Sustainability Focus at Convention Center Restaurants
April 2008
The Emory Conference Center Hotel, which is affiliated with Emory University, is also incorporating more sustainable and organic foods into its restaurants and special events menus.
The Conference Center made the decision four years ago to undergo the stringent Green Seal certification process. It is the only hotel in Georgia to receive this designation. Green Seal-certified hotels must minimize their waste, implement energy efficiency and conservation measures, reduce water usage, minimize the use of hazardous substances, restrict what goes down the drain as wastewater, and establish a policy to purchase green products. Emory Conference Center’s Executive Chef, Michael Klein, CEC, CCA, and Houston Mill House Executive Chef Vincent Marra, CEC review blueprints for the new conference center kitchen.
The Conference Center is currently undergoing a major expansion and renovation with the kitchen undergoing a renovation at the same time. While the physical dimensions of the kitchen will not change, it will incorporate more energy efficient and environmentally friendly equipment, such as replacing or improving existing ways to dispose of grease traps. The expansion itself will be LEED Silver, with the existing building retrofitted to earn a LEED EB designation.
In addition to kitchen equipment changes, Michael Klein CEC CCA, Executive Chef for the Emory Conference Center, and Vincent Marra CEC, Executive Chef of the Houston Mill House, a restaurant and special events facility owned by Emory University, are working to incorporate more organic and sustainable foods into their menus.
“Being associated with Emory University, there’s a lot of interest in green, local, sustainable and organic,” Chef Klein says. “We’ve made a lot of connections with the local growers and the local farmers. We can develop menus based on what they supply us in an effort to really focus on things that require less transportation and use different growing methods, like grass-fed beef and raising pigs in a completely organic environment.”
“Emory University’s sustainability efforts are amazing” adds Cathy Johnson, the Emory Conference Center General Manager. “We couldn’t do half of what we do without the support of the University and where they’re trying to go.
“The Conference Center finds it is able to work around a limited offering of seasonal foods as it changes its menu daily and also offers a buffet in the main dining room, which allows for more versatility.”If we have product that we can feed 200 to 300 people with, we’re perfectly well off,” Chef Klein says. “If we did the same menu every day, day in and day out, that could be a problem with some of the small producers.
“The Conference Center offers not only organic and local foods, but also organic vodkas, local beers and organic wines from local wineries.
“There’s an old saying, ‘Think Globally and Act Locally’.” If you want to change the world, you start close to home,” Chef Klein says. “We feel like it’s important to support the small farmers, the small growers, the small cheese makers and the berry producers. It’s important to have a strong local economy because that’s what feeds us.”Right now, sourcing local and organic foods can be expensive. Still, both chefs hope that in the future, the cost will continue to go down as the demand for sustainable foods goes up.
“While it is a concern thinking that you’re going to be stepping into the higher food cost for some things, to me it’s like anything else. When there’s more demand, the prices come down,” Chef Marra says. “It’s like DVD players. The first one was $1,000, and now you can get one for $49.”Ultimately, the commitment by Emory University
“Sustainably grown, healthy food is a really important shift all over the country, and it unites all kinds of people,” Emory’s Barlett says. “It reweaves the community in a way that’s very positive.”
“This isn’t a fad anymore,” agrees Chef Marra. “It’s the future.”
