Healthy veggie salad with spinach, red lettuce, cucumbers and greenery top view flat lay

PROCUREMENT STANDARDS

Sustainable Sourcing

Building a Healthier Workplace

ISS Guckenheimer is committed to sustainable sourcing and standards, and our culinary teams use seasonal, local, sustainably grown, and organic ingredients whenever possible. We purchase only the freshest produce and best quality food from fully inspected, licensed, and/or certified sources and producers. As a result, our cuisine tastes incredible, offers less processed and healthier choices, and avoids excessive salt, fats, additives, and preservatives. Clients benefit from the improved creativity, happiness, and higher levels of productivity that healthy, well-nourished employees bring to the workplace.

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Fresh Produce

For health and sustainability reasons, vegetables and fruits should be the core of everyone’s diet. ISS Guckenheimer promotes plant-forward cuisine in all client food solutions.

  • We joined the Beans is How coalition in 2022 to encourage more plant-protein consumption, promote soil health, improve nutrition, and provide increased access to food at a lower cost.
  • ISS Guckenheimer maximizes the variety of fresh produce we menu, aiming to embody the best of our region and season.
  • We require our distributors help certify that farmers whose food we purchase meet guidelines for agricultural sustainability and fair labor standards.
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Meat and Dairy

The overuse of medically important antibiotics is common in animal food production systems and is a public-health time bomb.

  • ISS Guckenheimer purchases meat from producers working toward eliminating medically important antibiotics by 2025. We use the WHO definition for “medically important antibiotics” and buy from those who understand why the distinctions between antibiotics matter.
  • We support producers who use antibiotics judiciously to treat illnesses in flocks or herds, protecting ranchers’ livelihoods and practicing good animal welfare.
  • We support large-scale change, preferring to join environmental organizations by buying products that will transform the whole industry.
Egg farm and food processing factory. Close up view of egg crate with eggs and packing machine in background.

Eggs and Pork

Cages do not allow animals to express the five freedoms* and are inhumane housing systems.

  • ISS Guckenheimer buys liquid and shell eggs from cage-free farms as a first choice, and has committed to sourcing 100% of our eggs from cage-free producers by 2025. Well-maintained indoor aviary systems fit our definition of “cage-free.”
  • We source gestation crate-free pork across the majority of our locations through partner Clemens Food Group, one of the largest gestation crate-free pork producers in the U.S.
  • ISS Guckenheimer buys from producers in the process of making changes and able to show a plan for achieving change by 2025.

* The five freedoms are freedom (1) from hunger and thirst, (2) from discomfort, (3) from pain, injury, or disease, (4) to express normal behavior, and (5) from fear and distress.

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Seafood

The preservation of ocean ecosystems is critical to human health and the planet’s environmental balance, and the preservation of seafood variety is important for creating nutritious, delicious meals.

  • ISS Guckenheimer does not buy seafood the FDA has deemed likely contaminated with methylmercury, a neurotoxin harmful to children and others.
  • We seek to promote the best menu options by increasing the proportion of fish considered sustainably sourced by the Marine Conservation Society and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.
  • ISS Guckenheimer has banned all red-rated fish those considered unsustainable, overfished, highly vulnerable, and/or from poorly managed fisheries or farming systems from its supply chain.
  • We buy from producers who are both in the process of making changes and can show a plan for achieving changes by 2025 through an aquaculture improvement project (AIP), fishery improvement project (FIP), or other credible third-party process.
Unity Coffee

Tropical Products

Producing coffee, tea, chocolate, some fruits, nuts, and many oils not only impacts the environment, but occasionally involves egregious labor practices including human trafficking.

  • ISS Guckenheimer requires that producers inform us of the responsible agricultural practices they employ, including integrated pest management, shade canopies, and biodiversity maintenance.
  • Our producers must commit to either the elimination of forced labor in their supply chains or an active plan to address documented issues where they might exist.
  • ISS Guckenheimer’s supply chain includes only frying or cooking oils free of palm oil. For food products with palm oil, we purchase only those that contain palm oil originating from sustainable sources certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
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Single-use Disposables

Single-use disposables are a major source of waste and pollution. ISS Guckenheimer has made these products a focus of a number of initiatives.

  • We have committed to eliminating all plastic straws, stirrers, and carrier bags globally by the end of 2023. Instead, our food services will use 100% compostable, re-usable, or recyclable packaging for all company-branded food produced.
  • Opportunities to compost and the availability of compostable options have improved dramatically. ISS Guckenheimer can help clients find a composting partner.
  • Our disposables are compostable products that meet the ASTM D6400 standard or ASTM D6868 (if compostable bioplastic such as cold cups).
  • Our molded fiber bowls are P-FAS-free where available.
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Temporary Labor

Because we believe that ethical treatment of labor is critical, ISS Guckenheimer requires that:

  • Every vendor show proof of responsible labor practices and efforts to know whether any human trafficking exists in their supply chain.
  • All major vendors must participate in ProcurePASS our parent company’s global contract management system whose purpose is to assess and mitigate supply chain risks.
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Cleaning Chemicals

Chemicals used for cleaning purposes can be toxic to people and waterways. The cleaning chemical products ISS Guckenheimer typically purchases meet U.S. LEED standard for environmental responsibility and also prevent the spread of illness.

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Learn more about ISS Guckenheimer

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OUR STORY

History

When Stewart Ritchie, a Stanford medical student, and his future wife, Jeanie, sold their first gourmet sandwich on the quad of his school, they could never have imagined how far their little stand would take them. Learn about Guckenheimer’s history.