TORONTO — Kostuch Media Ltd. (KML), publisher of Foodservice and Hospitality magazine and Hotelier magazine, has announced the 2024 Green Leadership Award winners. Bloom Restaurant — an interactive live classroom located within Conestoga College’s School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts in Waterloo, Ont. — has won top honours while Hyatt Place Ottawa West was recognized for its comprehensive Environmental Sustainability Program.
KML’s Green Leadership Awards recognize environmental excellence and innovation within Canada’s hospitality industry, acknowledging success in the industry by recognizing businesses that are leading the way in environmental sustainability, earning the distinction as the best in their field.
Bloom Restaurant, an interactive live classroom where students are given the opportunity to practice a high level of service to paying guests, was founded in 2022 by a team of Conestoga faculty, researchers and students who transformed the college’s student-run Bloom Restaurant into a climate action Living Lab. Initiated by funding awarded by Colleges and Institutes Canada, the research team continues its aim to demonstrate the impact of and provide solutions to greenhouse-emission reductions as they relate to food, food waste and packaging.
It is the focus of the Bloom Restaurant to create awareness and provide actionable guidance for students, faculty and restaurant patrons of the greenhouse gas impact of food waste, single-use plastic packaging and meal choices, to help the community make decisions based on fact-based information. The team set an ambitious goal to communicate greenhouse emissions on the menu at Bloom by winter 2023. The outcome of this work is that Bloom is the first restaurant in Canada to display greenhouse gas emissions information on its menu.
The Hyatt Place Ottawa West hotel was built from the ground up with sustainability in mind. The local ownership of the property conceived, planned and built the hotel, which opened its doors in 2021, to minimize its impact upon the environment. It then made the decision to operate the hotel with a true spirit of corporate social responsibility. The ownership and management of the hotel is strongly committed to operating their hotel in the most environmentally sustainable manner possible and to being part of their local community. From supporting charities, to artwork, to purchasing, the hotel follows a decision-making process that prioritizes the environment and local elements. The ownership even managed to source a Canadian-based manufacturer able to build all of the case goods in the hotel to Hyatt standards.
The Hyatt Place Ottawa West was conceived and built as a model to other hotel owners in Canada that you can build and operate an environmentally sustainable hotel in Canada as a profitable business.
“It’s great to see a marked increase in the number of hospitality companies that are making a significant commitment to sustainability initiatives,” says Rosanna Caira, editor and publisher of Kostuch Media’s Foodservice and Hospitality and Hotelier magazines. “This year’s Green Leadership Award winners reflect a comprehensive approach to promoting sustainability by investing in renewable energy, reducing water consumption, promoting local sourcing and so much more. They’re leading the way in transforming their businesses while creating a more sustainable and responsible industry.”
The winners will be fêted on May 28 at the Top 30-under-30 Leadership Summit at the Sheraton Centre Hotel Toronto. Click here for more information, or to purchase tickets for the event.
