According to the article, these carbon-offset retailers calculate fossil-fuel consumption and neutralize it with earth-friendly initiatives. There are varying ways these credits are put to use, but examples include investing in reforestation, renewable energy and methane-gas capture-and-destruction efforts.  The article is a must read for businesses that want to be more environmentally responsible – from a 2-person operation to a 2,000 person company – everyone can do their part.   Read the full article.

A recent Restaurants & Institutions magazine feature highlighted the leading efforts of restaurants like Baja Fresh and Founding Farmers, to turn their best practices in operations and environmentally-friendly appeal more green and are recognized for their efforts to differentiate themselves for consumers and guests that are concerned with reducing their own environmental impact.

Last month, Dan served as a panelist at George Washington University with Women in Business to discuss Corporate Social Responsibility – a big topic with big leaders from Dupont and entrepreneurs all focused on maintaining good CSR VSAG is setting new – and realistic standards in the world of hospitality and will continue to share and lead by diverse and informed means.

A recent article in Energy Daily highlights the benefits of saving green – like eating green at your favorite restaurants or redeeming points at any number of earth-minded retailers.  Read all about it. Then, join EarthAid and start saving your own green!

Read the full article and see why VSAG client Founding Farmers is at the top of the list when it comes to “Best” green practices!

Founding Farmers iPhone app

It’s no surprise that iPhones and smart gadgets that offer limitless uses and life’s little ‘helpers’ in the form of user applications (’apps’) have expanded into the restaurant business.  VSAG is at the forefront of directing new apps for client restaurants and concepts Founding Farmers, and two new soon to be launched iPhone apps for sister restaurant Farmers & Fishers and new concept Sauca mobile restaurant.

The Founding Farmers iPhone app has been so popular, in fact, that developer Sweb Development has been featured in a number of articles and stories of note, including this recent one from the Wall Street Journal from December 8, in which VSAG Principal Dan Simons is interviewed as a business owner and also as a big fan of the iPhone app that he commissioned from Sweb.   “What we’re able to provide for our guests through the apps is convenience and interaction,” said Simons.  ”We’ve received great feedback from our guests and we want to try and use the app in as many different ways as possible to really engage with our guests.  It’s been a super addition to our marketing strategy and outreach.”

We’re thankful to Jane Black for bringing such an important topic – sustainable agriculture and what it means to be a green restaurant committed to sustainable business practices – to the front page of The Washington Post. How much more important can this topic get for foodies and restaurateurs? Not much more, but we’re glad that there is focus on a successful business in Washington, DC, that is working to help American family farmers and pushing the envelope on a broad array of topics that go well beyond the superficial, easy topics.

We agree with Ms. Black in her statement that “sustainable” and “green” are often misconstrued and misunderstood, and we’re doing all we can to help. Although there are no strict definitions for either, it really is worth it to take the time to read and understand what sustainable agriculture is all about and what the true standards are for operating a Certified Green Restaurant.

As Ms. Black points out, “…some believe that food is sourced from smaller, local farms that do not use industrial methods to raise produce and livestock and do not ship it over long distances…” it can be confusing for people, and we provide information on our web site, on our menus, and through our servers to help keep guests as informed as possible in a constantly changing environment. Our culinary teams and our chefs are continuously sourcing the best products from the purveyors that will satisfy our quality, taste, and mission standards. Sometimes we can’t hit on all three. But the food will taste delicious, will be served by knowledgeable staff, and will be fresh.

Ms. Black is right on several points, but as any subject matter in context, it’s important to have all the facts in order to be entirely right. Her article states that, “The restaurant serves farmed Atlantic salmon, a no-no according to seafood watch groups that condemn the pollution and other environmental impacts of salmon farming. Its supplier, Cooke Aquaculture, is one of the largest salmon farms in North America.”  I spoke with our seafood distributor, ProFish, as soon as this article was written, and they assured me that currently our salmon comes from Maine, via the Maine Aquiculture / Sullivan Harbor Farm; and I also understand, but haven’t personally verified, that in the past we have sourced our salmon from Loch Duarte in Scotland, which is the source used at times by Thomas Keller at the French Laundry (see the CleanFish Alliance for more information).

