FSR July 2023

Behind the Scenes

gonna save human life on the planet. So in that part, I just want to do my part. But in terms of the industry, I love our industry and I think it’s a great part of our cul ture. Going out to eat at restau rants is central to American cul ture and I want to help perpetuate that in the future. The more we can be sustainable and the more we can do to have a zero carbon input, the more likely we’ll be able to continue as an industry and move forward.

How has the on-site garden at Merriman’s influenced the menu at the restaurant? For our mocktail and cock tail program, Jim Lunch ick, our beverage specialist, will see what herbs are com ing out of the garden, or if there’s a little bit of fruit out

MERRIMAN WAS ABLE TO LIMIT THE RESTAURANT’S METHANE EMISSION LEVELS BY 85 PERCENT BY FEEDING HIS GOATS A SPECIAL TYPE OF SEAWEED.

there. They’re usually exotic fruits like Calamansi (a citrus hybrid fruit made by combining a tangerine and a kumquat) or some type of lime. We’ll design a drink according to what’s coming out of our gar den at that time. One that’s been really popular and is almost always available is “She’s So Manhattan,” which is made with shiso and the drink is “she is so.” So it’s a pun but it’s a great drink. But that’s what he does with everything. And that’s kind of how we do it. We decide what to cook by what’s available in the market rather than trying to find what you want to cook. As far as the food menu, since it’s more of an herb garden we use other farmers to get our plate items. What would you say to restaurant operators who want to make their businesses more sustainable? I really hope more and more people in the industry can get involved and see what they can figure out. The more we learn from each other, the synergy will help drive it forward and make the res taurant industry as a whole carbon zero. That’s when we will have accomplished our goal.

MERRIMAN’S HAWAII (3)

What sustainable practices did Merriman’s Waimea implement to reach carbon neutrality in 2022? The first thing we had to do was measure our carbon footprint, and just that was really difficult. We worked with Green Places (an organization that provides tools to businesses to track its climate compliance) to get that accomplished. That was probably the biggest part of it. We had a lot of practices already in place, such as solar energy. We recycle almost everything; even our food waste goes to pig farmers. We don’t use plastic in our to-go containers or anything like that. So it was just all across the board every where we could find the savings and pos

sibly be sustainable. Then we had to mea sure it, and we still had to buy offsets to get to zero. (By working with Green Places, Merriman’s was able to offset 516 metric tons of carbon by working on the Klawock Heenya Forestry Project in Alaska and the Pacajai REDD+ Rainfor est Project in Northern Brazil. This year, Merriman is also looking to get involved in offset projects closer to Hawaii.) Why is sustainability important to you, and why did you decide to implement sustainable practices in your restaurants? It seems pretty obvious nowadays that everybody has to do something if we’re

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