The Pacific Northwest is well known for being an environmentalist’s haven; with its lush greenery and beautiful coastline, it is an area whose metropolises are renowned for being regional leaders in sustainable and “green” practices. A contributor who further reinforces this reputation is Burgerville, a chain of restaurants spread around Oregon and Washington states, that has been serving food with locally-sourced ingredients for nearly fifty years.

Their mission, cut down to three little words, is “Serve with Love”. Under that umbrella is the promise that the stewards of Burgerville will deliver fresh and local products, commit to sustainable practices, and follow through on their assurance of top-notch service.

The company has a long history in the community. Burgerville’s origins were in Vancouver, Washington, where Jacob Propstra founded The Holland Creamery in 1926. From the very beginning, the company was dedicated to supporting local farmers and dairies, through acquisition of local product. “Initially, [Propstra] would gather milk from the community dairies, make ice cream and butter, and sell it back to local grocery,” explains Jack Graves, Chief Cultural Officer of Burgerville. “People liked the ice cream so much, Propstra began selling sundaes, ending up with a fountain and a soda counter. Then someone wanted coffee; soon they established lunch counter, and finally a restaurant.”

Then in 1961, Propstra’s son George built upon his father’s legacy to open the first Burgerville USA in Vancouver, beginning as a drive-in featuring quick-serve hamburgers. Since then, Burgerville has expanded to 39 locations throughout Oregon and Washington.

In business for over fifty years, Burgerville has consistently maintained the promise to serve fresh and local food acquired from the surrounding community. “It’s the best business practice of the day, says Graves. “The money stays in the communities, and local communities thrive when the money stays there. Burgerville was born here, has done business here, and we have always built our business out of relationships with local vendors and suppliers,” he explains.

Burgerville’s year-round menu consists of many classic favorites: hamburgers and cheeseburgers of varying sizes, French fries, salads, chicken and fish sandwiches, and even breakfast items with sausage, bacon, and egg options. The “local color” is apparent, however, with various original items such as The Oregon Harvest Burger, The Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rings, The Wild Smoked Salmon and Hazelnut Salad, and the Northwest Blackberry Lemonade. Egg items are from cage-free eggs and they use no trans-fat oil in their fries or any other dishes. The beef is 100% antibiotic and hormone free, the coffee is fair trade, the fish served is Marine Stewardship Council-certified, Wild Alaskan Halibut. The coveted mouth-watering milkshakes are served with real ice cream and fresh ingredients from local farms.

Throughout the year, Burgerville features temporary seasonal items, again using fresh seasonal products from the local community. “We are currently doing a Portobello Mushroom Sandwich,” explains Graves. “A veggie option that is very popular. We have ways of finding the best of the Northwest and try to bring that to our guests in ways that they appreciate. It creates a real sense of pride in this local area, which is great.”

How does a relatively small chain compete with their larger dominant competitors of the fast food industry? “We have to differentiate ourselves,” Graves says. “We were just a local company, without deep pockets, when competitors moved into the area in the ‘90s. We weren’t going to withstand the burger wars with big fast food companies. So we played our strengths: locality and fresh food. Much of our menu is fresh; that was an attribute. We also have a higher quality product than those others, so we enhanced that. In 1995, we reinvented ourselves. We moved our menu to a lot fresher, higher-end approach to the burger business. When we saw success and how people responded to that shift, we went through the whole company and reconfigured our equipment. We were very successful; we made it through the change and we are much better for it.

“Most people really wouldn’t identify us as fast food,” Graves continues. “When you go inside, it looks and feels more like a full-serve seating restaurant. The ambiance was such that one of the managers lobbied to see if they could serve wine and beer there, thinking that beer or wine could add value to menu.” And sure enough, beer and wine were added to one of the Vancouver Burgerville’s menu on May 1, 2009.

Decades later, some of their original suppliers are still thriving and doing business with Burgerville, after generations of family ownership. “Because of the number of relationships like that, we can keep a large part of our menu local. This is a real strength of ours,” says Graves. Some of their partners for their year-round items include Country Natural Beef, Sunshine Dairy Foods, Liepold Farms, Franz Family Bakeries, and Tillamook Creamery, all in Oregon.