Now, for anyone that knows about salmon, they understand that the freshest salmon runs at different times of the year and in different regions. When Copper River salmon was running in June in Alaska, we brought it to the restaurant because it was all natural, line caught, and the best salmon that could be had. We sold out for three weeks straight and offered this specific salmon during its season. Ms. Black fails to mention that we change salmon providers multiple times throughout the year. Ms. Black also fails to mention there is enormous debate on all sides of the “wild vs. farmed” fishing topic; depending on the perspective, there are cases to be made for the farmed fisheries—it prevents the destruction of the wild fish population. There are also cases to be made against fish farms, especially depending on how they are run and the pollution and genetic impact they can have—as one of my guests pointed out to me, if you truly cared about the planet, you wouldn’t serve any fish, and you certainly wouldn’t serve beef, as cattle are a huge producer of emissions that harm the environment.

In reality I suppose, that if I put the Planet’s Survival above all else, why would I open a restaurant at all? But since I, and my team, believe that it is about balance, and we do want to have a business that is sustainable (meaning it lasts and thus is profitable) and shows respect for the planet and the community, we address this balance in everything we try and do: the food we buy, from whom we buy it, the building we built-out, how we clean and maintain the building, the culture/environment we create for our staff, the list goes on.

Just something as simple as composting would be an important topic for the Post to research and write about—at Founding Farmers, we compost the food waste—an additional cost because the city doesn’t offer this sort of trash/recycling program (yet) but one that does support a few local farms who use the compost, so if you care about being green, you need to also be more interested in how the restaurant you patronize handles it food scraps, not only the geography of where the carrots come from this week. Again, it’s about balance, we can’t be utopian on all of these topics, but we can be open, interested, and committed to progress. I realize that the farm-to-table topic is sexy and interesting and easily made superficial, and that food scraps and other business practices might not be so interesting to write about—but when you want the whole picture about Founding Farmers, you can’t just take a few snippets on one part of the process.

Ms. Black alludes to the unclear definition of our restaurants’, Founding Farmers and Farmers & Fishers, shared mission to create menus from sustainably grown and harvested foods. What’s important to know is what we’re doing is much more than just about produce that is or isn’t in season. We know that you can’t get good regional tomatoes in November. We never claimed we would or could. It’s about good food and drink and knowing where your food comes from. We do and we share it on our menus when we can—if I’m late reprinting a menu, it does not speak to our mission; if I have a farmer listed on the menu that I bought from a few months ago, and plan on buying from next season, it is not a deceitful act—we do source from that farmer, but not 52 weeks of the year. Also, and trust me, that Farmer does not want me to drop the name and or to plan on not buying from them next season.

Ms. Black helps to make our point  — that it’s just not possible to get regionally sourced products year round from a Family Farm or a local / small producer: “Finding sources of regional and sustainable food — whatever the definition — is more time-consuming and expensive than ordering from a national distributor that arrives once a day with products from around the globe.” We know this, and it’s part of the reason why we can’t change our menus on a daily basis in a restaurant and menu of this size. We rarely source from around the globe, but if our guests want a certain product at a certain time of the year, so be it  — and we’ll continue in our kitchens to focus on in-season produce that hasn’t crossed an international dateline whenever possible and realistic because we’re striving to keep true to our mission and because sourcing from foreign countries doesn’t make sense, in our earth-friendly operations. But when we do it, we’re honest about it. What Ms. Black failed to do was focus on the high-volume items that we sell in the restaurants; I’m not moving a ton of peas right now, but that was one item we could find that came from far away. Ask about eggs and milk, of which we use a ton, and you’ll get a local earth friendly answer—but I suppose that might not be as interesting for the newspaper article.

