Imagine preparing 7,000 meals a week. For Stuart Leckie, that’s business as usual.

As general manager of dining operations at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish, through the college’s contracted food service, Bon Appetit, Leckie is in charge of ordering and coordinating all the foods used in the college’s kitchen.

And when Bon Appetit decided to serve a lunch made entirely from locally produced ingredients, Leckie was immediately enthusiastic.

The Eat Local Challenge, which took place on Thursday, September 29 at all 180 Bon Appetit Management Company cafes, offered a complete menu created with ingredients grown or raised within a 150-mile radius. And at the Saint Joseph’s location, Leckie believed they kept it to within 100 miles.

“The only thing I don’t know about is the fish,” Leckie said. “I don’t know how far the boats went out.”

Although the company excluded the requirement of obtaining local salt, Leckie even found a source for that.

Saint Joseph’s lunch menu included a salad bar with fresh greens from local farms, free-range chicken, a beef stir-fry made with locally raised and slaughtered Angus beef, fingerling potatoes and butternut squash.

While some of the local items were specially ordered for the Challenge, Bon Appetit regularly features some locally grown products at every meal. They also pledge to serve hormone and antibiotic-free foods.

When asked what she thought about the Eat Local Challenge food, student Amanda Roy said, “I didn’t really notice the difference – the food here is always fresh.”

Leckie says the company buys their local foods primarily through Farm Fresh Connection, a program of the Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society.

Leckie said buying local helps Maine’s economy, saves fuel by cutting transportation costs, and obtaining fresher foods that can be raised for their taste rather than having to be raised to withstand transport.

Although, according to Leckie, the increase in the company’s cost for using local can be 20 to 30 percent, Bon Appetit and Leckie are committed to being “socially responsible.”

For Leckie, that sense of responsibility carries over into other areas. He plans to cultivate an acre of land on campus to grow vegetables to supply the kitchen with a steady source of organic produce.

He also practices “food salvaging.” When the kitchen has leftover food, workers package it into single serving, oven-proof containers, label them with reheating instructions and freeze. Since the kitchen has limited freezer space, sometimes Leckie has to “call around” to find groups who will take the food, which can be up to 300 meals a week.

“We have a problem getting rid of our food – we have a problem giving it away,” Leckie said.