Bon Appétit Food Service Company Reduces Beef in Cafés

In response to California’s four-year drought, food-service giant Bon Appétit has reduced beef served in its 650 cafés nationwide—including at corporations such as Google—and is promoting plant-based options instead. The company posted signs in some of its restaurants and on its website that read, “We’ve reduced the amount of beef we serve in our cafés in order to conserve water. Beef is very inefficient when it comes to water usage.” The message points out that beef requires “almost six times more water to produce” than the same amount of plant-based foods: 112 liters per gram of beef protein versus 19 liters per gram of protein from lentils or beans. Some cafés are taking additional steps such as not serving beef on Fridays. “We’re proud to serve plentiful plant-based options every day, in every café,” the company tweeted Wednesday.