Meet the Sustainability Winner from Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants!

Sustainable sourcing at Oda Restaurante 

Oda’s sustainability work is impressive across all three pillars of the Food Made Good Framework, but our team was particularly wowed by their conscious and diligent approach to sourcing. This begins with a thorough supplier evaluation and approval process, which includes social, environmental and economic aspects. The team carries out on-site visits, reviews technical data and follows up annually with questionnaires to ensure that every supplier aligns with Oda’s company values and works to reduce environmental impact.  

With a particular focus on small producers, they provide an excellent example of how even city-based restaurants can support local growers in tangible ways. Currently, 70% of suppliers are micro or small producers, compared to 40% last year. This year, they added 15 new suppliers, directly supporting the livelihoods of over 400 people, many from women-led or gender-equity projects.  

They have created and sustain a network of 10 urban gardens located close to the restaurant, reducing food miles by working with genuine zero-kilometre produce. These gardens use regenerative practices to provide fresh, native produce and empower local communities through training, education and visibility. 

Oda’s partnership with the Botanical Garden of Bogotá also allows them to preserve and promote native and ancestral Andean species through their food and cocktail menus, safeguarding both regional biodiversity and cultural heritage. This partnership also helps local growers to gain visibility, earn a fair income and explore new opportunities for development.  

On the menu itself, guests won’t find any fish sourced from the ocean; Oda uses only river or farmed fish for better traceability. For the fish they do buy, they make full use of every part, including heads, bones and skins. All of the meat served is sourced from regenerative or low-impact systems, and portion sizes of animal proteins have been reduced. Over half of the menu is vegetarian, and around 60% of dishes use plant-based ingredients. Cocktails are designed around herbs, fruits and other edible plants from the urban gardens, with an emphasis on low- or non-alcoholic options made with natural flavours.

Social sustainability at Oda 

Oda Restaurante invests directly in social and environmental projects within farming and fishing communities, conducting annual needs assessments and regular field visits to understand suppliers’ realities and support their growth. They also organise workshops with suppliers to strengthen sustainable practices and co-create new dishes and cocktails.  

Community members can are offered training opportunities in hospitality, service and mixology. Elsewhere in the community, Oda makes financial and in-kind donations to Casa Calliope and partners with them on social and environmental projects, including transforming bottles into handcrafted glassware and offering skills training for young people and adults.  

The restaurant best supports their own team through a comprehensive training and education offering. The team completed over 29 hours of training in the first half of 2025, supported by partners such as Diageo and the Mariano Moreno Gastronomy Academy; this training covers technical kitchen and bar skills, leadership and soft skills. Over 60% of leadership positions across the company are now held by women. The restaurant also offers financial support to pay school fees for young employees who obtain good academic results, working with these students to agree on suitable rotas that won't interfere with their studies.  

How Oda minimises environmental footprint 

Oda tracks the carbon footprint of transport for their delivery transport and is actively working to reduce this. Meanwhile, they've started the installation of solar panels to move towards renewable energy use.  

Where their work really stands out is waste reduction, across both food and non-food streams. An impressive 64% of their dishes and nearly 90% of their signature cocktails make full use of ingredients, repurposing trimmings and by-products into new preparations, garnishes or infusions.  

For non-food materials, they works with Bogotá’s largest recycling cooperative to ensure that 100% of recyclable solid waste is recovered and reintegrated into the production cycle. They found a seafood supplier who avoids using polystyrene, cutting this waste stream by 90%, and have partnered with three water suppliers (Agua Purezza, Agua Siembra and Aqua Panna/San Pellegrino) to eliminate single-use plastics and promote reuse systems, introducing a return system and upcycling glass into reusable cups through community partnerships. This has prevented the production of over 600 glass bottles and more than 6,000 plastic bottles each year. 

Read more about Oda Restaurante on their website. You can learn more about our work with 50 Best here.    

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Photos from Oda Restaurante’s Instagram page.