Our Community
Our bottom line is multifaceted; it includes a better livelihood for farmers, a smaller environmental footprint, a living wage for our employees, and our own desire to support local non-profits, schools, artistic organizations and community groups.
Our Community Includes:
Our Staff
We love to talk about food and share it with our guests, from how a berry pie is made to what topping we like on our honey lavendar ice cream! Our staff is the critical link between our guests and our producers and we spend lots of time teaching them about our values and why we do what we do. In exchange, our staff can eat all the ice cream they want, plus get great benefits and a fun working environment.
Our Producers
We partner with farmers and other artisans of handmade food to ensure we provide the best tasting products out there. In addition, we work with producers whose values align with ours. The fruits of their work are the ingredients that feed and sustain our community, and we are grateful for their stewardship.
Our Guests
We wouldn’t be here without our guests, who we learn from every day. When they walk in our door they are part of our family, and we’re conscientious of how we feed them. Their support is invaluable, as we couldn't exist without them.
Our Environment
The environment is an important part of our community, on a global scale as well as a local one. Every decision we make has an effect, and we want it to be a positive one. Those decisions run the gamut from the producers we choose to work with to the way our staff arrives to work everyday (only a handful of our over 100 Bi-Rite employees drive to work!) Since our inception, we’ve made decisions that minimize our impact on natural resources, including using “green” cleaning products and supplies, composting organic waste, and recycling everything we can. By using real spoons to give tastes to our guests, we prevent over half a million plastic spoons from entering the landfill every year.
Serving our Community
18 Reasons
We founded 18 Reasons to connect our neighbors with the people who produce their food. 18 Reasons is an innovative community center that uses thought-provoking and fun programming to deepen our relationship to food and each other. We have a diverse calendar of events, with several classes, gatherings, and discussions happening each week.
Sponsorship and Donations
We cultivate meaningful relationships amongst our staff, guests, producers, and the broader community. The Bi-Rite Family of Businesses is supported by the neighborhoods around it, and devotes substantial resources towards supporting local non-profits, schools, and artistic organizations.
Even though we prefer to donate to organizations that serve within our immediate neighborhood, we will still review requests from other non-profits. To request a donation, please email us . The email should identify the following items:
- The name of the organization
- The organization’s mission statement / Whom it benefits
- The specific request-e.g. Item for auction, gift card, etc.
- The date the donation is needed
- Preferred time of pick up of the donated item
- The name and contact info for the person requesting the donation
- Federal Tax ID
- Address
- Phone Number
Please make your request at least 3 weeks in advance of when you need the donation.
