Club + Resort Business

  • Home
  • Course+Grounds
  • Design+Renovation
  • Food+Beverage
  • Golf
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Top Ranked
    • 2022 Top Ranked Racquet Facilities
    • 2022 Aquatics & Pools
    • 2022 Fitness & Wellness Centers
    • 2022 Culinary Experiences
    • Locker Rooms
    • Patios
    • Pro Shops
  • People
  • Resources
    • C+RB Playbooks
      • Culinary Playbook
      • Kitchen Equipment and Design Playbook
      • Maintenance Employees Playbook
    • Digital Issues
    • ECM Awards
    • FAQ
    • Leaders in Clubs + Resorts
    • Podcasts
    • Sponsored Content
    • 2022 Club + Resort Business Leadership
    • Videos
      • The Road Ahead/The Road Back
      • Unboxing Videos
    • Webinars
      • Membership Marketing Webinar Series

Let Them Eat [Recycled] Cake

By Joe Barks | April 22, 2011

Musket Ridge Golf Club will be transformed to zero food waste through an on-site “bokashi” composting program.

Not many wedding photo albums include a picture of the beautiful bride scraping wedding cake off a plate into a compost pile. But that was exactly what a publicity photo released by Musket Ridge Golf Club in Meyersville, Md., shows, to demonstrate just how dedicated the club is to its new zero-waste food initiative that it is implementing throughout its golf course, restaurant and wedding/banquet facility.

All of those operations will now be transformed to zero food waste through an on-site “bokashi” composting program. Originated from Asian cultures, bokashi uses fermentation to break down all food scraps, including meat, dairy and oils, in less than half the time of conventional composting, while avoiding unpleasant odors and deterring pests. The end product is a natural liquid fertilizer that greatly increases the population of beneficial microbes, adding valuable nutrients to the compost and helping improve the health of soil and plants.

Musket Ridge plans to use the bokashi, compost, and compost tea generated through the initiative to promote the health and growth of a new organic vegetable and herb garden that is being developed by the club’s Executive Chef and will produce ingredients to be featured on club menus.

“As a premier wedding venue in the area, we produce approximately 4,000 pounds of food waste per year which goes right into a landfill, where it decomposes very slowly and contributes to the production of harmful gases,” says Damon DeVito, managing director and a founder of Affinity Management in Charlottesville, Va., which manages Musket Ridge. “Many of our brides and event planners have been asking how we could help them lessen the environmental impact of their wedding, meeting or golf outing. We considered traditional composting, but it has drawbacks for a commercial kitchen. This is a whole different ballgame that doesn’t involve rotting and will handle meat and dairy, and the process is straightforward.”

Musket Ridge is also planning an educational program with local public schools to show students the importance of sustainability. The program will include tours of Musket Ridge’s zero-waste initiative and also hands-on school-garden and composting projects.

The club currently recycles all plastic, aluminum, glass and cardboard, and has contracted with a biofuel company to utilize its kitchen grease to be reproduced into fuel.

“We have owners who have brought incredible economic sustainability to our facility by eliminating every penny of borrowing,” DeVito says. “We don’t even have leases. It is a natural outgrowth that we committed to environmental sustainability.”

More than 200 club chefs attended the 10th annual Chef to Chef Conference in Seattle.

About The Author

Joe Barks

Joe Barks contributes to Club & Resort Business magazine working out of Wayne, Pa. (suburban Philadelphia). He has been covering the club and resort industry since the launch of C&RB in April 2005 and during that time has written cover-story profiles of over 150 club and resort properties, as well as many additional articles about specific aspects of club management and profiles of leading club managers. Barks has been a writer and editor for specialized business publications for over 40 years, covering a wide variety of industries and professional disciplines over the course of his career. He is a four-time winner of Jesse H. Neal Awards from the American Business Press, known as the “Pulitzer Prizes” for industry trade publications. He has also been a freelance contributor to many leading national consumer and business publications, and served as Marketing Manager for the Hay Group, a leading worldwide management consulting firm. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Related Articles Read More >

A TikTok video showing a cocktail in a glass with ice
Champions Run Introduces Timely Communications with TikTok
Kids on a dock with a red kayak and colorful paddles
Private Club Tweens, Early Teens Tackle Adventures
Little girl sitting on blue pool float near water
CC of Virginia Makes Good Use of Retired Pool Floats
Bay Head (N.J.) Yacht Club Launches Rallying Cry for Members
Top Ranked Private Club and Resorts

C+RB Newsletter Sign Up

Club and Resort Chef

ClubandresortChef

Club + Resort Talks

July 28, 2022
Capstone Hospitality Helps Clubs Maximize Membership Opportunities
See More >

Club + Resort Business Digital Editions

Club & Resort BusinessBrowse the current issue and archived issues of Club & Resort Business in an easy-to-use, high-quality format. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading club and resort magazine today.



Club + Resort Business
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Submit Industry News
  • New Print Subscription
  • Manage Current Print Subscription
  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • Club + Resort Chef
  • Club + Resort Chef Association
  • Club + Resort Chef Recipes
  • Chef to Chef Conference

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Club + Resort Business

  • Home
  • Course+Grounds
  • Design+Renovation
  • Food+Beverage
  • Golf
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Top Ranked
    • 2022 Top Ranked Racquet Facilities
    • 2022 Aquatics & Pools
    • 2022 Fitness & Wellness Centers
    • 2022 Culinary Experiences
    • Locker Rooms
    • Patios
    • Pro Shops
  • People
  • Resources
    • C+RB Playbooks
      • Culinary Playbook
      • Kitchen Equipment and Design Playbook
      • Maintenance Employees Playbook
    • Digital Issues
    • ECM Awards
    • FAQ
    • Leaders in Clubs + Resorts
    • Podcasts
    • Sponsored Content
    • 2022 Club + Resort Business Leadership
    • Videos
      • The Road Ahead/The Road Back
      • Unboxing Videos
    • Webinars
      • Membership Marketing Webinar Series