Customer Story · Campus Dining
Pomona College Reduces Food Waste and Achieves More Than 500% ROI with the Metafoodx AI Scanner
In just nine months, the college lessened overproduction by 54% and lowered plate costs by 8% — while serving 1,800 students and strengthening its sustainability leadership.
Results at a glance
The Challenge
Before implementing Metafoodx, Pomona College struggled with limited visibility into kitchen production and consumption. Traditional tools like spreadsheets and legacy systems were time-consuming and ineffective for staff, leaving the team without the item-level data needed to plan production accurately.
The Solution
Metafoodx provided a chef-friendly, real-time solution with preventative food waste tools, automatic production and temperature logs, and enhanced forecasting — all with easy adoption and no training required. With the solution in place, Dining Services has gained a level of visibility and control that staff did not have before, allowing them to make decisions in real time rather than reacting after the fact.
The Results
Within weeks, Pomona saw a 40% reduction in overproduction at a single station. By January 2025, the platform had scaled across all dining halls — cutting overproduction 54% and lowering plate cost 8% through better alignment between production and actual consumption, while improving consistency and accountability across locations.
Menu-level visibility
Item-by-item data showed exactly where to adjust — no broad, guesswork changes needed.
Top-consumed items
- Caesar salad
- Yogurt
- Mexican rice
Produce with confidence
Consistently overproduced
- Mexican rice
- Pollo asado
- Broccoli
Right-size the batch
"Metafoodx gives us the ability to measure and report on waste with a high degree of accuracy, which is critical for accountability. From a strategic standpoint, it has become a core tool for managing both cost and sustainability."
Hear it from the team
Download the full case study
See the complete breakdown of Pomona College's journey with Metafoodx — implementation, onboarding, and the data behind their results.