Ecologue

Have you seen the new restaurant in town? 70-75% of the ingredients are locally sourced. Their vegetable oil is recycled into bio-diesel. They provide affordable health care to employees.  Right off 9th Street, Burgerville has joined Corvallis! With a tag line, “Fresh. Local. Sustainable.” it only felt right to do some research and highlight sustainable efforts Burgerville have put into place!

With the name Burgerville, it’s obvious they make burgers. Of course! Burgerville holds strong connections with their ranchers and cattle farms. Jack Graves, the Chief Cultural Officer of Burgerville will spend time on the cattle farms learning about their ranching methods, and ensuring the best quality reaches the 42 Burgerville restaurants around the Pacific Northwest. Burgerville uses Country Natural Beef, a hormone and antibiotic-free high quality product that comes from a land-conscious cooperative. Country Natural Beef holds strong value in taking care of the land, and creating a sustainable ranching lifestyle by preserving the land, practicing humane animal-handling practices and selling a high quality product.

Fresh food was the original commitment from the start of Burgerville in 1961. To achieve their commitment to fresh, Burgerville sources 70-75% of their ingredients from local farms and providers. They define local as within 400 miles of their headquarters in Vancouver, WA.

Renewable energy runs the local Burgerville restaurants, either directly with programs like Blue Sky, or with off-sets such as Green Tags. Burgerville makes an effort right down to the lighting within the restaurants, using all efficient LED light bulbs.

Economic and environmental sustainability are only two parts to a three-part conversation, but Burgerville does not forget about  social responsibility by offering comprehensive and affordable health care to their employees. Burgerville prides themselves in being a community-driven business, and work  hard to improve and invest in the communities they arrive in.

Have you been to the new Burgerville in town yet? Don’t forget to admire the reclaimed wood around the outside and inside of the building. The tables are also all reclaimed wood, with the chairs made out of recycled coke bottles!

Stop by for a burger (or a fantastic meat-free bean burger) and meet the business that invests in sustainable practices!

A special thanks to Jack Graves, CCO, for the valuable informational interview where he provided all of the information within this blog post, as well as Sara Perrin, who helped set up the meeting!