Pinthouse Pizza

Background

Pinthouse Pizza opened in October 2012 and now has three locations in the Austin area. They are known for their award-winning beer and hand-crafted pizza. However, what most patrons may not know about is Pinthouse’s commitment to sustainability. From sourcing local ingredients to reducing their waste sent to landfills, Pinthouse contributes to sustainability in all aspects of their business operations.

Project

Pinthouse Pizza is committed to buying local and organic ingredients where possible. They’re goal is to align their sourcing of organics in accordance with EWG’s Dirty Dozen. Pinthouse has developed deep relationships with their hops farmers and suppliers. These relationships are important to Pinthouse because hops grow well only in certain climates and are central to creating flavor and aroma in beer. They also source antibiotic free protein. Their Italian and Artisan sausage is made locally by Smokey Denmark, and their honey is sourced from Goodflow Honey, a local apiary.

Pinthouse recycles at all three of their pubs. The amount they recycle equals the amount they send to landfills. Two locations compost all kitchen and guest side food waste. All guest utensils and to-go items are either reusable or compostable, except for the to-go sauce containers which are recyclable plastic. Pinthouse composts approximately 500 gallons of food waste per week at their Lamar and Burnet locations and they are working to find a composting partner for their Round Rock location. They donate spent grain from the brewing process to a local farmer from each brewery, totaling around 2,000 gallons per week.

Pinthouse’s Burnet and Lamar stores are on the Austin Energy program that purchases Wind Energy equal to their usage, effectively moving those stores to renewable energy. Wind is currently unavailable through their Round Rock energy provider, but they plan to add it when available. The 4^th Pinthouse location is currently under construction, and is being built to make possible the future addition of solar panels.

Community Impact

For the past several years, Pinthouse has led and participated in the House that Beer Built. They raise money with other Austin breweries and then build a home with Habitat for Humanity. They’ve built two homes so far, building on alternate years and raising funds each year. Pinthouse teams have volunteered on multiple days to help with the construction for each build.

Since their opening, Pinthouse has done monthly charity nights at alternating pubs, raising around $3,000 per event in addition to providing the local charity an opportunity to get in front of our guests and promote its cause. They have raised over $160,000 in total for local charities. In 2019 they decided to pause this program to focus on supporting local parks. They are now in discussions with the Austin Parks Department to set up a way to fund projects at local parks. This change will allow them to have a bigger impact on the local environment and align themselves with a nature and conservation-focused outlook.