I recently flew to North Dakota for a detailed tour and meeting at the N.D. State Mill (owned by the state and run as a business that benefits the citizens of N.D. via its service and profits) in order to see the quality of the flour and to work on solving the distribution hurdles so that we can get this incredible product. We will use it in everything from flour for our breads that we make fresh daily at the restaurants to our pizza dough, even in our pancake batter.  After the Mill, I went to a Beef Fabrication Plant that shares several of the same investors/owners of Founding Farmers and Farmers & Fishers, and took a detailed tour, and then had a meeting on ensuring that the supply, the cuts, the quality, and the all-natural criteria align with what we want to serve to our guests. We’re exploring this source of North Dakota beef for the restaurants; but this sourcing takes time, research, resources, and money—it is difficult for a restaurant to afford to send its staff traveling around to validate suppliers. But we believe in our mission and try to do this, we will continue to try.

We’re sharing this sort of information so that it’s clear to our guests and to Washington Post readers and all the bloggers out there that we might change beef suppliers, and change flour suppliers again, and then we might change back because the realities of supply, price, quality, and distribution are vital to our business. But we will buy all-natural, sustainably raised animals, and if we ever learn that a farmer/supplier isn’t doing what they promise, we’ll make a change. If we list a supplier on the menu, and then we change suppliers, I’m not going to reprint menus immediately—it isn’t feasible nor is it very sustainable—but our menu, where it lists suppliers, should qualify it with a statement that these are vendors we support. When I do fast reprints, I can’t use soy ink, so when we do sometimes have to do a fast reprint, I can’t walk my talk on soy ink (but I still can on recycled paper) but our business cards and our other collateral are as green as possible. It is a tiny debate like this that my team has internally all the time. We care and know there’s a difference between recycled paper and soy ink vs. traditional; we also know that there’s a sensible frequency with which to reprint menus.

Just as we strive to maintain a menu driven by sustainably grown and produced products, we strive to run a sustainable business. We employ more than 250 people between both restaurants. We’re a business that is working to improve our community, influence positive environmental trends in our industry, and provide great food and drink. That’s the good news we want to share and that we work VERY hard to accomplish every day.

Strive is a critical word; we don’t promise 100% of anything—even hot food and great service—we strive to do it every table every time, but we all know there’s not a restaurant in the world that delivers on that elusive thing we strive for—perfect service/food. What we print on our menu, and what we say on our web site, and what we verbalize, is about explaining to the guest The Things We Care About, The Things We Value, and Our Overall Mission with Regard To How We Run Our Business. If I tried to buy 100% local, I’d be out of business. What would we put on the menu in January? And what about local suppliers who can’t meet our volume, price, or quality requirements?  If we had 90 seats or less and more flexible menus with the ability to charge higher prices, we might be able to follow that model, but our model is different.

We need strategies that are feasible, just as Chef Todd Grey of Equinox explained in the same article. We are a different restaurant from Equinox, for anyone that’s dined at both places that is clear. We have huge admiration and respect for Chef Todd Gray; we dine in his restaurant, we think he and Ellen are great and run a fantastically important, industry-leading business, but most importantly for you foodies, we think it is delicious, with great service. Our concept and approach are different and we don’t offer the exact same experience.

Another important point that the general public is not as clear on is the whole organic question. There are restaurants in DC that make a statement about local/organic, but might have bok choy on their menu in the fall (I ate at one of those last week); at Founding Farmers we are NOT striving for the local or organic labels—we’re not focused on organic, but if we have something organic, such as our Square One Organic Vodka or our coffees and teas, that is super. Similarly, we’re not making “local” a fundamental promise of the brand—when we have local (and I think the local produce farmers from whom we bought +35,000 pounds of fresh produce this past summer would agree), that’s super. It has to be a win/win/win: for the guest, for our farmer supplier, for our business.

But, our mission is more comprehensive than any one single food item. Its about the business’s impact on the planet, and on the community and on the industry, all the while ensuring we earn a profit because that’s what being in business is all about and what allows us to continue educating the public about our model of sustainability. Knowing that our purchasing could be from far and wide, we buy Carbon Offsets, and to date have purchased offsets for 70 tons of CO₂ emissions.

