Balzac’s Coffee Roasters—a chain of popular cafes/coffee roasteries in Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Kitchener and Stratford—has become the first cafe in Ontario to be LEAF-certified, a designation that highlights the chain’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.
LEAF (Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice)—whose work in green certification we profiled in an earlier post—was established in 2009 to help restaurants reduce their carbon footprint, and to provide diners with an easy way to identify environmentally conscious establishments. In order to become LEAF certified, restaurants must meet minimum requirements in a variety of sustainability categories, including energy use, food purchasing, building and location, chemicals, and water use.
Balzac’s has long been well known for serving fair trade, organic coffee and chocolate, using organic milk and other dairy products, and for having recyclable paper products.
Check out our post on Cowbell, another LEAF-certified restaurant.
Image credit: Linda N.
