Photo by Hector Vasquez
PJ L’Heureux nurtured his passion inside since his early adult years. His trip to Portland, Oregon – the craft beer capital of America – helped him to transform his passion into a vision of a place where you can enjoy fresh local food with craft beers from all over the world. In 2011, his vision took shape as CRAFT Beer Market at its first location in Calgary. Since the doors of the first restaurant opened, six other locations have been opened across Canada with the last one in Toronto.
When you walk into any of the locations, the first thing to catch your eyes are the pipes lining the ceiling. Each one of those pipes is for a different kind of beer. If you are not avid beer enthusiast, the food sure can catch your attention. CRAFT Beer Market chefs are preparing from the local bounty of fresh produce to enhance the flavours of the meals. This would be enough for most to be impressed, but one can dig deeper and find more.
Commitment to Fresh, Local Food & the Environment
CRAFT Beer Market was built around a strong commitment not just to fresh local food and craft beers, but to the environment that provides the bounty. All fish served is from Ocean Wise sustainable seafood. Kitchen food waste is composted. The buildings are LEED certified (energy efficient without hazardous materials). The beer systems are Bullfrog powered with clean, renewable energy reducing their carbon footprint by 122 tonnes of CO2 each year (equivalent of diverting 39 tonnes of waste from landfill). Be sure to pause and enjoy the fresh filtered water to clean your palette between beers – no after taste of plastic or chlorine. Even staff uniforms have been selected through the environmental lens by including Levi waterless technology jeans.
This already may sound like a lot but for CRAFT Beer Market it is about “doing the right thing by making ethical and responsible choices while still functioning as a profitable business“.
CRAFT Beer Market has been one of the first few pioneers to bring sustainability to foodservice.
Their commitment has been sealed by becoming LEAF certified with their first location in Calgary and all the locations opened since. LEAF not only gives them a system with which they can use to measure the impact they are making, they’ve also been able to improve on their systems and behaviour to accomplish more.
CRAFT Beer Market on the Panel at RC Show 2018
Don’t forget to come and visit us at RC Show 2018 presented by Restaurants Canada and meet Cam MCGowan from CRAFT Beer Market. He will be participating in the panel discussion on restaurant sustainability. Get first hand experience of what being LEAF Certified means for CRAFT Beer Market.
Keep checking our website as we will be unveiling more information weekly. Signup for our newsletter to bring the updates right to your mailbox. Join the conversation with #RCShow18 on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and share with your friends and colleagues.
We look forward to seeing you at RC Show 2018!
– Kayleigh & Eva
