For the first time ever, one of America’s cities, Asheville, North Carolina, has earned the official designation of being a Green Dining Destination™ with Certified Green Restaurants® throughout Asheville. This accomplishment was driven by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (AIR), and the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute (BRSI), who formed a local Coalition to encourage more environmentally sustainable practices within the city’s restaurants.
This month, Asheville has met and exceeded its goal of having 16 Certified Green Restaurants® throughout the city, all of which have met the GRA’s rigorous certification standards by earning at least 100 GreenPoints™ in the categories of food, water, waste, energy, chemicals, and disposables. Additionally, each Certified Green Restaurant® has eliminated use of polystyrene foam, (aka StyroFoam™), and has implemented a full-scale recycling program.
The 16 Certified Green Restaurants® in Asheville are:
- The French Broad Chocolate Lounge
- Homegrown
- Laughing Seed Café
- Luella’s Bar-B-Que
- Plant Restaurant
- Neo Cantina
- Posana Cafe Rosetta’s Kitchen
- Strada Italiano
- The Corner Kitchen
- The Green Sage
- The Green Sage South
- Tupelo Honey Café
- Tupelo Honey Cafe South
- Cedric’s Tavern on the Biltmore Estate
- Bouchon
The Green Restaurant Association is a national non-profit organization that provides the only official Certified Green Restaurants® mark in the country. For 22 years, the GRA has pioneered the Green Restaurant® movement and has been the leading voice within the industry encouraging restaurants to listen to consumer demand and green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards. The Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (AIR) has a mission to unite the independent restaurant community of Asheville NC as committed to local people, local philanthropies, local businesses, local food and the local economy, with a promise to preserve the authenticity of our mountain home through genuine food and signature hospitality.