environmental commitment

Going Green

Susan Gage Caterers (SGC) strives to deliver the highest level of catering services with minimal impact to our environment. We believe that as a corporate citizen, we must be a responsible environmental steward.

SGC partnered with Green Living Consulting (GLC) to develop a company-wide green mission statement and goals to guide SGC in creating a more sustainable, eco-focused operation.

Our GREEN MISSION is to create a culture of green practices that reduces our carbon footprint and results in more sustainable operating practices, while maintaining our current standards of service.

Our commitment and GREEN GOALS:

Create a company culture where eco-practices are part of the daily operations
Educate our employees on the importance of adopting and adhering to eco-practices
Reduce waste and energy usage as well as overhead operational costs
Reduce our consumption of disposable paper and plastic products
Replace petroleum-based products with biodegradable, non-petrol-based items
Focus on efficient use of our vehicle fleet to lower consumption of fossil fuels
Increase efficiency throughout the company to reduce energy consumption
Decrease water consumption through more efficient conservation measures
Support our community through sustainable purchases and practices
Build our reputation as a green industry leader
Enhance the current company mission to supply every part of an event and leave nothing behind, with minimal impact on the environment in delivering event services
Establish a knowledge and infrastructure to provide carbon-neutral options for our clients

GLC performed an eco-assessment of our operations to determine our level of commitment to sustainability. SGC is pleased to announce we received the SILVER GLC Certified Green Business rating for our green efforts to date.

Here are a few of the 2008 - 2009 accomplishments that helped us achieve our SILVER rating:

WATER

Installation and use of low flow water sprayers in parts of kitchen operations

ENERGY

Efficient transportation initiative — At SCG we pack our delivery trucks to their fullest to minimize the number of trips we take and to reduce fuel consumption. Between 2007 and 2008, we reduced the number of trips we took by 26%. Unfortunately, fuel costs increased due to the rising cost of gasoline in 2008, but that only made us conserve more and reduce not only our total trips, but also the number of trips we took in large trucks.
We have a new energy-saving, programmable thermostat that we use to manage the temperature settings to reduce energy consumption in our sales and warehouse operations facility.

WASTE

SGC business cards and marketing materials are printed on Strathmore cardstock and paper made of 30% post-consumer waste. This paper is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
SGC reuses and then recycles all of our office paper.
To reduce the amount of paper products SGC uses, we have started a "Bring Your Own Cup to Work" program in which employees use a ceramic or other washable cup or mug for their beverages while at the main facility.
SGC fry oil is provided to Valley Proteins, which turns otherwise thrown-away products into liquid fats, oils and protein meals for agricultural and pet-food manufacturing companies and for use in the production of bio-diesel and other bio-fuels.
At every event, SGC ensures that we leave with everything we come with and restore the site to the original state as when we arrive to set up. We sort our waste at the event to separate all recyclable items, which we transport back to our facility. In October and November, with GLC's help we tracked our recycling efforts to quantify our waste reduction. We averaged 43 plastics containers recycled per day and 140 glass containers recycled per day for all days where we had scheduled events.
We replaced paper towel holders in our bathrooms with energy efficient hand dryers, reducing our consumption of paper products and also saving us money!
With our new compost bin, we compost food waste at our warehouse as well as bring food waste back from our events.

AIR

SGC has converted to green cleaning products in many parts of our warehouse, and we continue to work with vendors to switch over to as many green cleaning supplies as possible, while also meeting safety regulations.

TRANSPORTATION

As mentioned under ENERGY, we pack our delivery trucks to their fullest to minimize the number of trips we take and reduce fuel consumption.
As CEO of SGC, Susan Gage has to shuttle from one event to another to ensure her clients' needs are being met. As part of her commitment to lessen the company's and her own ecological footprint, in 2008 she bought a hybrid vehicle (Prius).

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

SGC employees have contributed to a number of causes and organizations this year, including running the National Marathon.

ECO-AWARENESS

SGC held a Green Orientation for all of our employees, starting with educating the kitchen and warehouse staff on the importance of integrating green practices into the daily operations as well as incorporating green practices into their daily lives. Orientation was also provided to the sales staff.
With the installation of our new vegetable garden, we are able to educate our staff on seasonal foods and sustainable growing techniques.