Corporate Social Responsibility

Canteen Service Co. is a family owned and operated Maine business that has a long history of caring for our employees, customers, and the communities that we serve.  For decades Canteen has been a proud supporter of several United Ways, Chambers of Commerce, hospitals, community colleges, and charitable organizations.  We are recognized for this commitment as a recipient of the “Governor’s Award for Business Excellence.”  Canteen is the only vending company in our industry with this distinguished honor.  We value the relationship with our customers and will always work hard to provide the highest quality products and service, with courtesy, consideration, and a smile.

Health and Wellness:

Balanced Choices is our featured merchandising program to ensure that healthier choice products are always available. Canteen has an on staff nutrition consultant to monitor menus, work with wellness committees and be involved in community efforts such as the “Healthy Maine Partnerships”, “Let’s Go”, and various wellness councils.  We work with many of our clients’ wellness programs.  Our dining center managers are required to pass a 10-hour nutrition course through Framingham State College.

Safety:

Canteen continually strives to provide a safe work environment for our employees and customers.  Our branch and dining locations have Safety Committees that meet on a monthly basis.  Every new employee must pass a comprehensive background check and complete a one-half day orientation to understand all our company policies and procedures.  All Canteen employees that handle food are ServSafe trained, a food safety program by the National Restaurant Association.  We actively participate with our insurance company for accident prevention and driver safety.

Environmental Stewardship:

Having a quality food service program in the workplace helps a company’s carbon footprint by reducing the need for employees to leave the facility.  We work with our clients to meet sustainability goals such as composting, offering organic and fair trade products, and eco-friendly paper products.  We continue to upgrade our equipment to be more energy efficient with new technology that includes Energy Star refrigeration and LED lighting.

Canteen recycles more than 3/4 of our waste stream that includes: bottles and cans, cardboard, office paper, fluorescent bulbs, ballasts, wooden pallets, ink and printer cartridges, waste food, tires, scrap metal, computers, and batteries.  Canteen moved away from oil to natural gas and propane heating at our Bangor and Saco facilities.  We have upgraded to T6 fluorescent lighting at our Lewiston facility.  We will continue to make our facilities more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.  Canteen is purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles and mapping their routes to reduce driving time.