Eugene needs a Burgerville! (Or more restaurants like it)

Caitlin H.

December 21, 2009 - 10:23 AM

My senior year of high school I focused my ‘senior project,' a yearlong research and volunteer service graduation requirement, on childhood obesity. That was nearly five years ago, but my interest has hardly subsided with time. Since high school my curiosity about food, the American diet, social organization and how it impacts our choices has exploded. But back in 2005 I was mostly curious about the No Child Left Behind Act and the fast food industry. That was the year Fast Food Nation and Supersize Me seemed to take the nation by surprise. I was amongst those whose eyes were slowly opening to a whole new vision of what the American diet meant.

My awareness for the food I eat has certainly changed. It has increased even more in the last six months. I still enjoy hamburgers; I still eat meat and other animal products. But my attitudes toward food have changed. I've enjoyed discovering local, organic bread and produce. I've delighted in knowing I've supported local restaurants and farmers. I have valued the importance of cooking a meal to share with others and the opportunity to connect over dinner. In short, I'm not the person you'll find out most nights grabbing dinner from a fast food chain.

With one glaring exception: I love Burgerville.

Every trip I make home usually starts with a stop in Albany for a meal at Burgerville. Albany is the southernmost location of the chain and the first one I pass on my way home, or my last chance for a good burger before I return to Eugene. Now as I said, I'm not a fast food crazed person, or even a dining-out fanatic, but I always make time for a stop at Burgerville whenever I'm close enough to enjoy it.

The food is good. Service is good. I enjoy the experience. But perhaps what really inspires me is the company's mission and business practice. In an industry full of cheap meals and where the bottom line is often the bottom dollar, Burgerville is selling something else. And I like it. I love it.

Burgerville is a ‘fast food' chain, but committed to buying local products, supporting local farmers, committed to creating a sustainable business. It is a dining experience that is difficult to find a comparison to. When I dined there most recently, I noticed they were slowly transforming their dine-in restaurant to a more family-oriented atmosphere. I was perhaps most struck that products were labeled compostable. Instead of trash bins there were compost receptacles. Just because I still like to have a toy with my meal, I ordered a kid's cheeseburger meal. Instead of a plastic toy destined to end up in a landfill some day, (like I'd receive at most fast food chains), I received an engaging activity book that required I use my intelligence as well as my creativity. It also included a coupon for a free child's admission to the Oregon Coast Aquarium (the theme of the activity book was about the NW coastline). What a deal! A kid's meal was now offering an experience to get out there and explore more of the environment we live in.

Even if Eugene isn't the right location for a Burgerville, we need more business like it. I feel like the spirit of Eugene is quite similar to a business like Burgerville. All of our communities need more dining experiences like this - local, sustainable, family oriented.

I implore you to do some research for yourself. America needs places that call for a radical change in lifestyle, without pushing us so far over the edge we resist the change. I'm a believer that change comes in small steps. Business like Burgerville could be the first. Changing our fast-food driven lifestyles could be the shift towards a more promising tomorrow. Large companies deeply rooted in the public eye that engage us to think about sustainable practices, and what a term like that might even mean, is so vital.