Fedele Bauccio

When Fedele Bauccio co-founded Bon Appétit Management Company, he set out to revolutionize the food service industry by bringing fresh, made-from-scratch food to the contract market.

Fedele began his career as a dishwasher in 1960 with Saga Corporation's Education Division while a student at the University of Portland. In 1972, he transferred to Saga's Business Food Service Division and held many positions including Divisional President, President of Saga's Specialty Foodservices Group, and President of the Stuart Anderson's restaurant chain. After over 25 years of experience, he knew institutional feeding was ready for something more.

In 1987, Bon Appétit Management Company was born. For the first time, real executive chefs were put in the kitchens of colleges, universities, corporations and cultural centers. Fedele’s dream of a company committed to culinary expertise was a reality and customers noticed, fueling quick growth for the small, San Francisco-based company.

In 1999, Fedele led his team to once again raise the bar for onsite food service by making a commitment to socially responsible food sourcing. Today, Bon Appétit spends over $55 million annually on food from within a 150-mile radius of each café, uses only sustainable seafood, sources turkey breast and chicken raised without antibiotics as a routine feed additive, features natural beef burgers, and leads the industry in using cage-free shell eggs. In 2007, the company debuted its Low Carbon Diet, the first program to make the connection between food and climate change. Bon Appétit is now a $500 million company with over 400 cafés in 30 states serving over 120 million meals a year.

Fedele was a recipient of the 1992 Restaurants & Institutions "Ivy Award," and in 1998 was presented with the Nation's Restaurant News Golden Chain Award for Excellence. In addition, Fedele was named 2008 Innovator of the Year by Nation's Restaurant News, and also received the prestigious Going Green Award by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2009. He is a board member of Compass Group, North America and serves on the board of Dynamic Payment Ventures in San Francisco. Fedele is presently Chairman of the University of San Francisco Hospitality Management board and serves on the President's Advisory Council of the University of Portland. He is also a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production.

Fedele graduated from the University of Portland with a Master's degree in Business Administration (1966) and a Bachelor's degree in Economics (1964). He is a 1985 graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Fedele also holds an honorary Doctorate from the University of Portland (2004).

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