About
Total commitment to client satisfaction and the highest levels of service in special event catering has brought Design Cuisine recognition as the preeminent caterer in the nation’s capital. After more than 35 years of leading the Washington catering and event industry, the company continues to provide the innovative menus, quality food preparation, meticulous service, and attention to detail that first defined Design Cuisine style.
The sustainable food movement is not just a trend in our industry; it’s a responsibility to our guests, a commitment to ensuring the economic stability of local small farms and businesses, and an opportunity to create memorable events without remarkable costs to our planet.
The sustainable food movement is not just a trend in our industry; it’s a responsibility to our guests, a commitment to ensuring the economic stability of local small farms and businesses, and an opportunity to create memorable events without remarkable costs to our planet.
From using hormone free and local dairy product to create all of our house made ice-creams & sorbets, to exclusively purchasing fish and seafood from the Monterey Bay Seafood Guide’s green list, to using snout to tail butchering practices in our prep we carry the core mission of reducing waste, and respecting raw product fully throughout our menus.
By making better choices consistently, and supporting local businesses, we bring more than just taste and presentation to the plate, we ensure a future rich in culinary excellence.
Here are a few ways we’re going green at Design Cuisine.
Keeping a Green House
- Recycle through Single-Stream Recycling
- Recycle100% of our cooking oil for the production of biodiesel fuel
- Change to ENERGY STAR qualified products as equipment is replaced
- Use ENERGY STAR lighting
- Electronically submit proposals or use post-consumer waste recycled paper goods
- Recycle ink cartridges
- Clean with GREEN SEAL CERTIFIED products
- Pre-rinse all dishware with re-processed water which saves thousands of gallons of water annually
A Greener Palate
- Make all our ice cream and sorbet in house; using hormone free and local dairy products
- Purchase only fish and seafood on the Monterey Bay Seafood Guide’s *Green* list
- Use of local farms and seasonal produce
- Recommend local and organic beers, wines and spirits
- Offer bulk presentation options to combat the waste incurred with individual packaging
Red Light! Green Light!
- Deliver food and equipment together to reduce the number of trucks required
- Reduce emissions by implementing a no idling policy
- Provide a variety of specialty furniture, bars, cocktail lounge furniture, all coming from the same warehouse and reducing our carbon footprint, and offering one-stop shopping
- Reuse and reinvent how we use our specialty equipment
- Encourage staff to use public transportation to events or carpool
- Provide bicycle racks and storage cages to encourage bicycle commuting
Using Green China
- Offering a wide selection of reusable china, glassware, flatware, and platters to minimize single-use products, through our partner DC Rental
- Utilize reusable china, glassware and flatware for all staff meals
- Offer 100% biodegradable options for events requiring disposable table wares
- Provide water pitchers with glasses instead of bottled water
- Sew all our linens in house and launder them internally to be reused
- Offer linens that are Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Certified
Green Tinted Lenses
- Communicate with suppliers about our green business practices and partnership expectations
- Partner with other environmentally and socially sensitive businesses
- Train all employees on the importance of recycling and our green business practices and expectations
- Continuously lookout for new ways to incorporate eco-friendly practices into our business.
Watch for further developments to our efforts.