The Green Dining Alliance is happy to announce our newest GDA Certified Member Restaurant: Urban Eats Cafe! The Dutchtown eatery plays an important role in the community while exceeding sustainability standards.
Urban Eats was created 4.5 years ago to provide a gathering place built around fresh, REAL food, local art & music, all with a vision of helping revitalize our neighborhood commercial district. Even our cocktails are good for you, with lots of freshly juiced options every season (you can feel good about feeling good!).
Their motto – “healthy, tasty, local”- doesn’t begin to touch on the innovative approach they’ve taken to both food and community. As a community anchor with a mission, they are committed to be a social enterprise dedicated to urban revitalization, healthy living, and supporting community projects.
An Efficent Approach to Sustainability
“Urban Eats is thrilled to be a leader in this important initiative in our city.” Co-owner Caya Aufiero describes her favorite sustainability features: “Its a toss up between being a Pure Power member and our efficient food handling processes, which produce very little waste. Urban Eats has been purchasing renewable energy offsets since our inception. And the education & training of staff, careful purchasing, management of supplies and planning of our weekly production all go toward making sure we have a very efficient operation. We like to show people that even if you are a small business you can still find ways to be good stewards of the environment and make a difference.”
They don’t serve fried food, so they don’t need a hood (and save the energy and expense). They also use highly efficient induction burners, saving electricity and keeping space in the kitchen versatile.
You know what saves a whole lotta energy, resources, space and money? A hot plate instead of commercial stove/oven. This neighborhood cafe knows where to splurge (like a spacious community meeting area), and where to save.
Being “Neighborhood Relevant”
Urban Eats has been running their GiveBack Program to benefit local community organizations like St Anthony’s Food Pantry, YMCA Strong Communities program and Lydia’s House since opening almost five years ago. Once an organization has signed up on Urban Eat’s “Community GiveBack” Partner List, anytime an organization’s members or supporters come to Urban Eats they can ask for their purchase to benefit the organization of their choice – any day of the week, at any time of day. And, as a result, Urban Eats will donate 5% of your check to the organization you support. Additionally, if you hold a meeting or special event for your organization at Urban Eats, (up to 250 guest), your organization will receive 5% Giveback of the total purchase.
They also support healthy, active, city lifestyles with cycling events like the Dutchtown Bike Tour & Blessing (now part of a larger Bicycle Festival Weekend with the MoPro Dutchtown Classic Race) and the Dutchtown Harvest Festival, A Food Day event. Urban Eats is currently the only cafe in St. Louis that has achieved the American Bicycling Federation’s designation of a Bicycle Friendly Business.
Review their delicious, diverse menu at www.urbaneatscafe.com.
And now they can proudly display their GDA Certified Member window cling!