Even better, we’re working on a deal to buy offsets on the Chicago Climate Exchange that are actually credits sold by the farmers who own/invest in the restaurants. It gives these farmers carbon credits for activities like no-till farming that I can buy to offset the distribution related to our purchasing. THAT is a full-circle, very cool story of how the businesses are interconnected and showing care/concern for the planet—the real story of sustainable agriculture, one that allows a farmer to earn an income in a manner that helps the environment. On that topic, another debate can be raised, as there are many sides to the carbon offset dialogue happening around the world—but at least we’re involved, we care, we’re participating, and we’re trying to make a positive impact while we constantly learn new ways and research better ways to achieve our goals.

If you’ve read this far, THANK YOU, and I hope that anyone that reads this, does some research and comes to the restaurant will see that we are an honest business with a unique concept, an award winning restaurant, DC’s first LEED restaurant—and Gold at that, Green Restaurant Association Certified Restaurant for our processes as a whole, and so much more, including yummy foods, great service, and menu pricing that regular people can afford. I especially hope that anyone who’s got enough time to tweet and post about it will take a moment or an hour—a cocktail or a meal—and come and see for yourself. Our doors are open, come and visit, eat and drink, and talk to us. We appreciate the dialogue and thrive on the conversations it sparks, but we want it to be comprehensive and accurate on all sides.

Sincerely,

Dan Simons and the Teams at Founding Farmers and Farmers & Fishers

The Gold Key Hospitality Awards are hosted by Hotel Magazine and Interior Design Magazine and recognizes design firms who have done the most innovative work on hospitality renovations or new builds from around the globe, for hotels, restaurants and spas. Congratulations to CORE and the whole restaurant team for Founding Farmers for a great showing and for garnering international attention.

See the video for yourself, and catch a cocktail segment with Founding Farmers Mixologist Josh Tugjnyam, who shook Cabana Cachaca (the spirit of Brazil!) into a couple great tasting cocktails.  No holidays for DC’s most popular restaurant!

Turning Green to Gold

It’s only fitting that the first LEED Gold certified full-service, upscale-casual restaurant in the country, which is also the first LEED certified restaurant in the nation’s capital, is owned by a collaborative representing farmers, the North Dakota Farmers Union.

Founding Farmers, which celebrates America’s culinary tradition in its menus and promotes sustainable agriculture and seasonality, received the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)’s LEED for Commercial Interiors certification, raising the bar for foodservice operations seeking higher levels of accreditation.

“We have set a new benchmark for restaurants to be more environmentally friendly,” says Dan Simons, principal of Vucurevich Simons Advisory Group (VSAG), the management and operations group for the restaurant, as well as foodservice consultant on the project.

“This is an important achievement not only for the hospitality industry but for the ownership collective of more than 42,000 American family farmers whose food we bring directly to the restaurant,” adds VSAG principal, Michael Vucurevich.

Achieving LEED Gold, VSAG took a decision. “To reach the most points…would’ve cost $200,000 more. We couldn’t do that, so we looked at things that we could do to get the points. We expect to do this again,” he adds. “There are other restaurants pursuing this and we get calls for advice. There’s a high level of chatter.”

At Culinary Options in Seattle, consultant Karen Malody, FCSI, expects “we are definitely going to see more and more of this. At FCSI, we’re already seeing more design consultants being LEED accredited and this can bring far more knowledge about the issue to projects.”

However, she continues, “Consultants will be fighting for more points to be associated with efforts in the kitchen. The energy hog center of the facility is the kitchen and it doesn’t contribute more than a few points (in the certification ratings). You need as many sustainable extensions from the kitchen such as waste reduction or energy conservation and very few total points are gained. You can buy Energy Star equipment and low-flow faucets and reduce the carbon footprint. From my perspective as a management advisory consultant, you try to reduce waste through strategic menu development engineering, but those things don’t contribute heavily to points.”

