Adam's Sustainable Table Is First 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant In Oregon

May 24, 2010 - PRLog -- The Eugene, Ore., restaurant began its 10 year journey to sustainability at the turn of the century, Jan. 1, 2000, and began the certification process with the GRA in March of this year. Just five months later, Adam’s Sustainable Table has been certified, making it the first restaurant in the state to receive this high level of certification.

“In the year 2000, we redrafted our corporate mission statement to include a sustainability component as a priority and driving goal for the new millennium,” explains Bernstein. “From that point forward we have slowly and with increasing fervor made each decision, small or large, with an eye on its impact both on the Earth we share and on the generations to come. Sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint have been as much a mission as a goal. While we source much of our foods from within a 75 mile radius of our restaurant, we know that there’s still more to running a truly sustainable operation.” He adds that his restaurant is committed to reducing its total environmental impact by reducing water and energy consumption, using non-toxic cleaning products, recycling, composting, and much more.

“Our use of renewable energy has offset our limited carbon use to the extent that we have created a carbon offset of about 20 metric tons per year. Today, we are not just carbon neutral, we are actually carbon negative,” notes Bernstein.

“We now run a sustainable restaurant from top to bottom and are proud to set an example and to refer our customers to this seal from the GRA, which ensures that all of our practices have been assessed and verified by a credible organization,” Bernstein adds.

In accordance with the GRA’s Certification guidelines, 3 Star Certified Green Restaurants® must meet a minimum of 175 points within their program. Adam’s Sustainable Table has earned more than 230 points so far by implementing steps that include:  

•   Offering cups and straws made from compostable corn-based material
•   To-go containers made from 100% recycled (35% post-consumer recycled) content that’s processed chlorine free, and others that are made from corn-based material
•   Installing energy efficient lighting and motion sensors in areas that don’t require constant light, like bathrooms
•   Installing energy efficient equipment including an Energy Star dish machine, computer, and convection oven
•   Full-scale recycling and composting, including grease recycling
•   Low-flow faucet aerators, which conserve 75 percent more water than conventional faucets, and touchless sensors in restrooms, which also conserve water
•   Organic cotton t-shirts for staff uniforms.

In addition, Adam’s Sustainable Table company car is a Toyota Prius hybrid, and the restaurant uses an electric vehicle for deliveries. The restaurant’s décor is made up of everything from refurbished chairs and tables, to bamboo window treatments and lamps made from recycled cans. A local company picks up the restaurant’s compost using bicycles.

Adam’s Sustainable Table’s food purchasing earned the restaurant nearly 40 points in the GRA’s Food category for the impressive amount of local and organic produce; natural, free-range, and hormone-free meats; sustainable seafood; and vegetarian menu options.  

According to the GRA, Adam’s Sustainable Table is a restaurant that has excelled in setting a green example for others:

"Adam’s Sustainable Table encapsulates what it means to really be green across the board,” says Michael Oshman, founder and executive director of the Green Restaurant Association. “There are many restaurants that are doing great things with sourcing local and organic foods, but they’ve missed the boat in recognizing the importance of energy and water conservation, chemicals, packaging, recycling, and other factors. Adam’s has done a tremendous job of sticking to their mission to provide great local and organic foods for their customers, while also making a solid effort to reduce the environmental impact of the entire restaurant, from their kitchen, to the front of the house, to their decor, and more. We commend them for their work thus far and look forward to helping them make even more changes in years to come.”

For more information about the GRA’s Certification program, visit www.dinegreen.com.

About Adam’s Sustainable Table

Adam’s Sustainable Table is a casual and family-friendly restaurant, serving an eclectic mix of culinary styles, from Northwest regional to home style cooking and affordable comfort foods. The Sustainable Table Inc. is the parent organization for Adam’s Sustainable Table and Cafe Maroc, located at 30 East Broadway in the heart of downtown Eugene, Ore., just two blocks from the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Both restaurants are the expression of Executive Chef Adam Bernstein’s 30-plus years of culinary and restaurant expertise. The restaurants embody a commitment to provide the most wholesome, unadulterated, local organic produce and all-natural proteins available in the region. Honest foodstuffs are procured from farms, ranches and mills located primarily within a 75 miles radius, mostly within a 25-mile radius. Chef Bernstein is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. His extensive culinary background spans four decades of foodservice and three decades as a chef and kitchen manager. Chef Bernstein and his staff have been nationally and regionally recognized for both their culinary accomplishments and sustainable business practices. For more information, visit www.thesustainabletable.com or call (541) 344-6948.

About the Green Restaurant Association

2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Green Restaurant Association’s (GRA) founding. The GRA is a national nonprofit organization that provides the only official Certified Green Restaurants® mark in the country. For two decades, the GRA has pioneered the Green Restaurant® movement and has been the leading voice within the industry encouraging restaurants to listen to consumer demand and green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards. With their turnkey certification system, the GRA has made it easy for thousands of restaurants to become more environmentally sustainable in a profitable manner.  The GRA is endorsed by scores of national environmental organizations such as Natural Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense Fund, and esteemed trade organizations including the New York State Restaurant Association, Orange County Restaurant Association, and America Public Garden Association. The GRA is also an Energy Star partner. In 2010, CitySearch announced the GRA as its official Green Restaurant® listing partner. The GRA has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News, National Public Radio, and in The New York Times and The Washington Post. For more information visit www.dinegreen.com.

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About SustainableTable, Inc: Our restaurants embody our commitment to provide the most wholesome, unadulterated local organics produce and all natural proteins available in our region. Honest food stuffs procured from farms, ranches, mills located primarily from within a 75 miles radius, most within a 25 mile radius.