News

June 23, 2009

Three Decades Into Being Green, Kimpton Takes Next Steps

Kimpton Restaurants, an early proponent of the green movement, is extending its conservation program to the next phase by adopting three new initiatives.

The efforts range from a rewrite of wine lists to what's on the bill of fare at the company's one-of-a-kind restaurants. The practices are being adopted in stages, with bottled water being the current focus.

This summer, Kimpton's 45 restaurants in North America are switching from water bottled in single-use containers to a version that is purified in-house and served in reusable vessels. Kimpton restaurants in all but three U.S. states are making a donation to The Nature Conservancy, a wildlife preservation group, for each bottle of house water that is sold, the company said. A contribution is also being made by the supplier of the in-house system, Natura.

The elimination of single-use water bottles will reduce oil consumption by at least 100 barrels per restaurant, Kimpton said. It pegged the yearly savings in CO2 emissions at 46.8 tons per eatery.

The company did not provide any comparisons between the prices or costs of the self-bottled water and the commercial choices it replaced.

The switch to water sold in reusable bottles follows the adoption of new seafood sourcing guidelines for the 45 chef-driven restaurants. This month the company announced that it would only buy and serve sustainable seafood, as specified under the Monterrey Bay (Calif.) Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. Seafood Watch has been widely embraced by chefs and conservationists as the authoritative guide to what seafood should or should not be caught and consumed, based on sustainability considerations.

Meanwhile, Kimpton's restaurants are rewriting their wine lists to ensure that roughly one out of every three choices will be "eco-friendly" as of January, the company said. Thirty percent of each list will consist of selections from vineyards using sustainable, organic or biodynamic cultivation methods. Biodynamics is a style of farming that regards the soil as a living organism.

"We look forward to educating guests about the quality and flavor of eco-friendly wine," said Emily Wines, the aptly named master sommelier and director of wines for Kimpton.

Kimpton Restaurants is part of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a San Francisco-based operator of boutique hotels in North America. Each affiliated restaurant has its own character and style, and features local ingredients and dishes.

Sustainable practices have been incorporated into Kimpton's lodging and restaurant operations since the company was founded in 1981. Its EarthCare program now extends to about 50 procedures and policies, including the use of non-polystyrene takeout containers, low-flow plumbing, and toxin-free kitchen cleaners.