At Fisher Nickel Inc. Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, CA, Richard Young says LEED projects create positive public relations and are seen by USGBC as “honoring the best of the best. But it’s not necessarily for every building out there. It’s great that (Founding Farmers) did this and I applaud it. It’s not an easy walk. For each one that moves forward, it helps others do it. With each certified restaurant, it gives lessons, opens the door to the next one and helps tailor LEED so it works better for restaurants. LEED is the ‘yellow brick road.’ The guidelines are a pathway.”

The leverage that certification provides, he adds, can help a restaurant. “The real benefit is you learn a lot. Is there payback? The extra money equals an incredible education and that’s really important. Green buildings are typically better and it helps the staff too. Increase the comfort for guests and employees and your return goes up.”

“We’ve proven it’s possible,” says Simons, “and the public does appreciate it. Our sales have been up every week and we have plans for creating more sister restaurants and growing the brand. In a city like Philadelphia, it could be ‘Liberty Farmers.’ We just put a strategy in place to explore this and capitalize up for growing locations.”

Behind the Founding Farmer project and others, Simons says, are “people caring. That’s the principal driver, along with the public relations value, and lower utility bills. But, it’s about the guest loyalty that this creates. We’re aligned with our guests’ principles and it feels like we’re on the same team.”

Reaching Gold, he adds, “was not fundamentally more expensive. The myth is that it costs more money. It’s about education, state of mind and commitment to doing the right thing. I spent more money on research time – choosing paint, for example. We spent less on some materials –  salvaged, re-claimed woods from old barns. You’re not paying to have something made. This pushes you to innovate. We loved the thought of ‘naturalizing’ the usual suspects and it focused us to be better, more compelling.”

The group recycled “north of 70 percent of our construction waste. If everybody did that, it would be a different world.”

Actually operating the restaurant they consulted on, Simons adds, “keeps us reality-based. It reminds us how hard it is to deliver on the vision.”

The 250-seat restaurant was also certified by the Green Restaurant Association whose founder, Michael Oshman, says, “Those of us following the environmental world for 20 years know that the world is just waking upto this. It’s an exciting time.” He calls Founding Farmers’ LEED certification “a milestone and the start of a process.” But he points out, “Environmental responsibility is a direction, not a destination. There is always room for improvement.”

Some design consultants see USGBC’s current guidelines as weak in giving few points for energy reduction in the kitchen through more efficient equipment. At Robert Rippe Associates in Minneapolis, Steve Carlson, FCSI, a consultant who was recently LEED certified, notes that USGBC recently drafted a “prescriptive path” that is currently “the closest thing to guidelines for commercial kitchens” and addresses gas, water and electrical use.

“I think we’re getting there,” Carlson says. “This is probably the first step.” The new criteria are, for the first time, specific to kitchens both in operations and design, and reward water savings through use of more energy-efficient dishwashers with more points. Projects are required to show a minimum of 20 percent energy savings, and energy efficient equipment is required.

The new “prescriptive guidelines” are currently up for consideration and a vote by USGBC membership. “The number of credits were changed to create a commercial kitchen baseline,” says Mark Heisterkamp, director of commercial real estate. “Now, we better capture the energy coming out of the kitchen. The rating system still needs approval and we’re working for August or September. It’s been in use from a pilot perspective for the past couple of years, and some restaurants have been in the pilot.”

At RSA Food Service Consulting in Portland, OR, Ray Soucie, FCSI, also calls the guidelines a step forward.

“Commercial kitchens consume more energy than the rest of the building and different uses have different consumption. The LEED program became so popular so fast. It’s an evolving process. The nice thing is points for innovation that are now included, because they encourage people to think outside the box. LEED ’09 is a combination of all the building blocks that went before it.”

For Founding Farmers to achieve Gold certification under Commercial Interiors, he adds, “is a feather in their cap. It’s not easy and my hat’s off to them.”

