How Can University Catering Achieve a Healthy and Sustainable Diet Transformation?

On October 15, one day before the formal opening of the conference, a special workshop focused on university catering was held. The workshop brought together over 50 participants, including logistics heads and catering directors from top universities in China and the US, leaders of large-scale contract catering companies, researchers, supply chain enterprise representatives, and public welfare practitioners. They engaged in in-depth discussions around a core issue: Amid both opportunities and challenges, how can China’s university catering, serving tens of millions of faculty and students, successfully move towards a healthy and sustainable future?

Background

• • Significant Leverage: Institutional food service represents more than 40% of the total food service market in China.
  • Focus on Universities: A critical intervention point due to (1) Prevalent student dietary imbalances; and (2) a living lab for solutions (R&D, student activism).
  • Building on Momentum: Domestic and global universities are pioneering new approaches, creating a need to share practices and scale impact.

Purpose

• To build consensus and explore pathways for a dietary transformation.
• To share domestic and international case studies to inspire effective action.
• To establish a multi-stakeholder collaboration platform.

Highlights

• High-level and Voluntary Engagement: Despite having no KPI requirement to attend a civil society-led conference, catering directors and researchers from 5 of China’s top 10 universities, together with 3 leading catering companies, and government and industry experts actively participated, demonstrating the event's success in addressing their core needs and sparking genuine interest for collaboration.
• Unique Global Dialogue: Featured the in-person participation of the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Auxiliary Enterprises at UMass Amherst—renowned for its #1 ranked Best Campus Food in the U.S. for 9 consecutive years—enabling a rare and deep exchange on global best practices.
• Action-Oriented Preparation: In-depth case studies on 3 Chinese and 4 international universities were developed pre-workshop, providing a concrete foundation for discussions.

Key Stakeholder Challenges

• Cost Pressure: Rigid pricing structures and cost controls – Identified by both university catering directors and catering companies as the primary challenge.
• Operational & Student Engagement Hurdles: University catering directors grapple with technological and data gaps, and face the ongoing challenge of aligning healthy diet promotion with student satisfaction and preferences.
• Systemic & Supply Chain Barriers: Catering companies highlight the lack of policy incentives and supply chain limitations as major barriers.

Core Consensus & Systemic Levers

• Policy & Standards: Reform pricing and procurement mechanisms to incentivize menu innovation.
• Food Education: Embed food education across life stages to bridge the awareness-action gap.
• Demand-Driven Supply Chains: Use consumer "precision nutrition" needs to guide agricultural production and reduce waste.
• Localized Innovation: Combine technical solutions (e.g., smart canteen, carbon accounting) with traditional food wisdom (e.g., 24 Solar Terms).
• Multi-stakeholder Collaboration: Launch cross-sector pilot projects to address systemic barriers and build evidence for scalable solutions.

The Path Forward

• Recipe development and food education are identified as priority actions in the near future.
• Continue building momentum for a joint initiative and a sustained action coalition.
• Advance systemic change through the identified levers and collaborative pilots.