How Levy Restaurants is leading the charge in its composting and food waste reduction efforts
Levy Restaurants, the Baird Center’s exclusive food and beverage provider, is known for creating exceptional cuisine for every type of event. From specialty salads to decadent desserts, Levy serves flavorful meals to thousands of guests at Baird Center, Miller High Life Theatre and UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena weekly. Additionally, Levy is also leading the charge in reducing the amount of food that is wasted in our community.
In 2020, approximately 854,000 tons of food waste were sent to Wisconsin’s landfills, and the team at Levy is working tirelessly to reduce that. Wisconsin is one of several states where food waste dominates the waste stream. When organic waste breaks down in open-air landfills, it emits methane, one of the main contributors to global warming.
One way Levy is reducing food waste is by ensuring good, nutritious food gets into the hands of people in need. Since 2021, Levy has donated extra prepared food to the Sojourner Family Peace Center in downtown Milwaukee. Sojourner supports nearly 8,000 Milwaukeeans each year who are affected by domestic violence. Sojourner’s shelter houses 53 women, children and sometimes men. Many nonprofits won’t accept prepared food donations, but Sojourner is happy to accept unused food prepared by Levy to feed the families they are helping.
“Having food that comes prepared from a very fundamental level helps us support our residents by providing nutritional and tasty meals… the camaraderie that is built and the friendships over the sharing of a meal is so important. So having that come in prepared, tasting amazing, ready for us to serve helps our staff but also reiterates and strengthens the experience of the guests,” Sojourner Vice President and Chief Development Officer Cherie Paust Swenson said.
Donating food to local organizations isn’t the only strategy Levy is using to reduce food waste. Recently, the team launched a program called Waste Not 2.0 to better track food waste.
“We are not tracking waste just to track waste. The idea is to find efficient ways to reduce it,” Levy Restaurants Vice President of Hospitality and Strategy Julio Henriquez said.
Since September, Levy has tracked food consumption and usage throughout the Wisconsin Center District’s three venues. The Levy team breaks waste down into categories to better understand where it comes from. Waste Not tracks waste impact, types of waste and where waste is distributed. After reviewing the data, Levy implemented initiatives to better distribute food waste and reduce their total waste, water and carbon footprints.
Presently, Levy is working with an external partner to compost food waste at a nearby open-air landfill. However, open-air composting still releases pollutants into the atmosphere. Henriquez and his team wanted to find ways to make composting even more efficient, and with a $456 million Baird Center expansion on the horizon, they can do so. Starting in June, Levy will move its composting efforts in-house by adding two on-site ORCA food digesters, one in each of the Baird Center’s kitchens.
ORCA food digesters utilize a natural, biological process to break down food waste before discharging it into the normal plumbing infrastructure. Liquids discarded from the ORCA are further recycled at wastewater treatment plants where nutrients are extracted to create renewable fuel or used for land application. Instead of releasing compost pollution into the atmosphere, liquidated compost is an efficient way to convert waste into renewable biogas, reducing Levy’s environmental footprint.
Lastly, Henriquez and his team are working to repurpose unserved foods into new, delicious options for guests. Leftover fruit can be freeze-dried, turned into powder and repurposed to make smoothies and flavored yogurts. Extra coffee will be reused to make Horchata iced coffee. Levy also plans to make their dressings and infusers in-house with leftover materials.
“We are not just composting to compost. We are trying to find efficiencies to actually use the waste. That is the goal,” Henriquez says.
Food waste reduction is only one part of the Baird Center’s commitment to making a greener Milwaukee. To learn more about the Baird Center’s sustainability efforts, click here.