How can culinary educators assess and improve their own sustainability performance and impact?

1 Define your goals

Before you can measure and improve your sustainability performance and impact, you need to define what they mean for you and your context. What are the specific objectives and indicators that you want to achieve and monitor in terms of sustainability? For example, you may want to reduce your food waste, increase your use of local and organic ingredients, promote fair trade and ethical sourcing, or educate your students about the environmental and social impacts of their food choices. You can use frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Sustainable Food Systems Approach, or the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) Menus of Change Principles to guide you in setting your goals.

2 Assess your current situation

Once you have defined your goals, you need to assess your current situation and identify your strengths and weaknesses in terms of sustainability. You can use tools such as the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), the Green Restaurant Association's (GRA) Certification Program, or the Sustainable Restaurant Association's (SRA) Food Made Good Rating to help you evaluate your performance and impact across different dimensions of sustainability, such as energy, water, waste, sourcing, nutrition, social responsibility, and education. These tools can also provide you with benchmarks and best practices to compare yourself with other culinary educators and institutions.

3 Implement your action plan

Based on your assessment, you can develop and implement your action plan to improve your sustainability performance and impact. You can prioritize the areas where you have the most room for improvement, set realistic and measurable targets, and allocate the necessary resources and support. You can also involve your students, colleagues, suppliers, and customers in your action plan, and communicate your goals and achievements to them. You can use tools such as the FAO's Sustainable Food Systems Toolkit, the CIA's Menus of Change Resources, or the SRA's Food Made Good Toolbox to help you design and execute your action plan.

4 Monitor your progress

To ensure that your action plan is effective and efficient, you need to monitor your progress and evaluate your results. You can use the same tools that you used for your assessment, such as STARS, GRA, or SRA, to track your performance and impact over time, and see if you are meeting your targets and goals. You can also use feedback mechanisms, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or online platforms, to collect and analyze the opinions and perceptions of your students, colleagues, suppliers, and customers regarding your sustainability efforts. You can use tools such as SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or Google Forms to help you create and distribute your feedback instruments.

5 Learn and improve

Monitoring your progress is not enough; you also need to learn from your experience and improve your practice. You can use tools such as the FAO's Sustainable Food Systems Learning Platform, the CIA's Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, or the SRA's Food Made Good Community to help you access and share knowledge, insights, and innovations on sustainability in culinary education. You can also use tools such as SWOT analysis, PDCA cycle, or SMART goals to help you identify and address your challenges, opportunities, and areas for improvement. You can also seek and offer mentorship, coaching, or peer support to other culinary educators who are working on sustainability.

6 Celebrate your achievements

Finally, you should celebrate your achievements and recognize your efforts and contributions to sustainability in culinary education. You can use tools such as the SDGs Awards, the GRA's Green Restaurant Awards, or the SRA's Food Made Good Awards to help you apply for and receive recognition and rewards for your performance and impact. You can also use tools such as social media, newsletters, blogs, or podcasts to help you showcase and share your stories and successes with your students, colleagues, suppliers, customers, and the wider public. You can also use tools such as gratitude journals, certificates, or badges to help you acknowledge and appreciate your own and others' work and progress.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?