Meet Mason's Sustainability Heros

    Peter Schoebel, Executive Chef, Southside Dining Hall

    by Ashlea Smith

    November 2009

    The idea of “Zero-waste” is nearly a reality at the Southside Dining Hall because of a talented team spearheaded by an innovative man, Executive Chef Peter Schoebel. Schoebel had humble beginnings working at a deli in the San Francisco bay area after leaving an unimaginative career in electronics. The Culinary Institute of America soon came along and Schoebel found himself at the top of his class. After years of service at various food service locations, Schoebel joined food service provider, Sodexo at George Mason University. With Mason’s fortunate construction of the new Southside dining hall in 2008, Schoebel was hired to create an innovative facility. With this ‘carte blanche’ Schoebel took his experience with purchasing bio-mass containers from his last job and expanded upon that by creating a ‘sustainable dining hall.’ Some of these innovative features included: tray-less dining, energy efficient construction, bio-mass and biodegradable to-go containers, green maintenance, locally sourced food, recycled cooking oil, and a 95 percent composting rate!

    Executive Chef Peter Schoebel believes that sustainable dining can be achieved via green “processes, materials, and food items”. Tray-less dining is an example of “green processes”. It is a new trend across the country that could save tens of thousands of gallons of water per month. It is estimated that tray-less dining reduces wasted energy and food and saves four to six gallons of water and per student per week (ARAMARK, The Business and Cultural Acceptance Case for Trayless Dining, July 2008). Materials used to aim towards lower environmental impact are the recycled napkins and compostable straws in the all-you-care-to-eat cafeteria and the bio-mass to-go containers offered at Gold Rush, Southside’s Carry-out restaurant. Sustainable selection of food items is a tenet Schoebel and his team respects including sourcing local produce, meats, and dairy when possible.

    Chef Peter is a firm believer in his sustainable practices and has reached out to the campus to promote that which he believes in. In November of 2008, to support the 2008 Rock the Runway: Fashion Remix, (Mason’s own fashion show starring recycled fashion from local thrift and consignment shops) Schoebel donated the use of the green composting bins. This 400-plus person event was the first of its kind at Mason to offer not only recycling but composting as well to all its participants.

    Executive Chef Peter Schoebel is honored as the Sustainability Hero for November of 2009 because of his belief in and efforts towards sustainable dining. We, at the Office of Sustainability have noted his dedication over the past year. We salute you, Chef Peter! Thank you and keep up the good work!



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