VSAG Names Scholarship for Sustainability

VSAG Principal Dan Simons with recipient, Lily Belter

Soon the school year at George Washington University will come to a close, and one student in particular has VSAG, Founding Farmers and Farmers & Fishers restaurants in her corner, with a $5,000 scholarship to help get her closer to her BBA from the GW School of Business in 2012.   Lily Belter was selected as the first recipient of the new Scholarship for Sustainable Hospitality, and over the next four years four other students will be selected to receive the $5,000 prize.

Last fall, VSAG Principal and GW School of Business ’92 alumni Dan Simons presented the award to Lily at Founding Farmers in Washington, D.C., just two blocks from campus.  VSAG Principals Dan Simons and Michael Vucurevich have committed to to continue awarding this scholarship for a total of five years, seeing the scholarship as a way of not only helping to support a bright future for a student that will make very positive contributions to the preservation of the earth and our environment, but also as a way to give back in support of the GWU community.  ”We’re really proud to see someone as accomplished and as motivated as Lily be our first Scholarship for Sustainable Hospitality recipient.  It’s encouraging and fulfilling to know that issues of earth-friendly practices are as important to the next generation as they are to us,” offered Simons. Both Dan and Mike have greatly influenced and contributed to more sustainable practices and awareness through the restaurant community (and beyond) in D.C. since launching Founding Farmers in 2008, the region’s first LEED Gold Certified Restaurant, and one that continues to draw thousands of guests a week.

Founding Farmers Averages More Than A Yelp a Day

Founding Farmers celebrated its second anniversary on September 18. Since opening, the restaurant has been reviewed by Yelpers more than 780 times – more than one review per day. Dan Simons, Principal of VSAG and Concept Developer of Founding Farmers, has responded to every single one of those reviews.

He and his commitment to interacting with every guest who takes time to comment on their experience, is the subject of today’s Yelp Web Log. Check it out. Comments welcome.

Founding Farmers is LEED Gold!

FF GM Christian Holmes, Project Mgr Lara Hardcastle, Marc Heisterkamp and VSAG's Dan Simons

On April 22nd, Founding Farmers and VSAG celebrated the official award and certification of the restaurant as LEED® Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council. (USGBC).   With this award, Founding Farmers is the first USGBC certified restaurant of any type in the District of Columbia, and the first full-service, upscale-casual LEED Gold restaurant in the entire United States. Read full article »