This founder was appalled by food waste in the restaurant industry, so she started a zero-waste grocery store that now hosts events for Nike

Camilla Marcus' journey to becoming a climate-focused chef and entrepreneur began before she was even born.

Photo Credit: Morgan Foitle

His grandfather, Bertram, was the self-proclaimed family foodie when Marcus' mother was growing up. Although the family did not have a fortune, Bertram would create sprawling and elaborate dinner creations for his children to teach them about culture and understand other parts of the world, without ever leaving the dinner table.

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Although Marcus never met Bertram, she relished the stories his mother told of his thoughtfulness and intentionality regarding the connection between food, culture and health. Naturally, the Los Angeles native grew up being aware of the ingredients she ate.

"I grew up with the untradeable lunch; no one wanted what was in my lunch box," says Marcus. "That was so uncool."

The pressures of cafeteria credibility never deterred Marcus from following a health-focused diet and his innate curiosity about where his groceries came from. The passion only grew as she grew older and began to realize that what was second nature to her was unknown to others.

The “aha” moment came when Marcus moved to New York to pursue his culinary career at the French Culinary Institute in 2007.

"It was traditional French food, which traditionally is kind of pointless," says Marcus. "If you create a perfect shape of something, what happens to the rest of the carrot?"

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Marcus' culinary school was an exception at the time in that it minimized waste and had classroom conversations about composting and recycling materials. But Marcus has had a contradictory experience each time she left school to explore New York's restaurant scene.

"I started to realize that a lot of these well-known restaurants [serve] this perfect-shaped potato, but it's ridiculous," she recalls. "That's not how potatoes get to the crate. That's not how they're grown."

"You decide where you get your cup of coffee far more often than your foundation."

Marcus began to notice more and more how other industries, from fashion to beauty, turned to waste reduction, but food always lagged behind.

"Food felt like no one was paying attention to it, yet it's one of the biggest drivers [of climate change]," says Marcus. "You make more decisions about food and drink in your daily life than anything else. You decide where you get your cup of coffee far more often than your foundation."

Reality only became more apparent when Marcus graduated from culinary school and started working for Union Square Hospitality Group. Although the company is well known and offers a wealth of experience, Marcus couldn't help but wonder why no one was talking about sustainability in the boardroom.

"We didn't have these conversations like, 'We buy more milk than almost any other restaurant group, where does it come from?'" Marcus explains.

She knew the power that restaurants and chefs hold and wanted to take the first step in changing consumer behavior, this time on her own.

"The hardest part is convincing someone to try."

In 2018, Marcus opened west~bourne, a...