Consumers appreciate efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. But most agree that LEED certification doesn’t give a restaurant license to be anything more than a great restaurant. In the case of Founding Farmers, the idea behind the restaurant is that “everyone benefits from knowing about the source of our food and its journey from seed to harvest to table,” says Simons. The design elements celebrate the farm with a playful custom carved lamb atop the welcome station, and agricultural botanical drawings. All tabletops and chairs were made from walnut extracted by Harrisburg, PA and manufactured in High Point, NC, all within 500 miles.

Energy Star appliances and a higher efficiency HVAC system which has carbon dioxide sensors to monitor indoor air quality, waterless urinals, lowflow lavatories and the use of reclaimed construction materials (more than 15 percent) contributed to credits for certification. Ninety percent of construction waste was recycled. The restaurant is expected to save 192,168 gallons of water annually compared to conventionally designed counterparts.

Meals are homemade/’scratch’-made American classics inspired by the heartland with sustainably farmed products.

Guests can choose to eat at one of two communal tables in a farmhouse atmosphere. Chicago-based restaurant consultant Darren Tristano at Technomic, Inc. believes the industry will become more “ecologically and environmentally friendly as consumer pressure and operator passion fuel the efforts…Founding Farmers has set the standard and raised the bar. This will compel other upscale restaurants to seek certification.”

How Founding Farmers earned the necessary assessment points to achieve its Gold Commercial Interiors LEED certification

Energy Star

• Installed Energy Star rated appliances for more than 80% of all eligible appliances (for rated power), including freezers, refrigerators, the main dish machine, glasswashers and eligible cooking appliances such as a hot food holding cabinet, fryer, steam cooker and four LCD TVs installed in the bar
• Installed higher efficiency HVAC system with heat pumps that exceed the Advanced Buildings Energy Benchmark and ASHRAE 90.1. Heat pump efficiencies exceed ASHRAE by 5-30 percent. Carbon dioxide sensors were located throughout to constantly monitor indoor air quality. Ventilation rates (fresh outside air) are at least 30 percent above code requirements.

Materials and Finishes

• Reclaimed flooring from an old textile mill and de-nailed salvaged beams, cutting them into blank pieces of lumber that were then kiln dried and molded into tongue and groove flooring.
• Reclaimed barn door from West Virginia
• Reclaimed brick from Vintage Brick Salvage
• More than 15 0ercent of all construction materials are reclaimed, which earned a LEED innovation point
• Wood furniture (walnut tables, custom bar stools and side chairs) were harvested from PA and OH forests and manufactured by Dunbar Furniture in Greensboro and High Point, NC
• Metal disks were sourced from Follansbee Steel in West Virginia
• PaperStone countertops in restrooms were made from 100 percent recycled content paper. PaperStone is made from cellulose fiber and non-petroleum based phenolic resin derived in part from natural phenolic oils in cashews
• 45 percent of materials manufactured within 500 miles
• Recycled or diverted 90 percent of construction waste
• 3Form Acrylic Screen is made from 40 percent post-consumer recycled paper
• Graphic wall coverings are on Durapene, composed of 50 percent wood pulp from sustainably managed forest, 40 percent post-industrial waste and 10 percent recycled post-consumer waste
• Carpet on the mezzanine level is certified as an environmentally preferable product
• Paints, coatings and varnishes all have low VOCs which helped earn points for indoor environmental quality

Plumbing Fixtures and Water

• Waterless urinals and low-flow lavatories in restrooms
• Water efficient Energy Star dishwasher and spray valve. The restaurant will save at least 192,168 gallon of water a year compared to convention design restaurants (not including the dishwasher and spray valve).

Operations

• The restaurant recycles to the maximum capacity possible in Washington, DC and has a waste, recycle and compost area that separates all waste
• Through a partnership with CarbonFund.org, Founding Farmers (and other VSAG managed restaurants) purchase carbon-offsets to help eliminate the operating Carbon Footprints of these businesses