This Earth Day, we are thrilled to announce our inaugural group of Sustainable Westport Restaurant Champions. These restaurants are not just whipping up delicious food, they are serious about operating their businesses sustainably and supporting our local food system. 

Our Restaurant Champions program celebrates the restaurants who are already leading by example and offers guidance and resources to those wanting to improve their sustainability efforts. The program specifically focuses on four key areas: complying with Westport’s single-use plastic ordinance, sourcing ingredients sustainably, engaging in responsible waste management, and prioritizing energy efficiency. 

Here is how some of our Restaurant Champions are already making a difference:

Kneads, run by Daniel and Brittany Moreno, prioritizes local and sustainable ingredients from local farms they know and trust; they even go as far as milling their own grains on-site. The team also goes above and beyond when it comes to recycling food scraps and limiting waste. Not only does Kneads compost but also they donate any end-of-the-day leftover baked goods to US Food Rescue to feed the hungry and prevent waste. 

Momu, run by MMM Hospitality, makes all of their ice cream and most toppings in-house with ingredients from local farms and businesses. Their dairy is sourced from Arethusa Farm (Litchfield), they source their coffee from Irving Farm (NYC), and they frequent the Westport Farmers Market every Thursday for inspiration for seasonal flavors. When it comes to serviceware and packaging, you won’t find any plastic—everything is made from paper or recyclable materials. 

The Whelk and Massi Co are two more restaurants by Massimo Tullio paving the way. The Whelk partners with CORR (Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration) to recycle used oyster shells for an on-going oyster habitat restoration project in the Long Island Sound. Recycling and reusing the shells not only prevents them from ending up in the landfill but also provides many environmental benefits like restoring oyster beds and providing habitat for new oysters to grow. The restaurants also regularly donate excess food to the Gillespie Center to minimize food waste and Massi Co is exploring ways to introduce composting into its operations. Since becoming a Restaurant Champion, both restaurants have swapped out their plastic to-go lids for paper ones in an effort to reduce single-use plastics.

Michelle Greenfield’s Allium Eatery has also shown commitment to improving the restaurant’s carbon footprint. While Allium was already using compostable containers for its to-go provisions, they did sell single-use plastic water bottles. Since becoming part of the Restaurant Champions program, the buvette has swapped out plastic bottles for glass and has put up educational signage to help customers properly dispose or compost their takeaway containers.

For our initial group of restaurants, we zoned in on Saugatuck but we plan to open the program up to downtown and beyond. Do you know of a food business in Westport with a strong commitment to sustainability? Please send all nominations to restaurantchampions@sustainablewestport.org and spread the word!