And North America’s 50 Best Bars Sustainability Award Goes To...

Nestled within the 97-year-old Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, Library Bar stands out for the breadth and depth of its sustainability commitments as much as for its literary-inspired cocktails and art deco style. 

As our CEO, Juliane Caillouette Noble, said of the win, “Congratulations to Library Bar at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto for their holistic, integrated approach to sustainability, from slashing food waste and retrofitting their building to reduce emissions to fully unionising their workforce. We loved their commitment to local sourcing and providing a true sense of place: Library Bar holds the 100km Ontario certification, buying from independent farmers within the province who set their own prices, and works with a distillery to repurpose items like coffee grounds, avocado pits and citrus peels into locally-made liqueurs, which are then served in the bar.” 

Read on to learn why their submission was so impressive. 

Conscious sourcing at Library Bar 

Library Bar holds the Ontario 100km Foods certification, recognising its commitment to sourcing from independent local farmers within the province. 100km Foods connects a network of farmers and producers directly with buyers like Library Bar, building a strong and transparent local food system, supporting local livelihoods and increasing access to fresh, seasonal food. In-house, the Fairmont Royal York’s rooftop has been converted into a garden and apiary, supplying produce and honey directly to all of the hotel’s food and beverage operations.  

Embracing circularity in its menu design, Library Bar also works with a local distillery to repurpose items traditionally viewed as food waste. For example, coffee grounds, avocado pits and peeled citrus are all repurposed into liqueurs, which the bar then buys for use as unique cocktail ingredients. In the last year alone, nearly 1,000kg of citrus waste was diverted through this process. 

Social sustainability at Library Bar 

Service, kitchen, bartending and server assistant roles in the bar have been fully unionised following the successful negotiation of a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement. This agreement ensures every member of staff is properly compensated, afforded full rights and benefits, and supported in maintaining their physical, mental and financial health within a diverse and inclusive working environment. 

When it comes to supporting the wider community, Library Bar redistributes surplus food through two partnerships. B12Give is a local Certified B Corp organisation on a mission to bridge the gap between surplus food and food insecurity, providing same-day logistical support to redirect surplus food straight to vulnerable communities. Similarly, La Tablée des Chefs acts as an intermediary between food surplus donors and community partners, ensuring surplus food is distributed to those facing food insecurity. In 2025, over 6,000kg of avoidable food waste was redirected from the hotel to those in need, with more than 2,000 meals per month going to local charities. 

Environmental impact at Library Bar 

In pursuit of a zero-carbon future, Fairmont Royal York has just completed the largest heritage hotel retrofit in North America, achieving a Zero Carbon Building Performance Standard certification from the Canada Green Building Council. This transformative project will reduce building emissions by over 7,000 tonnes every year — the equivalent of taking 1,558 cars off the road. The project removes 80% of direct emissions from building operations (the remaining emissions will be addressed with offsets certified by Carbonzero). 

Cooling in the bar is provided through a connection to Toronto Deep Lake Water Cooling system — the world’s largest lake-powered cooling system. By drawing naturally cool water from the depths of Lake Ontario into the city and through a series of loops, this system effectively cools hotels, hospitals and residential blocks, reducing reliance on less efficient systems. Meanwhile, heating and hot water come from an electric heat pump installation plant; legacy steam systems have been decommissioned.

The bar has also reduced the volume of food waste going to landfill by more than 50% against a 2023 baseline, surpassing their targets with a reduction of 111,895kg in a single year. Driven by AI-powered waste tracking, improved procurement and prep processes, and hotel-wide organics and recycling diversion, food waste production has been reduced by 20% per cover. 

Well done to the team at Library Bar, Fairmont Royal York! 

Lead photo from the Library Bar Instagram page.  

Read more about Library Bar, Fairmont Royal York on their website. You can learn more about our work with 50 Best here.     

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