Two Chefs is taking strides to be as green as possible in a very plastic industry.

As caterers, plastic wrap is an unavoidable fact of life for food freshness, safety, and preventing spills and food loss. We deliver everything possible on our china, baskets and stainless steel utensils instead of typical disposable platters and bowls with covers, coffee boxes, and disposable utensils. We have invested over $3000.00 in chafing dishes to deliver hot food in, instead of using disposable aluminum pans and wire racks.

It doubles our labor cost to deliver and set up, as well as returning for pick up. The result is added service to customer. We deliver to your conference room and set up the event for you, and return to clean up. It looks much more formal on the table, with no additional cost to the customer. Caterers that deliver food in bags to the door make you responsible for setting up, cleaning, and the appearance of the food on the table.

All of our equipment returns to the kitchen and is sanitized by heat pasteurization, using low environmental impact soaps and detergents. We have our ware washing machine serviced and adjusted monthly to run efficiently.

We have been researching into replacing our disposable plates, cups, and utensils with Earth friendly alternatives. The first area of our investigation was the use of coated paper plates and cups as an alternative to Styrofoam. The results of that inquiry were quite unexpected. The energy and natural resources needed to make a paper cup are much greater than that of a Styrofoam cup. The biodegradable cup is then coated in almost as much plastic as is need to produce a Styrofoam cup, rendering it no more biodegradable in a landfill than the lower priced counterpart, at twice the cost.

Biodegradable disposable products are available through Two Chefs. They are composed of a few different food based starches, and will break down under the right conditions. They cannot be placed in trash bags and sent to a landfill with regular trash. They are no more biodegradable than Styrofoam under those conditions. Interested parties would need a strong commitment to keeping these materials separate, and composting them, or setting up a program with a contractor that handles these materials. We can provide biodegradable trash bags to collect these materials in. Due to the high cost of these products in comparison to our regular disposables, we estimate the additional price per person at $2.00 for the average meal.

We are working on setting up recycling programs with our vendors, and will keep you informed as they become available.

China plates, stainless steel or silver utensils, and glassware can be provided through several rental companies. The cost of using these goods can be as little as $3.00 per person, plus a delivery and washing fees. They need to be sent back clean to the rental companies. You may consider adding one of our experienced wait staff to collect and wash these products.