NEWBURYPORT — Environmental awareness is the hottest trend around. But area restaurants are no newcomers to this green movement.
Flatbread Company, which occupies a restaurant in Amesbury's Millyard, has been using green business practices at its chain of restaurants for the past 10 years, said to Colleen Toomey, assistant manager of the Flatbread location in Amesbury.
She said the company uses organic ingredients, wood-fired stoves, all-natural cleaning products and takeout containers made from recycled paper. Toomey said the restaurant uses a lot of local products, a little-touted green practice that cuts down on transportation costs and cuts emissions at the same time.
"It just seemed natural to the people who started this restaurant that if we are going to continue on into the future, (going green) will be important to everyone," said Toomey.
Toomey said being environmentally friendly is something that is important to the owners of Flatbread as well as it's employees.
"I couldn't picture myself working somewhere that doesn't try to be environmentally friendly," she said.
According to the National Restaurant Association, customers might be more likely to give their business to an environmentally friendly restaurant.
Sixty-two percent of adults said they are likely to make a restaurant choice based on how "green" it is, according to an association report.
Toomey said it is difficult to tell if using so many green practices has helped the business, but she said when people learn about their company's green practices, they get a great reaction.
"We have a really good product here," Toomey said. "Once they are in here and realize (that we use green products) they do tend to get more excited and it brings them back. I definitely think people appreciate it."
At Fowle's in Newburyport owner Laurie Trout continues to use biodegradable drink cups that the previous owners had used before she and her husband bought the business in May 2007.
They have since tossed around other ideas to make their business green, at one point using to-go cutlery made out of potato starch, known as Spudware. Unfortunately, Trout said the cutlery bent too much, so they had to do away with it.
Although the biodegradable eco-containers cost a little more money than a regular styrofoam coffee cup, Trout said she doesn't mind because she's doing her small part for the environment. The cups use corn byproducts rather than petroleum.
"I care about the environment," said Trout. "As little as anyone can do certainly adds up."
Trout said she doesn't know if her restaurant's use of biodegradable cups draws more customers, but she says customers do take notice of the environmentally friendly cups.
