Business Success Stories
Our collection of success stories are designed to give you ideas on how to implement your own climate success story. Use the filters on the left to narrow down your search by location, industry type, or action type. Many of our success stories are also Small Business Award winners, your business could be next!
Berkeley-based Gaumenkitzel Restaurant has long been praised for its organic and slow-cooked German cuisine, but the restaurant also stands out for its green business practices.
Small Business Award winner Greenbar Distillery uses only certified organic ingredients to enhance flavors and to prevent artificial fertilizers or pesticides from contaminating farmland and groundwater.
Global Gourmet is Northern California’s first certified full-service catering company under the San Francisco Green Business Program. In addition to offering seasonal, sustainably farmed organic cuisine sourced primarily from the Bay Area, Global Gourmet incorporates environmentally friendly practices in their day- to-day operations. Their environmental policy details specific procedures in areas of employee education, employee transportation, waste reduction, energy conservation, office use, lighting, recycling, pollution prevention, and refrigeration.
The Rising Loafer Café and Bakery’s mission is to “contribute to the well-being of their community.” Their breakfast and lunch menus are prepared with locally grown ingredients to help reduce the business’ carbon footprint and support the local economy. They also started a back-business garden and are a certified Bay Area Green Business.
Manhattan Bread & Bagel is a café and bakery that makes gourmet bagels, crafts artisan breads, and offers wonderful food for any occasion. They are known in the Los Angeles South Bay for providing fresh, high quality baked goods and partnering with local entities to achieve exceptional waste reduction and conservation results.
Choice Lunch, a school lunch delivery service, is dedicated to providing school-age children with healthy, sustainable and delicious meals. Meals are ordered and paid for by parents and delivered to the child’s school just in time for lunch. Choice Lunch also seeks to educate parents and kids on healthy eating options and encourages a nutritionally balanced diet. Choice Lunch is committed to sustainable practices. All food containers and lunch bags are compostable to help reduce unnecessary trash sent to the landfill.
Stanford’s Restaurant, located in downtown Walnut Creek, has challenged themselves to be a community leader and provide other restaurants with a sustainable business model by showing a commitment to both helping the environment and remaining profitable. Stanford’s is a full service restaurant and bar with sales over $4 million annually.
Blue Star Refreshments is an office refreshment service provider located in Silicon Valley that has made the commitment to go green. They offer complete office refreshment services including coffee, snack, dairy products, fresh fruit, baked goods, and catering services, with an emphasis on a low carbon footprint, energy savings, less waste, and healthier snacking through their Healthy Snack Program.
In this caterer’s kitchen, creating a feast doesn’t have to be environmentally messy. Savory & Sweet’s President, Leanne Pomellitto, has been working to make her company ‘green’ while also helping clients become more environmentally- friendly. Since the business opened in 1993, Savory & Sweet Catering has implemented a few key strategies to help reduce their carbon footprint.
Dos Coyotes Border Café took steps to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at two locations in Davis, making Dos Coyotes an even more popular place to eat. Owner Bobby Coyote decided to help the environment by changing the way he runs his businesses.
To save money and achieve greenhouse gas reductions, Dos Coyotes implemented the use of formaldehyde free building products, installed high efficiency HVAC systems, installed AC economizers and recycled paint instead of throwing it away. They use compostable dinnerware in the restaraunt to reduce waste.
"The Lobster" Restaurant in Santa Monica has long been an unofficial historical landmark, almost as recognizable as the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier.
In this small but cozy corner café, drinking coffee is good for both you and the environment. Nomad’s owner, Christopher Waters, set out to create “a community center where people can come together, practice whatever it is that they do” with sustainability as a core value. Since the business opened in May 2003, Nomad implemented environmentally-friendly product and material uses as well as solid waste reduction strategies, energy efficiency measures, operation conservation measures, and vehicle pollution prevention policies.