Culinary Arts Department: The Culinary Arts Department, with help of the Horticulture Department, has made environmental sustainability a key consideration in special events and daily operations. Through initiatives such as sourcing fruits and honey from the Tanner Orchard and prioritizing locally sourced foods when planning culinary events and seasonal menus, these teams are working together to improve the sustainability of Newfields' food and agricultural projects with each new season.
On August 30, 2021 the Culinary Arts Department at Newfields achieved Level 1 certification from The Green Restaurant Association, an international nonprofit organization that has pioneered the Green Restaurant® movement. Since then, two staff members have achieved individual certification. The Culinary Arts Department at Newfields encompasses food and beverage services across the 152-acre campus, everywhere except The Café in the IMA. This includes The Beer Garden, THE LUME Café, seasonal Pop Ups in the IMA Galleries, special events such as Wine Collective tastings and small bites and curated beverages featured on the menus during Newfields' seasonal festivals Winterlights, Harvest Nights, and Spring Blooms.
Green Restaurant ® certification is achieved by meeting and exceeding the standards in eight environmental categories. The Culinary Arts Department at Newfields’ current scores in each of the eight categories are listed in the table below. Click on the category name to read more about each standard.
Since opening the new Beer Garden in 2022, Newifelds switched to real, reuseable glassware, plates, and serve ware, using plastic only for “to-go” orders. With this change, they have diverted over 5,000 single-use plastic cups, to-go containers, and plastic utensils.
In our food and beverage partnerships, The Culinary Arts Department pursues working with brands who also hold sustainable standards that mirror ours. For example, for Art in Bloom this year, we partnered with The Botanist Gin, the first spirit brand to become B-Corp certified, proving their dedication to our planet’s long-term sustainability and a healthy work environment for their staff.
Kahn’s Catering at Newfields Café
The Café inside the IMA works with Kahn’s Catering, a partner who values sustainability. Kahn’s venue, Montage, is powered with 100% green power. In addition, Kahn’s created their own organically-grown “Chef’s Garden” to enhance their events with fresh, seasonal, and unique produce and planted pollinator-friendly perennial flowers to support the local habitat. Kahn’s also uses commercially compostable plastic to-go containers and their cooking oil is recovered and recycled for use in biofuel and other non-food uses.