Cafes
Joe's Cafe Earns Penn's First LEED-CI Certification
Wharton has earned Penn's first certification under LEED for Commerical Interiors at the new Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall café, Joe's Café (named for our founder, Joseph Wharton). We earned Gold-level certification as well as two innovation credits rooted in Operations and Maintenance: one for green cleaning and one for sustainable cafe operations focused on waste diversion and composting and local/organic/healthy food options. Congratulations to the project team!
Check out our LEED Checklist here. Our innovation credits came from Operations and Maintenance principles and took a page out of the LEED-EB:OM handbook. One was for Cafe Green Cleaning, which focused on minimization of cleaning chemicals and processes, integrated tracking systems and green chemicals where necessary. To learn more, see our green cleaning section.
The other innovation credit focused on Sustainable Cafe Operations. This credit had two components: waste diversion and sustainable food. The waste diversion part pledged to divert 50% of total cafe waste from landfills. This would be done by pre- and post-consumer composting and recycling. We promised to audit the waste stream annually to ensure compliance. The sustainable food portion involves the purchase of food and drink that is produced seasonally and within 150 miles of the site, hormone and antiobiotic-free meat and dairy, vegetarian-fed beef, Certified Humane eggs, fish sourced using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines, dolphin-safe tuna and Fair Trade and Certified Organic coffee. Food will be fresh and prepared daily from scratch. The cafe does not use trans fat, peanut oil or MSG, provides vegetarian options and will serve entrees with portion control in mind.
Au Bon Pain Offers Incentive to Reduce Disposable Cup Waste
Within the Wharton Complex there are three cafes, all currently occupied by Au Bon Pain restaurants. Au Bon Pain has agreed to offer a discount of up to 37% for patrons who bring their own refillable coffee mug. Refills cost $1.19 plus tax compared to $1.89 for a large coffee with disposable cup.