Cited About Plant-Based Universities. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2026, from https://plantbaseduniversities.org/about Avelino, D. C., Gaylord, A., & Lin, C. (2022). College Students’ Awareness, Beliefs, Attitudes and Consumption Intention Towards Plant-Based Meat and Its Environmental Impact. Current Developments in Nutrition, NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE Abstracts, 6, 476. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzac059.004 Carey, Cassandra N., et al. “The Environmental Sustainability of Plant-Based Dietary Patterns: A Scoping Review.” Journal of Nutrition, vol. 153, no. 3, Feb. 2023, pp. 857–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.02.001. Cleveland, D. A., & Jay, J. A. (2020). Integrating climate and food policies in higher education: A case study of the University of California. Climate Policy, 21(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1787939 Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Tubiello, F. N., & Leip, A. (2021). Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food, 2(3), 198–209. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9 Dixon, K. A., Michelsen, M. K., & Carpenter, C. L. (2023). Modern Diets and the Health of Our Planet: An Investigation into the Environmental Impacts of Food Choices. Nutrients, 15(3), 692. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15030692 Viroli, Giulia, et al. “Exploring benefits and barriers of Plant-Based diets: health, environmental impact, food accessibility and acceptability.” Nutrients, vol. 15, no. 22, Nov. 2023, p. 4723. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15224723.

Appendices Appendix A: Event Planning Resources Item 1: EXAMPLE PFRC SOP Item 2: 2024 Plant Based Dining Survey Resources Surveys and Responses from UC Berkeley Students Fall 2024 Item 3: List of items to bring for tabling. Signage: Ideally printed in color on 11x16 inch paper Glass signage holders/displays: Invest in heavy ones in case you ever use them outdoors or in windy conditions. Prizes: Berkeley H&DS has had great success letting students design stickers and pins as prizes. Reusable utensil sets, reusable resealable bags, and tshirts are also hot items. Organizations like Humane World for Animals, food councils, or pledges can also sponsor prizes. Tablecloth A wagon for transport Tape A prize wheel Information about your organization Sample tabling setups:

Appendix B: Plant-Forward Recipe Challenge Resources Use these resources to draw inspiration for your own PFRC. Alternatively, simply make copies of the ready-touse templates to immediately implement a PFRC at your own institution. Item 1: EXAMPLE Email Templates for PFRC Item 2: PFRC dish signage and survey QR code examples. Screenshots below. Download the posters and more here: PFRC PF Playbook Resources Folder

Item 3: EXAMPLE PFRC Survey: Clark Kerr PFRC F’24 See an example PFRC Survey that you can copy questions from. Item 4: EXAMPLE Event Tabling Sign-Up Organizer Item 5: EXAMPLE PFRC Results Item 6: PFRC Sample Timeline PFRC Spring Sample Timeline Month February: Design Challenge and Set Dates Week 1: Project kickoff meeting, team introductions with student coordinators, delegate tasks. Week 2: Meet with the Director of Culinary, research and gather information on potential challenge themes, analyze existing survey data from previous PFRCs. Week 3: Develop goals for this challenge and create challenge guidelines. Take inventory of prizes. Order more if needed. Week 4: Finalize with Sustainability Manager and draft emails for listserv to dining commons staff. Email Chefs/Staff now! Month March: Recipes Deadlines and Marketing Week 5: Draft flyers. Communicate with the Communications and Advertising team. Week 6: Receive information about dishes and photos from the chefs. Get the recipes checked by Dietician, Director of Culinary, and Sustainability Manager. Week 7: Finalize the posters with the dishes’ information. Week 8: Create survey for students to rank dishes. Month April: Challenge Runs in Dining Commons Weeks 9-12: Remind chefs and dining common about their lunch periods by drafting and scheduling the emails for listserv. Send each reminder email a week before the event at their dining common. Make final adjustments if needed, schedule volunteers for tabling. Table in each dining commons, collect survey responses Month May: Awards and Wrap Up Week 1: Analyze data and determine a winning dining common, chef, and dish. Send email announcements via listserv and announce on social media. Week 2: Integrate winning dish into the menu system.

Appendix C: Additional Resources The organizations and resources listed throughout this playbook and in this appendix may provide useful tools, training, certifications, research, networking opportunities, or implementation support for C&Us interested in advancing plant-forward dining. Inclusion in this playbook is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or formal partnership by UC Berkeley Dining, UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability, or the University of California, Berkeley; the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative; or Humane World for Animals. Organizations Menus of Change University Research Collaborative: https://www.moccollaborative.org/ Founded by The Menus of Change: https://www.menusofchange.org/, The Culinary Institute of America: https://www.ciachef.edu/, Stanford Dining: https://rde.stanford.edu/dining-hospitality, and the Stanford Prevention Research Center: https://med.stanford.edu/prevention.html. Humane World for Animals: https://www.humaneworld.org/en Forward Food Collaborative: https://forwardfood.org/pledge/ NACUFS: https://www.nacufs.org/ AASHE: https://www.aashe.org/ Greener by Default: https://www.greenerbydefault.com/ Meatless Mondays: https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday Certifications AASHE STARS Program: https://stars.aashe.org/ NACUFS Sustainability Awards: https://www.nacufs.org/membership/awards-recognition/sustainabilityawards/ Publications & Toolkits MCURC Research Portfolio: https://www.ciaprochef.com/wpcontent/uploads/2025/10/MCURCResearchPortfolio.pdf The (Almost) Perfect Plant-Forward University: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e73dab948933135a78e16ae/t/66c4c87207b0ae30f6777e10/172417 2417024/MCURC_AlmostPerfectPlantForwardUniversity.pdf Edgy Veggies Toolkit: https://sparqtools.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20190925_EdgyVeggiesToolkit1.pdf Plant-Based Treaty Playbook for C&U: https://plantbasedtreaty.org/project/playbook-for-universities-andcolleges/ Globally Inspired Plant-Forward Recipes and Inspirations for Campus Menus and Dining: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pWDjpoCwPGzgnxwrGlS4BZ-MyJ-MrmIk/view

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