At a time when people are increasingly worried about their carbon footprint and many businesses are scrambling to find ways to green themselves, one local business finds thinking of eco-friendly ways to do business is "like breathing."
A little more than three years ago, Chef Pedro Dos Santos wanted his new venture, Vert Catering, to be a vehicle to showcase his culinary talents. He also wanted to provide his customers with healthy food at a good price. And from the outset, he wanted the business to be green through and through.
When it comes to food, Dos Santos finds inspiration in culinary traditions from all over the world, his Portuguese heritage, his mother's insistence on natural foods, and his background as a vegan. His business model, however, is driven by what he sees within a few blocks of his kitchen.
"We do things on a small scale here�I'm all about moderation, but at the same time I never limit what I can make," Dos Santos said.
And it's this small-scale thinking that the team at Vert are hoping will have a big impact. Dos Santos describes his approach to green thinking as a step-by-step process: he deals with problems one at a time and is always making improvements.
Realizing that catered lunches with wrapping, plastic cutlery and paper plates are traditionally heavy on waste, Dos Santos had a look around. He realized that food can be eaten with, served on, and wrapped in other food. He sourced cutlery made from potato starches, plates made from sugar cane fibers and wrapping made from corn products. At the end of a meal everything ends up in the green bin and is composted.
Conor Pollock, one of Dos Santos' two business partners, said that doing business green means the business may have to absorb some of the cost - the biodegradable packaging costs more. Since the priority has always been on being as environmentally friendly as possible, it is as though the company doesn't know what it missing, he said. They never even considered using plastic wraps and cutlery.
Marilyn Simms, the third and final member of the Vert team, sees the company's green image as its greatest asset. Its profit margins may be smaller than other catering companies, but the up side is that their green ideas "get customers in the door and Pedro's food keeps them here," she said.
When it comes to an environmentally friendly source for food, the solution is simple: stay close to home. Dos Santos buys as much local and organic food as he can and keeps his recipes seasonal so most of what he needs is available locally.
He wants local, fresh food that's prepared with a mind to one's health and the health of the environment. And he wants it to be considered mainstream cooking. Until recently, socially and environmentally responsible cooking has generally been relegated to the fringe, he said. He added that for the concept to be adopted on a wide scale, it has to be convenient.
"We shouldn't have to be told to eat healthy and local food," Dos Santos said.
A big part of Vert is making sure their clients don't have to worry about the quality of the food and the impact it has on the environment. Dos Santos' desire to have the trust of his clients and to expand on it keeps him looking for greener ways of doing things.
One problem that was nagging the team finally has a satisfactory solution: Dos Santos is joining a farmers' co-op so the company car can have a reliable supply of biodiesel for deliveries.
From the garden or the butcher to your front door and then the compost heap, Dos Santos hopes to show that a number of small ideas can add up to a big difference.