WKU News

Western Kentucky University’s Fresh Food Company has won the 2026 Sustainable Food Award, the 2026 Sustainable Seafood Award and the 2026 Green Marketing Award from the Green Restaurant Association.

A 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant®, Fresh Food Company earned 99.5 GreenPoints™ in the competition’s Food category. 

Fresh Food Company serves 54% vegetarian and an additional 26% vegan main meals. In addition, the restaurant sources a variety of its food locally including poultry, pork, beef, dairy products, fruit, vegetables and more. Fresh Food Company also serves 100% sustainable seafood. 

Fresh Food Company won the 2026 Green Marketing Award by earning 19.5 GreenPoints™ in the Education & Transparency category. 

The Green Restaurant Association noted, “With certification signage, a sustainability event hosted on campus and more, Fresh Food Company is implementing creative and effective marketing to be transparent about its sustainability and to educate its students and the public.”

Dr. Leslie North, WKU Director of Sustainability, said WKU and the Restaurant Group team are going beyond implementing sustainable practices and that what really makes the work impactful is the intentional effort to educate and communicate practices to students and the broader campus community.  

“When the campus community can see sustainability in action and then also understand the ‘why’ behind it, it becomes more meaningful and something they can carry forward beyond WKU,” she said. 

According to North, through sustainability practices such as those being implemented at our Green Dining certified restaurants on campus, WKU is connecting campus operations directly to our mission of education. Dining is more than just an operation; it is part of the educational experience at WKU and helps reinforce WKU’s broader commitment to sustainability.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to work alongside such a supportive and talented Aramark team at WKU. They are committed to not only implementing meaningful sustainability practices in operations, but they’re also committed to educating and engaging our campus community around them. They are so deserving of this award, and I’m proud of all they continue to achieve,” she said. 

Learn more: https://www.dinegreen.com/g/res14988

Contact: Alex Meredith, meredith-alexandra@aramark.com or Leslie North, leslie.north@wku.edu

- WKU -

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.