New York City-based vegan food and wine bar Le Botaniste recently hosted a campaign that donated 156 trees to help grow its own Le Botaniste Forest in northwest Peru. According to the restaurant, the area is one of the most at-risk regions on the planet for deforestation and has a poverty rate of more than 50 percent.
To celebrate International Day of Forests this month—created by the United Nations to raise awareness about the importance of trees—Le Botaniste partnered with reforestation organization GoForest for this initiative, which will help restore biodiversity and empower local communities to get involved in the tree-planting process. Between March 15 and 21, Le Botaniste offered customers the opportunity to donate a tree as part of their order. To kick off the initiative, the restaurant donated a tree on behalf of each one of their 55 employees and matched guest donations. “We [gave] our customers the opportunity to ‘add’ a tree to their 100-percent plant-based and organic orders, as we look for creative ways to help our customers eat even more sustainably and inspire [them to go] beyond carbon neutrality,” Alizée Wyckmans, Le Botaniste Brand and Sustainability Manager, told VegNews.
Le Botaniste currently has four locations in NYC and three in Belgium. As part of its aim to be sustainable and good to the planet, in 2016 the restaurant partnered with certification organization CO2logic and became the first organic, plant-based carbon neutral-certified restaurant in NYC.
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