Pizza Goes Green at World’s First LEED-Certified Pizzeria

We’ll close out this St. Patrick’s Day with one last green story. Tell your crazy relatives who keep threatening to start a mobile pet grooming franchise that you’ve got a better idea: Pizza Fusion. The eco-friendly restaurant chain (motto: “Saving the Earth, one pizza at a time”) has just been awarded Gold and Silver certifications by the United States Green Building Council for its two newest restaurants. That makes Pizza Fusion the world’s first LEED-certified pizzeria. The new restaurants—located in Palm Beach Gardens and Weston, Florida—will reduce water waste by approximately 40% and electricity consumption by 20% annually.

LEED certification is just one part of Pizza Fusion’s eco-efficient approach. The company’s 19 restaurants in 11 states also feature countertops made of reused glass bottles from other Pizza Fusions, bamboo flooring, 30% recaptured industrial concrete, non-VOC paints, insulation made from recycled blue jeans, low voltage lighting, and furniture made from reclaimed wood. Prefer delivery? Pizza Fusion will dispatch one of its company-owned hybrid vehicles (plus 100% of the company’s power consumption is offset with the purchase of renewable wind energy certificates). And we hear the food is pretty good too. Don’t even get us started on the hand-stamped and signed delivery boxes.

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