Bittercreek Alehouse is a hallmark in the local food scene with a pub feel and authentic love of beer and beer-nerd proper glassware. Red Feather Lounge is the trendy brunch and craft cocktail creative with a tailored menu. Both restaurants are staples of the eat local food movement in Downtown Boise and the brand personalities of Just Eat Local INC, a group that is helping to build a sustainable future for Boise.
Part of the community's fondness for these great restaurants is rooted deeper than the heady food and drinks -- it is found in company culture. Just Eat Local INC. strives to not only do well at business, but to do good business. One metric of success for the company is preventing needless harm to the environment, something that has evolved as a central part of their mission in the last five years. While many Boise folks have had the chance to eat there, they might not know about all the behind the scenes sustainability projects the restaurants are working on.
Vermicompost
Created by the owners Dave Krick and Jami Adams, Bittercreek Alehouse and Red Feather Lounge feed a herd of over 100,000 red wiggler worms in the urban composting program in the basement called The Urban Worm. The efforts are led by Sustainability Director Amy Lyons who manages what are the only restaurant vermicompost bins in the state of Idaho. Today, the worms work through 80-150 pounds of food and paper waste from the restaurant every week. The final product is rich, garden ready soil that is sold at The Boise Farmers Market in early spring. The company also sponsors and develops programs that use the worms to engage students in educational activities about vermiculture, urban composting, local food, and sustainability.
The City of Boise offers composting for residential customers, which has been wildly successful with over 36 million pounds of material collected so far. For now, businesses are left to compost on their own or send food waste to the landfill, where it is estimated that every pound of food thrown away results in 3.8 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. The Urban Worm is leading by example with innovate food waste solutions other local businesses can adopt!
Plastic Straws
Waste items for worm food isn’t only trash talk in the company. The restaurants continue to pursue cleaner and more environmentally conscious products. Just Eat Local INC. just announced the company is supporting the national movement to phase out the plastic straw. Single-use plastic straws are a huge waste item in our landfills, environment and oceans. While the company won't eliminate straws all together, as they are an accessibility tool for some, but dramatically reducing their use and facilitating a conversation to move away from plastic straws. They will now give straws only upon request and switch to a new paper straw that is made from sustainably harvested and managed forests.
Geothermal
Another sustainable feature of the restaurant is coming from the pipes. Both Bittercreek and Red Feather are connected to the City of Boise's geothermal system, which is the largest municipal direct use geothermal energy system in the U.S. This fossil fuel free energy source is used to affordably heat more than 6 million square feet of Boise’s buildings, including both restaurants on 8th Street. The use of this renewable resource provides the restaurants with a clean heating alternative that is readily available and affordable! To learn more about geothermal energy opportunities and plans for expansion, email the City of Boise Public Works. The restaurant is working to ensure that their total use is as efficient as possible, which includes partnering with Idaho Power for their electricity benchmarking.
Earth Day
As true tree enthusiasts, Bittercreek Alehouse celebrated its fourth annual Buy One Get One Tree event on Earth day in preparation for arbor day. A purchase of one of the specified tree specific beers off the tap list with come with a gift that will continue to give by growing, a small sapling. The species are chosen for Boise’s climate, but will still need a little nurture to ensure growth. They also offered up seed bombs for folks that are not ready for a tree seedling. The seedbombs are made with vermicompost from their very own Urban Worm farm, and seeds that are purchased from the local Snake River Seed Cooperative.
It is clear that there is a lot of great initiatives with this group that are focused on their piece of building a cleaner future. The eco-friendly and focused group is excited to contribute to the community's culture and values by supporting community programs, and supporting the local economy by voting with their dollar.
Ready for 100% clean energy
When it comes to energy, this company is asking for a 100% clean energy future for Boise. Bittercreek and Red Feather are proud endorsers of the Ready for 100 campaign to protect the city they love and develop a clean energy economy that benefits all of Boise’s small businesses.
"We love doing our part to make sure Bittercreek Alehouse and Red Feather Lounge run sustainably, and we are inviting other Boise business leaders to join us in endorsing the Ready for 100 campaign," said Amy Lyons. "We support committing to 100% clean energy because it will help local businesses like our do good business."
