Sustainable Catering Association

Time to join us!

A symphony of local ingredients... Crafted into mouth-watering food

Sustainably Speaking,Now is the time to start your journey. I’ve told you what Sustainability is about, I’ve shown you how to commit. Did you? If not, do it immediately, or you may just miss the boat.

Taking the first step can be a big deal, but it actually is easier than you think. First off, in order to get started on your journey, you must figure out where you are and where you want to be. So, it’s time to assess the situation in a way that makes sense to you and is easy to do. In our business we started by identifying the areas of our business as they relate to sustainability. This can be done by doing some research on your own, by hiring a sustainable consultant, or by joining a group or an association whose mission is to help you become more sustainable.

Fortunately, Portland has many of such groups, one of which is tailored to the Catering and Events industry.

The Natural Step

Sustainable Business Network of Portland

Northwest Earth Institute

Sustainable Catering Association

For a step by step process, please consider joining an association that fits you and your industry. Good Luck!

Mark Lopez

Tags: Gee Creek Farm, Local Farm, Locally inspired foods, NW Earth Institute, Sustainable Business Network of Portland, Sustainable Catering Association, The Natural Step

Sustainability at Go Green 09 Conference in Portland Oregon

Friday, October 9th, 2009 | Catering, Sustainability Information, Sustainable Catering Association | No Comments

The Sustainability Panel

It was a great day to connect with fellow sustainability champions at Go Green 09, on Wednesday October 7, 2009 at the Gerding Theater. With the great lineup of speakers, it was amazing for me to realize that some of the most important moments of the conference were with those I met in the lobby. That’s the People side of people planet profit, eh? It was nice to be able to get in a plug for the Sustainable Catering Association as well.

The kick off was interesting, with fellow Catering maven from Elephants Delicatessen Anne Weaver in the mix speaking up for small businesses and foodservice alike. When asked what’s one of the most important Sustainable practices they participate in, weaver cited their composting efforts. The volume their operations produce daily, makes for one heap of compost. This left several in the audience thinking once again about the fact that Portland still does not have have it’s own composting facility. One thing is for sure, the compost discussion is far from over.

Go Green ’08 Cultivating Sustainable Business

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Catering, Club and Association Meetings, Sustainability Information, Sustainable Catering Association | No Comments

Go Green 08
Cultivating sustainable business

GoGreen’08 was held at the Gerding Theater at The Armory in The Pearl District Portland, Oregon on October 1, 2008. The Armory has been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as exceeding the requirements for designation as a LEED Platinum building.

The only conference of its kind, Go Green ‘08 gave tactical steps on how to “green” your business and build sustainability enlightenment amongst business owners. Attendees participated in panel discussions geared to provide solid takeaways and next steps to make any size of business sustainable. Conference topics included a showcase of Portland’s Best Sustainable Businesses featuring Best Business Award Winners, Green Marketing and Branding, Green Incentives Available to your Business and How to Win Media Coverage with Your Sustainability Initiatives. Event Sponsors included Metro (Recycle at Work and Drive Less, Save More), City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development, Portland Development Commission, Portland Tribune, Travel Portland and Sustainable Industries.

The GoGreen ‘08 mission is to bring the business community together to inspire and educate about the importance of sustainability in business while offering concrete next steps to make these new initiatives a reality.

The keynote speaker mayor elect Sam Adams kicked off the event by giving an inspiring state of green address. Noting that once again Portland has been declared the most Sustainable city in the US. Also noting that we have a long way to go to becoming truly sustainable especially if being compared to the Global community.
He talked about current infrastructure and its need for growth. Especially embracing electric vehicles and having charging stations throughout the area. The future must contain solutions to the current fuel crisis and that will come in the form of bio-fuels and electric vehicles.

Sam also announced the all new Portland Sustainability Institute. Located near the Rose Quarter just on East Broadway, and is set to open in early 2009. Find out more about it in Sam’s Blog at http://www.commissionersam.com/node/3665

The conference left me with many insights as well as MUCH more to ad to my ever growing to-do list. Never the less I am glad to have been a part of such an event.

I know as a company, Crave Catering has a long way to go as we go further down the Sustainable road, but at least we are on it and heading in the right direction. A few immediate actions we will be taking will be to discuss our energy consumption and look into renewable energy through PGE, also auditing our carbon footprint and looking at carbon offsets, as well as evaluating our “Food Miles.”

For more information about the event please visit the official website

http://gogreenpdx.com/

Featured experts included – http://gogreenpdx.com/speakers/

Pat Reiten, President of Pacific Power
Sam Adams, Mayor-Elect of Portland

Portland’s BEST Business Award Winners
Susan Anderson/Director, City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development
Lisa Sedlar/President, New Seasons (Large Business Winner)
Bob Lauron/Vice President, Full Sail Brewing (Medium Business Winner)
Jason McMillan/Owner, Mint Dental (Small Business Winner)

David Weigel, Vice President of Marketing, Ecos
Justin Yuen/President, FMYI
Stephanie Swanson/Principal, MarketShift Strategies
Craig Trames/Principal, Corragio Group
Grace Pae/Founder, Artemis Foods

Derek Smith/Former Director, YOLO Colorhouse
Jack Graves/Chief Cultural Officer,
The Holland Inc. (Burgerville)
Monty Moore/Vice President, Neil Kelly
David Yudkin/Co-Owner, Hot Lips Pizza

Megan Stein/Recycle at Work Program Manager, Office of Sustainable Development
Richard Satnick/CEO, Laughing Planet
Josh Halley/Manager, Green Mountain Energy
Bill Scott/General Manager, Zipcar

Erik Weeman/Weiden+Kennedy
Curt Mudd/Founder, Emergent
Renee Spears/Founder, Rose City Mortgage
Mitch Rofsky/Founder, Better World Club

Green Giant Awards Ceremony
Presented by Portland Tribune’s Sustainable Life
Awards Host: Steve Clark, President, Portland Tribune
& Community Newspapers

Featured Door Prizes:
Artemis Foods, Inc. ~ Artemis Meals to Go gift certificates from Artemis Café at SE 12th & Division
Crave Catering ~ Chef’s Seasonal Lunch for Six
McCormick and Schmick’s Harborside at the Marina ~ Dining Gift Certificates
The Original McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant ~ Dining Gift Certificates
Hotel Vintage Plaza ~ One night stay with Romance Package

Tags: Artemis Foods, Best Business Award, Catering, certified, City of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development, David Yudkin, Drive Less Save More, Gerding Theater at The Armory, Go Green 08, GoGreen 08, Grace Pae, Hot Lips Pizza, McCormick and Schmick’s, Metro, New Seasons, Oregon, Pearl District, Portland, Portland Development Commission, Portland Tribune, Recycle at Work, Sustainable, Sustainable Industries, Travel Portland

Catering – Portland Oregon

Chef Inspired Sustainable World Cuisine