Buying from Local Growers and Businesses
University Culinary Services believes in supporting the local community and sustainable business practices as is demonstrated by the following partners list. While this list is not all-inclusive, it does provide a background of University Culinary Services' commitment to our local businesses and growers. We pride ourselves on our efforts to support our community and will continue to expand our efforts whenever possible.
Produce
University Culinary Services purchases the majority of their produce through the San Francisco company Fresh Point. Fresh Point focuses on sustainability through their waste management program, use of hybrid vehicles, and by using recycled water for their fleet washings. They are also currently being reviewed the by Green Knights group, who helps their clients “green” their business by focusing on sustainable energy use and business practices.
We also support the Santa Rosa Junior College’s Agriculture and Natural Resources programs by purchasing products from Shone Farm. Their 365 acres of land provides an opportunity for students to experience real-life, hands-on training relevant to their career choice. We also offer their CSA program to our campus community in the fall semesters.
Lastly, University Culinary Services has a long standing business relationship with Walker Ranch Apples, which is a small apple farm in the Graton area that has been around since Lee Walker’s grandfather planted the original Gravenstein apples in his orchard in 1912.
Dairy
Most of dairy products carried by University Culinary Services are purchased through Clover Stornetta, whose main offices are located just a few minutes south of us in Petaluma. Clover Stornetta Farms is a dairy processor who specializes in both organic and conventional dairy products. They pride themselves on their commitment to sustainable agriculture, no added rBST in any of their products, their Free Farmed certification by the American Humane Association, and their guarantee that they know where 100% of their milk comes from every day. Many of the cheese products we use are also co-packed with Clover Stornetta using their milk.
Breads
In the area of breads and pastries, University Culinary Services purchases their donuts from Jelly Donuts in Rohnert Park. We also utilize Sonoma’s Artisan Bakery for part of their pastry line. Artisan Bakery opened its doors in July 1992 and every item they produce is baked from scratch daily, using local products whenever possible.
University Culinary Services also makes bread purchases from Full Circle Baking Company, located just down the road in Penngrove. They can be found selling their products at the local Santa Rosa Farmer's Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, as well as at Oliver’s Market in Cotati.
Beverages
University Culinary Services carries a large variety of locally crafted beverages. Charlie Brown's Café offers products from Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company for our loose leaf tea program, and our popular Guayaki beverages come to us from the company headquarters in Sebastopol. They are a Fair Trade Certified Yerba Mate supplier who focuses on sustainable practices in all aspects of their business.
We also feature beers from two local micro-breweries: Moonlight Brewing which produces Death and Taxes, and Lagunitas which produces many popular seasonal beers like the Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale and Brown Shugga.
Broadline Distribution
University Culinary Services uses United Natural Foods as a source of vegetarian, organic, sustainable, gluten free, and natural products. These include products from Northern California such as Golden Pacific Island Foods from Healdsburg, Amy's Products from Santa Rosa, Fall River Wild Rice from Fall River Mills, Pamela's Gluten-Free Products from Ukiah, Lundsberg products from Richvale, Annie Chun’s products from San Rafael, PJ's Burritos from South San Francisco, and Cliff Bars from Berkeley.
Cooking Products
The majority of University Culinary Service operations utilize trans-fat free California Rice Oils out of Novato for their fryers. In addition, the fryer oils are transported to Yokayo Biofuels in Ukiah to be repurposed into biodiesel fuel. Once the used oil has been converted into fuel, it makes its way back to many Sonoma County businesses such as Laguna Farms in Sebastopol.
Should you have any questions about what we do to support our community, please feel free to email us at dining@sonoma.edu.
For more information, please visit the following sites.
Yokayo Biofuels