Saving the earth, one slice at a time

“It’s always a wonderful treat,” said Alita Shenk, as Captain Awesome handed over her order on a recent Friday night.   “A lot of it now is people wanting to show their friends,” Saunders said. “Then there’s the people who laugh hysterically, which is fun. And every once in a while I still get someone who just picked us out of the phone book and has no idea. Those are my favorite.”

Saunders relishes the role. He greets each customer with his hand cocked on his hip and an exclamation along the lines of, “I’m Captain Awesome, and I’m here with your pizza.” He said he loves delivering to homes with kids.

But he’s also proud to work for a business that’s trying to do right.

“It’s good karma,” Saunders said.

Besides the electric cars, Galactic Pizza participates in an Xcel Energy program that allows customers to purchase all their energy from renewable wind power. Its mozzarella cheese comes from cows not treated by growth hormones, and hemp is used both as an ingredient in some pizzas as well as in the paper for menus. Most of the restaurant’s packaging material is recyclable or biodegradable, and its food waste is recycled at pig farms.

Bonahoom said some of those steps cost more than traditional business practices, but he’s covered the difference by severely limiting his advertising budget.

“All the money that typical businesses spend trying to create a superficial relationship, we use to create ideas that are good for people and will make them want to come back here,” Bonahoom said.

Bob Smith, owner of Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, Calif., said his business has earned good publicity by reducing its waste output by 98 percent, donating to charities and taking other socially conscious steps.

“What PR budget?” Smith said. “That is our PR budget.”

Bonahoom, who flips the dough himself most nights, said the business is profitable. “My banker loan guy keeps asking me when I’m opening another location, so that seems like a good sign,” Bonahoom said.

Bonahoom gives talks at business schools about his approach, and he’s glad to have Galactic Pizza serve as a model for other small business.

“If somebody looks at me and says, ’I want to do that,’ that’s great,” Bonahoom said. “If doing what I do influences someone else, then I can create a greater good just by having a pizza shop.”

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