Case Study: St. Norbert College reduces food waste and costs with LeanPath

Moving Toward a Zero-Waste Dining Program

St. Norbert College, which serves about 2,200 students in its renovated Ruth’s Marketplace dining hall, was working toward a zero-waste dining program but was still facing significant food waste and rising food costs. To better understand and control waste at the source, the college implemented the LeanPath 360 Food Waste Prevention program.

LeanPath helped the dining team track waste consistently, identify trends, and use photos in the reporting dashboard to improve menu planning and operations. The team made changes such as smaller pans, more cook-to-order prep, revised recipes, better batch cooking, a revamped salad bar, and portioned grab-and-go items, and after five months St. Norbert College had reduced pre-consumer food waste by 32% versus baseline while lowering food costs.

St. Norbert College

Ruth Johnson

Director of Auxiliary Services