During my internship, my organization hosted an intern lunch series where every Wednesday interns from various environmental organizations were invited to bring a brown bag lunch and listen to speakers from certain fields, most having to do with the environment. One of my favorite speakers was Florian Pfahler, who started a fast casual restaurant in 2004 called Hannah's Bretzel, with the intention to show that fast and casual dining could also be tasty and healthy. Everything that Hannah's uses is biodegradable and most of their business practices, from cleaning supplies to choosing vendors, are green and sustainable. Hannah's also uses foods that are organic, unprocessed, local family-farmed, naturally raised, sustainable and nutritious. And let me just say, it pays off!
After hearing about Hannah's Bretzel so many times from my co-worker, Tina, I asked her to go there to lunch with me today. I was so impressed with the speed of service and the overall look of the dining room that I completely forgot to take a picture of my food! I ordered half the Hannah's Club sandwich with an organic mixed salad, and I have to say that I have rarely eaten such fresh and delicious food. Poor Tina had to put up with my raving about the lettuce; that's right, LETTUCE! The salad didn't even need dressing it was so good and it was mostly mixed greens! I'll have to find out where they get their greens from... The sandwich and Bretzel bread was also to die for. It had turkey, bacon, Swiss Gruyere cheese, red onions, romaine hearts, avocado, tomato and sprouts.
One thing that Florian said while speaking to our intern lunch group was that we vote with our wallets. I thought this statement was very interesting, and very true. Yes, Hannah's Bretzel was more than I would normally spend on a lunch, but how I am supposed to expect more business to use green principles if I don't spend my money at the ones that already do? One more reason to shop at Whole Foods!
What do you think about the concept of "voting with your wallet"? Do you try to implement this idea and support what you believe in by supporting those who are taking action?
