When you think of “green beer,” think The Yard House.
Yard House's eCorrect composting system.
Yes, the staff will have a few beers with food dye added for St. Patrick’s Day, but more importantly, they are working hard at making their restaurant environmentally friendly. The San Antonio location is employing new technologies and conservation to reduce its carbon footprint.
To deal with kitchen scraps, they have adopted the eCorect System, a one-touch composting machine that according to its manufacturer’s site, will reduce weight and volume by as much as 93 percent. The resulting matter can “can be converted to use as organic soil amendments, biomass energy, and organic fillers.”
Manager Mark Cook says that within 16 hours, the cycle is complete and the green matter is fully dehydrated into compost. Because the restaurant is throwing away less trash volume, it is saving money on garbage disposal. It is currently in discussions with the nearby La Cantera Golf Course for using the compost on their greens.
The staff has outfitted the restaurant with programmable LED lighting and recycle both glass and cardboard. Reusable kegs get returned to the distributor, eliminating disposable alternatives. Sustainable woods from managed forests have been selected for outdoor furniture, instead of relying on rainforest material. Energy efficient appliances have been selected to further the power savings and environmentally friendly cleaning products have been chose over their caustic counterparts.
In California, the Yard House is currently testing a method to handle the disposal of kitchen grease. They are using microorganisms, which will actually consume the grease. If the method works successfully, they plan to implement it throughout their locations.
In addition to their green initiatives, the Yard House is also helping out two local charities. Operation Home Front and San Antonio Food Bank are part of its “round up” the bill program; if customers agree, they will round up their bill to the next dollar and donate the difference to these two organizations.
 A small sample of the number of taps at the Yard House. |
 Eco-friendly lighting in the keg room. |
 A combination of natural light and eco-friendly lighting helps reduce their energy footprint. |
Yard House
The Shops at La Cantera, 15900 La Cantera Parkway
San Antonio, TX 78256
(210) 691-0033
www.yardhouse.com
Hours: Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. until midnight or later (kitchen closes at 11:30 p.m.);
Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m. until 1:20 a.m. (kitchen closes at 1 a.m.)
Last Saturday morning, I took a cruise up I-10 to Boerne Stage Road and dropped by the farmers market at the Leon Springs Baptist Church parking lot. On a sunny morning it was easy to park and not yet steamy hot, so I could enjoy making the rounds of vendors.
But the vision that most of us hold about a farmers market includes lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. As it should be, there were three well-stocked displays of bright, fresh, produce. I saw some good looking squash that were named Sunburst and White Scalloped, very much like a pattypan squash, at Bob Mishler’s 
