Jacquie Ottman's
Green Marketing Blog

Pizza by Cer té: Greener By the Slice

This is a guest blog post by Jean-Claude Darne

New York’s first green pizzeria has opened it doors. Responsible consumers and pizza lovers, you can now enjoy a slice that’s made with the environment at heart. Cer té, a popular café in Midtown East opened ‘Pizza by Cer té’ on Earth Day, April 22nd 2010. To encourage us to help us spread the word they sent us a couple of pies to sample. We took it upon ourselves to put their pizza to the ‘green test,’ scrutinizing every element of our pizza experience to discover they’d thought of everything…

Before the pizza even got through the door it was already green. The deliveries came by foot (while longer distances are covered by recycled bicycle), and being New York, this is probably faster too! A cheerful deliveryman handed over piping hot Bolognese and Margherita pizzas and went on his way.

Next came the packaging. The 100% recyclable - and rather clever - boxes are designed by Greenboxny. The lid is easily detached from the rest of the box and separated into 4 squares, each serving as an individual plate. Missing its lid, the bottom half of the box folds in two to create a smaller, more convenient box that easily fits into the refrigerator! To compliment the pizza, pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese were served in tiny plant-based containers made from Natureworks Bioplastic. The menu, printed on 100% recycled paper, explains how the ingredients are always fresh and locally sourced, the flour is never bleached and herbs come straight off their “green wall”. Even the sauce is made from fresh tomatoes that have never seen the inside of a can.

Now we were more than ready to eat. No sacrifices to taste were made in the making of this green pizza! As they claim, the ingredients were fresh and plentiful and the pizzas artfully created. The crustgreen pizza supports the toppings without being too thick or hard. The cheese was rich but not oily and all the elements - the crust, sauce, toppings and cheese - were proportioned to compliment each other. In this instance, green = superior quality.

After we finished eating we visited their website to see what other green initiatives Pizza by Cer té has undertaken. The restaurant uses recycled materials wherever it can, all supplies and food are sourced locally, rainwater is collected and used wherever possible and their building is LEED-certified. This is the latest successful restaurant project by Cer té‘s chef and owner Edward Sylvia. This time Sylvia has taken what made Cer té‘s menu so popular - its simplicity, affordability and elegance - to create New York’s first local, sustainable and environmentally friendly pizzeria. Quite a feat! Well done to Pizza by Cer té on their accomplishments so far.

Thank you to Eric for reaching out to us and for the delicious lunch. We recommend Pizza by Cer té to our fellow pizza lovers and responsible consumers in the city. Visit the Pizza by Cer té website to find their exact location, contact details and to browse their menu. We look forward to our next order.

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