Locally supported, values-based framework for a university foodservice program: Results of a Delphi study

Institutional foodservice programs provide food in kindergarten through twelfth-grade (K–12) school cafeterias, hospitals, prisons, and institutions of higher education. Values-based procurement pri­oritizes certain values or criteria in addition to price. Institutions where values-based procurement policies have been adopted have increased the proportion of procurement dollars that go to local farms and are spent on products receiving third-party certifications for sustainability, farmworker justice, and animal welfare. Several programs exist to support institutions seeking to adopt and implement values-based procurement practices. However, there have been difficulties with imple­menting programs that have metrics that were not designed based on the local context where the institution is located, particularly for institutions of higher education. This study used the Delphi technique to identify expert consensus on values and metrics based on the local context that could be used as the foundation for a values-based framework for a university dining program. Our study identified eight core values and six categories of metrics that were supported by local and region­al food systems stakeholders at the University of Florida and in the surrounding community. Other higher education institutions can apply and adapt these values and metrics to their local contexts or can use our consensus-building process as a model to develop a set of values and metrics for their institutional procurement program, tailored to their local context.