In addition to their loyal local support, Burgerville enforces a variety of sustainability practices in their restaurants. Through composting, recycling, and renewable energy, the company continues their devotion to being actively involved in the local community through environmental action, as well. “Much of my job as Chief Cultural Officer is to assess the attributes of our company and ensure that any new growth we take on is a part of our growing culture, which is critical to our success,” Graves describes. “This includes paying attention to our brand and how we show up in our communities. We have a simple mission – serve with love. This is what leads all decision-making processes in the company. Our values have been about working through sustainable initiatives, and we have had a lot to do with the growth of green power in this area. People are really appreciating our efforts.”

One of the ways Burgerville is approaching sustainability is through the use of wind power. Burgerville has made a commitment to 100% wind power, resulting in thousands of people subsequently signing up for wind power as a result of their leadership. They also began recycling all of their trans fat free oil and converting it into biodiesel fuel beginning in 2006. “It made sense to use something that was already here for fuel,” says Graves. “It is just one more way we keep air clean around here and stop use of petroleum fuels just a little bit.”

In 2007, Burgerville launched a composting and recycling program with the goal of diverting 85 percent of their waste out of local landfills. All of Burgerville’s sorted compostable waste is hauled to Cedar Grove Composting facilities, where it is converted into nutrient-rich garden compost for use in local gardens and landscaping.

“This has been very popular amongst our guests,” says Graves. “Almost all of our packing, cups, food trays, and wrappers are compostable. Most of our restaurants even help the guests to separate their garbage. In Vancouver, it’s pretty strong and has reduced garbage by more than half by doing so. It’s a very minimal investment, reduces our garbage bills, and [the investment] gets paid for, by the first month you use it. It’s not only sustainable, but reduces what we take to landfills. People started doing it at home, and can really reduce the garbage bill at home if people pay attention. That’s what we intended to have happen.”

If that wasn’t enough, Burgerville also endeavors to enforce social initiatives, as well. “We have an affordable health care program for all of our employees, at a cost of $15 per employee, $30 per employee and spouse, and $90 per family per month. This is better than most people’s, and this added value to our employees has made a huge difference.” Graves says. “In an industry where employee turnover is 150-300%, ours is about 50%. When you get people working for you who feel good about themselves, who know that they can take care of themselves and their families, it’s great. It’s impactful in the community; an added benefit to the community.”

Last year, Burgerville began serving bicycles at their drive-thrus. “It meets the needs of a few, and we feel it is adding value to our restaurants,” says Graves.

As for Burgerville’s future plans: “It’s actually progressed [now] to the point where people are looking to us for what’s next,” says Graves. “The economy today is creating plenty of challenges. It will be awhile, but we do plan to expand into communities that share similar values to those of the Portland/Vancouver area.  We need to be strategic about that, but we’d likely expand to places where it would logically make sense to grow and wherever we can remain local.”

Through Burgerville’s many initiatives and progressive company values, it has earned a great deal of attention and awards, and deservingly so. Among them:

* 2007 and 2008 Association of Washington Business: Better Workplace Award

* 2007 Association of Washington Business: Community Service Award

* 2007 Better Together Award

* 2007 Clark County Public Health: Corporate Leader Award

* 2007 Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices

* 2007 Oregon State Restaurant Association: "Restaurant Neighbor Award"

* 2007 Rotary Environmental Achievement Award

* 2007 Washington State Restaurant Association: "Restaurant Neighbor Award"

* 2007 Washington State Recycling Association: Recycler of the Year Award

* 2008 Association of Oregon Recyclers, Recycler of the Year- Company/Organization

* 2008 AOL City’s Best

* 2008 Association of Washington Business Community Service Award for “Helping People in Need”

* 2008 Association of Washington Business “Better Workplace Award” for Innovative Benefit/Compensation Programs

* 2008 Association of Washington Business “Better Workplace Award” for Job Training

* 2008 American Psychological Association “Best Practices” Award

* 2009 YMCA “Spirit of Health Award”

* 2009 ComPsych Corporation “Health at Work Award”

* 2009 Nation’s Restaurant News “Golden Chain Award”

* 2009 Vancouver Rotary Club’s 2009 “Vocational Service Award”

* 2009 Oregon Commission for the Blind’s Employer of the Year Award

For a complete list of menu items, food suppliers and resources, further explanation of sustainability practices, contact and location information, go to www.burgerville.com.