Café Services Makes A Splash In Seafood Sustainability

With the ocean just a stone’s throw away from many Café Services locations, it’s not a surprise that business diners have a healthy appetite for seafood. But how healthy is it for the oceans?

Steve Rice, Director of Culinary at Café Services, a corporate food services company serving Massachusetts and the greater northeast, will tell you it depends on the seafood. He was one of the first to champion the company’s focus on supporting and building awareness of sustainable seafood practices and ocean conservation.

“Our diners are very interested in knowing where their food comes from, and Café Services has always made buying local a priority,” says Steve. “But we also need to pay attention to how our seafood choices influence fishing and aquaculture, because these are two of the biggest factors that impact ocean health.”

To do its part, Café Services buys its seafood from suppliers that support sustainable seafood methods—like those recommended by Seafood Watch^® at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The program helps consumers and companies choose seafood that’s fished or farmed with eco-friendly methods and creates standards to identify fish that are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives” or best to “Avoid.”

Café Services encourages diners to consider Seafood Watch standards when choosing seafood at the store or restaurants and makes the program’s pocket guide, website link and mobile app available at its cafés.

Earth Day Event Gets Diners On Board With Ocean Conservation

On Earth Day, the company goes all out to get diners on board with ocean conservation—offering a Seafood Watch-approved fish special, and boldly displaying where and how the fish was caught on café chalkboards and posters.

This year, Café Services featured grilled yellowfin tuna on many of its menus. A Seafood Watch “good alternative,” yellowfin tuna is a US Atlantic species, fished in ways that limit the accidental catch of sea turtles and other ocean life.

While enlightening and inspiring for diners, Cafe Services’ Earth Day promotion is an exciting opportunity for chefs to make a splash with their innovative cooking techniques.

“Our chefs thrive on healthy competition and enjoy showing off their creativity,” says Steve. “After Earth Day, I got lots of photos and emails from chefs competing for bragging rights!”

I’ve been born and bred corporate dining and corporate catering from the very beginning of my career in the Silicon Valley and now, since 2001 in the Boston Metro Area. While working my way up through the ranks, all the experience has led up to my current position as the Corporate Executive Chef for Café Services, based out of Manchester, NH. I have the privilege to be able to utilize creativity, research and technology to dream up our company’s new culinary programs and custom menus for corporate cafeteria clients and bring them to life. Café Services supplies the resources to ensure success of our ever-evolving companywide culinary initiatives and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. Seeing the success of new programs in the field is my motivation. It’s a win win.