Sustainability
Sustainability Dining Initiatives
At many of our locations, we proudly serve ground beef, chicken, salmon, and seafood that are 100% fresh and delicious! Try a juicy hand-formed burger at TDubs, Traditions, The Lions Den and C-Street Grill, or tasty salmon at Simple Servings, or indulge yourself with tender chicken at TDubs, Traditions, The Lions Den and C-Street Grill - all fresh and never frozen! By offering fresh foods, we aim to provide delicious and healthy meals for every person dining at TCNJ. On top of that, all eggs served are certified cage-free.
With TCNJ Dining Services, you will find that all our desserts at Bliss Bakery, TDubs, Education Café, and The Library Café are baked in-house by our talented chefs. We offer freshly baked bread every day at 31 North Deli in The Atrium at Eickhoff and at SubConnection in The Lions Den. We also prepare and bake our own whole wheat dough daily reducing the need for deliveries, gasoline usage and carbon emissions.
Stop Hunger
The College of New Jersey Dining Services hosts a Helping Hands Across America Food Drive to give back to our community and benefit the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank in Trenton, NJ. We work with organizations on campus to host a campus-wide challenge to collect non-perishable food. Since 2010, we have been overwhelmed with the generosity of our student community as well as our faculty and staff.
Health & Wellness
At TCNJ, the health and well-being of our community are vital. We actively promote the importance of nutrition, health, and wellness through our Mindful program. Mindful offerings feature healthy dining options that are well balanced, lower in calories, fat, sodium, and cholesterol, so that a healthier lifestyle is an easy choice. We list nutritional information throughout our dining locations and on our website to better inform our students about what they are eating.
Our students can also take advantage of our two wellness kiosks in The Atrium at Eickhoff where they can look up nutritional information and read articles on living healthy lifestyles. Students can also contact Dineen Denkovic, Registered Dietitian, regarding any allergies or special dietary needs at sdhrd@tcnj.edu or send a text to 82257 and include the keyword TCNJRD along with your message.
Vendors
The creation of partnerships with our vendors, local farmers, and companies across the United States has helped TCNJ Dining Services reduce our carbon footprint even more.
- We have worked with our vendors to reduce the number of deliveries to campus and require a minimum order ensuring trucks are nearly full. This reduces pollution to our environment, while saving time and money.
- TCNJ Dining Services supports our local farmers in the tri-state area: PA, NJ, and NY. Offering locally grown produce is a part of our commitment to provide clients with fresh and great-tasting food while supporting communities where we do business.
- We also support the tri-state community by purchasing baked goods from local vendors.
- We partnered with Ecolab to use only green chemicals in all of our dining facilities.
Dining Services Committee (DSC)
We invite interested students, faculty and staff to join us for our Dining Services Committee meetings.
It is here where we discuss future sustainability efforts for campus dining.
Meeting times and locations can be found on our DSC page.
Fair Trade Certified Coffee
Fair Trade helps improve the lives of coffee farmers by guaranteeing a minimum price for small farmers’ harvests, and encouraging organic and sustainable cultivation methods that are safer for communities.
STARBUCKS Starbucks Fair Trade Certified selections are offered at The Library Café on a daily basis.
We are proud to offer FOR FIVE COFFEE, a fully sustainable line of coffees. Sourced from the world's most coveted coffee producers, each bean is roasted with the utmost precision and care at their very own facility in the heart of Queens, NY. For Five Coffee... From the Five Boroughs. For the World. You can find Four Five Coffee Drip served at The Atrium at Eickhoff, Fresh Pride Café, STEM Forum Café, T-Dubs, and Traditions.
Seattle’s Best’s sustainability strategy centers on responsible sourcing of Arabica beans, transparency in its supply chain, and minimizing environmental impact with greener packaging and recycling. Guests can visit the Education Café to enjoy Seattle’s Best Coffee.