About the Contest
There is a significant amount of interest among people in mitigating climate change, greenhouse emissions and environmental footprint and adopting a green lifestyle. San Francisco Bay Area is home to more than 100 green restaurants, and leads the nation in the number of certified green restaurants in any metropolitan region. Given these two factors, in April of 2008, Thimmakka held the first ever Green Restaurant contest in the US, “Who’s the Greenest of Them All?”
The contest aimed to (1) create awareness among people about the environmental impact of restaurants and why they should support Green restaurants; (2) create awareness among restaurant owners, managers and chefs about Green restaurants; (3) create awareness about Thimmakka, its work and its services
The contest started on Earth day, April 22, 2008 and ran until June 24th, when a Blue Ribbon panel of judges met to evaluate the contestants. The judges were distinguished people in the field of conservation and hospitality: Gil Friend of Natural Logic, Rachel Balsley of StopWaste.org, Andy Katz, an environmental planner and a Director of East Bay Municipal Utility District, Pamela Evans of the Green Business Program, Alison Negrin Executive Chef of John Muir Hospitals, and Lauren Mills of Food Service Technology Center. The judging event was graciously hosted by Numi Tea at their Oakland headquarters.
The judging was based on metrics such as energy (KWh) used per month per square foot of space, gallons of water used per customer per day, percentage of waste recycled, green design elements, use of eco-friendly cleaners, organic ingredients, customer education, and importantly, a third-party attestation or certification that the restaurant had implemented the claimed green measures.
April 22nd Earth Day: Launching of contest
April 22nd – May 31st: Nomination period
May 1st to June 24th: Measurement and audits. Thimmakka volunteers called the nominated restaurants so as to fill out the audit forms and collect the necessary data (water bills etc.). Analysis required to be done (resources used per cover etc.) was done at the Thimmakka office based on the information collected.
June 25th- July 15th: The forms and analysis were given to the judges who ranked the restaurants. All the judges met to decide the “Top Ten Greenest of Them All”.
Nominations were sought from individuals, Green Business coordinators, Thimmakka Certified Green restaurants, other restaurants and their customers. A nomination form or email had to be sent to Thimmakka with the following information:
Restaurant Nominated:Name:
Address:
Contact Person (owner or manager):
Phone number for Contact Person:
Email for Contact Person:
Name of the Nominator:
Phone number for Nominator:
Email for Nominator:
How is this restaurant green? (5-10 sentences):
