sustainable practices

It’s summertime and The George Washington University Undergraduate Honey Bee Research Laboratory and Apiary team is abuzz as usual.  For the past eleven years, we have been supporting (and delighted to learn from) this amazing undergraduate bee research team headed up by Dr.

Last night, Co-Owner Dan Simons and our team were thrilled to accept the Maryland Green Registry’s Leadership Award for MoCo’s Founding Farmers from Maryland Secretary of the Environment, Ben Grumbles, and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

It is no secret that sustainable practices are built into the very fabric of our Founding Farmers mission, which includes our efforts to get to know our suppliers and the sources of our food. 

Since launching Our Last Straw in June, Founding Farmers Co-Owner Dan Simons has continued to collaborate with local businesses and legislators to eliminate the distribution of plastic straws across the DMV.

Co-Owner Dan Simons took to DC’s government halls on Friday, testifying at a hearing on plastic straws and stirrers. Speaking before the DC Committee on Transportation and the Environment, Simons encouraged the council to pass the bill that prohibits the sale, use, or provision of non-compostable straws and stirring implements by food service entities, beginning January 1, 2019 with one change: replace the word “compostable” with “biodegradable.” At Founding Farmers, we made the switch to biodegradable straws over a year ago.

MoCo’s Founding Farmers won a prestigious local award Thursday evening from Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Green, the Leading By Example Green Business Award. As a farmer-owned company heavily invested in protecting and preserving our planet for years to come, we are always delighted to be recognized for what we consider to be necessary and important work right here in our own neighborhood.

As a farmer-owned company, our sustainability efforts have always been an important part of our mission, which includes mindful management of our trash. Our efforts have led to LEED certifications, 3 Star Green Restaurant Association certifications, and numerous awards, including our most recent Near-Zero Waste Award, one of our two recent GRA wins.

Founding Farmers won two major awards from the Green Restaurant Association last week for our daily efforts to operate sustainably. The People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by the public, named Farmers Restaurant Group (FRG), which owns and operates Founding Farmers, as their favorite green restaurants in the nation. 

On Monday, Founding Farmers DC Chef Oscar Rivera was a winning angler for Farmers Restaurant Group. He reeled in a 31-inch Chesapeake Bay Rockfish that landed our company team a 3rd place trophy at the 7th Annual Congressional Seafood’s FINvitational.

Some have been critical of recent worldwide efforts to eliminate plastic straws. They say plastic straws are so small. How does eliminating them really have any significant environmental impact? For Founding Farmers, and across all of our restaurants, ditching the plastic straw has become a collaborative mission with close to 150 restaurants, NGOs, and government leaders across the DC area.