Vail Resorts expands its Appetite for Life program by serving 100 percent Certified Organic coffee, Fair-Trade espresso and eliminating artificial Trans Fat at all 90 of its dining facilities
BROOMFIELD, Colo. – May 27, 2008 – Today, Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) deepened its commitment to providing exceptional experiences to its guests with an expansion to its Appetite for Life program. Under the program, originally launched in October 2007, Vail Resorts committed to using organic dairy products and hormone-free natural beef, poultry and pork products at all of its on-mountain dining facilities.
Vail Resorts is expanding that commitment, by pledging to only serve 100 percent Certified Organic Starbucks coffee and Fair-Trade espresso and to eliminate the use of all artificial Trans Fat at its 90 dining facilities at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, eight RockResort properties and at the Company’s other restaurants beginning with the 2008-2009 ski season.
Serving more than 2.5 million lunches through the Appetite for Life program, Vail Resorts became the largest restaurant operator in North America to exclusively serve natural meats and organic dairy products at all its on-mountain restaurants at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly. Shortly thereafter, the Company’s lodging division adopted the Appetite for Life program and expanded it by announcing a sustainable cuisine program in its hospitality and lodging operations, with a specific focus at its RockResorts dining establishments, that incorporated sustainable seafood and locally grown ingredients.
Now, the Company is expanding its “Good Food on a Grand Scale” initiative again with a Company-wide commitment to purchase 100 percent Starbucks Certified Organic coffee, Starbucks Fair-Trade Café Estima blend for espresso and to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils, a primary source of Trans Fat, in the preparation of food at all of the Company’s 90 dining facilities.
“At Vail Resorts, our mission is Extraordinary Resorts, Exceptional Experiences. Dining is one of the key experiences we provide our guests and our Appetite for Life program is about serving food with high quality ingredients. Our commitment to satisfying our guests’ Appetite For Life is a further indication of our efforts to continuously improve everything we offer at our resorts,” said Rob Katz, chief executive officer for Vail Resorts. “This is important news for our guests who are seeking more natural, organic options at home and while they’re traveling,”
Vail Resorts forged a partnership with Starbucks six years ago and now is enhancing that alliance with today’s announcement to only purchase the Company’s Certified Organic coffees and Fair-Trade Café Estima blend for espresso. This effort follows on the heels of the partnerships created with both WhiteWave Foods Company (Horizon Organic) and Coleman Natural in October 2007.
“By aligning with a company like Starbucks that is also focused on making a positive contribution to the environment, we feel that our guests will be doubly served – they’ll receive the best quality products and know that they have been produced and sourced in sustainable ways,” Katz said.
For more information about Vail Resorts’ Appetite for Life program, visit www.vailresorts.com.
About Vail Resorts, Inc.
Vail Resorts, Inc. is the leading mountain resort operator in the United States. The Company’s subsidiaries operate in the mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado, Heavenly in California and Nevada and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The Company’s subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages casually elegant properties across the United States and in the Caribbean. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.