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About Sustainable Food Systems
It's all about the food

With a growing national trend that shows an increased demand for locally grown and sustainable foods, mainstream food service operations are looking for ways to respond to the challenge.  Sustainable Food Systems is a unique consulting and technical assistance service for organizations seeking to create successful dining programs that feature foods  grown by local producers using sustainable and/or organic production practices.

The company is owned and operated by John Turenne, a successful long standing chef and food service operator by trade who has developed proven and successful programs that feature food sourced from local producers who use sustainable methods.  John represents a faction of people whose experiences and performances are extremely rare.  His career has spanned over 25 years in the food industry in many roles - from chef, to director, teacher, and forager. After living and loving the food business at several renowned institutions of higher education, he had the fortune to learn a new direction in sustainable food practices and create a first of its kind program at Yale University.  Through this course of action, John took the realities and challenges of conventional food service and found a way to change them.  The creation and implementation of the Yale Sustainable Food Project has been a process that transformed a conservative food service model, through careful planning, teaching and development, to create a sustainable dining program that has garnered unprecedented customer accolades and nation wide recognition. 

These experiences confirmed John’s commitment to working to assist other food service professionals to create similar programs.  As the father of young children, John believes that if we don’t pay attention to our social commitments now, subsequent generations will pay the price later.  He discovered that as a food service professional he had the ability to create effective and innovative changes in ordinary operations that have far-reaching positive influences on growers, businesses and customers.  It was through this life and career changing experience at Yale that he made the decision to help others to make a difference too.

The Mission

Simply stated, Sustainable Food Systems’ business is to help organizations and institutions make social, ecological and delicious differences in their business, in their communities and in our world through the way they think about food.  By means of thorough evaluation and investigation, we can determine the level and style of a local and sustainable food program that works best for the customer.  We then assist in its implementation through a hands on, supportive approach.