On October 21, VSAG Marketing Director Jennifer Motruk Loy, gave the Washington Business Journal initial details about the second Founding Farmers location. The Journal’s BizBeat blog published news of VSAG’s plans to open Founding Farmers in Park Potomac, MD next Fall. The Washington, DC location opened September 18, 2008 and VSAG has signed a lease in Park Potomac, MD with the goal of opening the new location around that same time in 2011. VSAG will continue to manage Farmers & Fishers, Founding Farmers in Washington, DC and at this new location. More news to come.

Award presented to Founding Farmers General Manager Paul Chin-Fong by Mayor Adrian Fenty

Founding Farmers, the Greenest Restaurant in Washington, DC, was today named as one of only two restaurants in The District to receive the Mayor’s Environmental Excellence Award in 2010. The annual awards recognize outstanding businesses and organizations for their environmental stewardship, innovative best practices, pollution prevention and resource conservation.

“Founding Farmers was designed and built to minimize its impact on the environment through our mission of sustainable practices like recycling and composting, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and local sourcing whenever possible,” said Dan Simons, Principal of VSAG, the high caliber restaurant consulting and management firm for Founding Farmers. “We are honored to be recognized for our dedication to the environment and strive to lead the restaurant industry by example of responsible practices.”

The awards presentation took place at the K St. location of Busboys & Poets on Thursday, August 5. Read the Founding Farmers award-winning case study for more detail on the restaurant’s environmental practices.

Founding Farmers is the first and only restaurant in The District to receive LEED certification to date. Just six months after opening, the restaurant was named a Certified Green Restaurant™ by the Green Restaurant Association for daily operational practices to reduce waste, and in April 2009, the restaurant was awarded LEED Gold Certification status from the US Green Building Council (USGBC), for the commercial interior design of the restaurant.

Founding Farmers focuses on sourcing food and products that have been grown and harvested through sustainable agricultural methods, from the meats, poultry and produce, to the beverages, spirits and wines.

Huh very cool….and guess which original LEED Gold, hip and casual farm-fed restaurant was included on his very exclusive list of top places to eat in DC?  That’s right…Founding Farmers!

VSAG is so proud that Founding Farmers is in this very distinctive group of dining establishments – some tried and true, some more classically DC than others, and still others like Founding Farmers, the new kids on the block that are turning heads!   Thanks Tommy!

VSAG proudly announces that Founding Farmers, Washington, DC’s eco-friendly restaurant with sustainable agriculture at the heart of the menu, has furthered its commitment to sourcing locally with the launch of Founding Farmers’ Rye Whisky Exclusively Hand Crafted by Wasmund’s.     The special distillation made exclusively for Founding Farmers, and only available at the restaurant, will be uncapped and celebrated with “Founding Farmers Whisky Week”, June 8 – 13, 2009.

“We examined every part of the whisky making process, and kept the good traditional parts, and added some new wrinkles of our own to make Founding Farmers Rye Whisky truly unique,” says VSAG and Founding Farmers Chief Mixologist Jon Arroyo.   “The drinks we’ve created with it are equally interesting and inspired and we’re excited to share them with our guests.”   New FF Rye Whisky cocktails include the Farmers’ Smash, the Basement and the popular Sazerac, now featured on the new spring menu.

Founding Farmers Whisky Week includes new cocktail menu releases, guest mixologists serving up their own cocktails made with Founding Farmers Rye Whisky, and visits by Rick Wasmund, Master Distiller of Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, VA, and the creator of the Founding Farmers Rye.  “Wasmund’s is thrilled to make something so special for Founding Farmers. We love the restaurant, the concept, and the people – it’s all right in line with our philosophy as an honest, small batch distiller,” adds Wasmund.

The Founding Farmers Rye Whisky is composed of two-thirds rye and one-third hand-malted barley, malted with light smoke, 60 percent apple wood, and 40 percent cherry wood. Double pot distilled to between 150 and 160 proof in a 500-gallon mash still and 104-gallon spirit still, the Founding Farmers Rye Whisky is then aged at least 12 months in great old barrels made at Copper Fox Distillery.  Three Copper Fox Distillery craftsmen, ensuring personalized attention to each delicious batch, oversee the entire process.

The new Founding Farmers Rye Whisky is the perfect addition to the restaurant’s innovative bar program, which features ‘bar-chefing’ of classic cocktails and bar treats by real mixologists, specially trained to know the chemistry of liquors and the classic traditions of unique, hand crafted drinks and the art of culinary cocktailing.    Each mixer, juice, infusion and recipe is prepared by hand, using only the finest organic fruits and garnishes, hand squeezed juices and specialty bitters mixed in house.

“Our thoughts on supply and manufacture of this whisky and bringing it to the restaurant are like a hand in a glove – albeit a heavy, charred work glove,” says Wasmund. “It’s just a good match for us to be producing for Founding Farmers.  They are the greenest restaurant and bar in DC after all!”

For more information on Founding Farmers, images, or to speak with Chief Mixologist Jon Arroyo, please contact Jennifer Motruk Loy For more information on Wasmund’s Whisky or Copper Fox Distillery, or to speak with Rick Wasmund, visit www.copperfox.biz.

Marc Heisterkamp, Director of Commercial Real Estate for USGBC, presided over the Certification Ceremony and presentation of the official LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold plaque at the restaurant in Washington, DC, before an assembled crowd on Earth Day.   More than 60 attendees to the event included the project design and construction teams, representatives from the USGBC, Mr. Robert Carlson, President of the North Dakota Farmers’ Union, representatives from the International Monetary Fund as the restaurant’s landlord, and members of the media.   Mr. Heisterkamp addressed the crowd and presented VSAG Principal Dan Simons and the restaurant management team with the official LEED Gold glass plaque, which will be mounted inside the restaurant.   The event also included the unveiling of the official USGBC LEED Gold emblem storefront windows.

“The LEED certification ceremony is about every day that Founding Farmers restaurant is open and the diminished environmental impact that they will have due to their smart design and operation decisions,” said Heisterkamp.  “Founding Farmers is at the nexus of two great market transformation efforts – tremendous leadership in designing and operating a restaurant to the highest green standards, and the focus on Farm-to-Table food, supporting American family farmers as part of a larger market transformation in sustainable agriculture.”

LEED for Commercial Interiors certifies high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint.   The LEED ratings scale includes: Certified, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

“We are very proud to have our restaurant be a model and an educational showpiece for our industry and for our guests,” said Dan Simons.  “It is possible to have a successful and profitable business while demonstrating our commitment to environmentally friendly operations each and every day.”

The restaurant was designed to achieve LEED certification by award-winning Washington, DC-based CORE architecture + design, with Forrester Construction acting as General Contractor and EMSI as the LEED Consultant.   The LEED Gold rating was achieved through a number of green design and construction feature that positively impact the project and the community, including:

Founding Farmers also operates as a Certified Green Restaurant™, awarded by the Green Restaurant Association, and utilizes sustainable agriculture and direct farm sourcing for its menus, making it DC’s Greenest Restaurant.