Thunderbolt Wins Sustainability Award at North America’s 50 Best Bars!

To judge the entries for the sustainability awards, we use the Framework we’ve developed for our Food Made Good Standard, the unique global sustainability certification for the hospitality sector. After careful evaluation, our team of Sustainability Consultants agreed that Thunderbolt’s efforts were exceptional across all three pillars: Sourcing, Society and Environment.  

Responsible sourcing at Thunderbolt 

Procurement at Thunderbolt favours the use of ethical and sustainable producers, avoiding commercial or celebrity-owned brands that can be exploitative of the land and people who produce the spirits. Instead, the bar prioritises buying from small producers and maintaining fair, transparent supply chains that uphold traditional ways of production. 

These efforts include commissioning custom spirits from producers, such as unaged apple/miso brandy from locally sourced organic fruit; undiluted sotol from a generational family farm; a gin made using local plantains; and cask-strength Oaxacan rum using cane grown on the distillery property. The team visits these production sites regularly to ensure sustainable methods are upheld. Supporting the financial stability of the producers is important, too: one example is their collaboration with a traditional Sotol producer from Chihuahua, where they put a contract in place to purchase an entire batch of their product.  

Thunderbolt also has clearly-defined standards in place for the agave spirit brands with whom they work, with the explicit goal of ensuring producers are supported. These standards include: 

How Thunderbolt tackles social sustainability 

Thunderbolt’s position as a neighbourhood bar is at the core of its brand, meaning it’s important that they make sure they give back to their local community. One example of how they do this is the ‘Echo Park Trash Can #2’, a cocktail created to support the Echo Park Trash Club. This initiative provides clean water and cleans encampments to local unhoused people; $2 from each cocktail order go directly to this cause. 

Thunderbolt hosts educational events for the bar industry at no cost, including training on sustainable methods and educational events on sustainable agave production. They also regularly collaborate with chefs and bartenders, inviting them to celebrate their own cultural traditions through food and drink pop-ups. 

When it comes to their own team, Thunderbolt provides healthcare coverage and sick leave beyond statutory minimums. Their benefits package includes paid sick leave, healthcare coverage for all employees, a 401(K) fully matched up to 6% and financial literacy education. It also includes the THRIVE programme, which matches employer contributions to debt payments on things like student loans, car payments and mortgages. 

Environmental impact at Thunderbolt 

Finally, the team at Thunderbolt is doing a fantastic job of reducing the bar’s environmental impact. They’ve reduced waste by eliminating single-use garnishes, pre-batching cocktails to minimise ingredient waste and using ingredient preservation techniques to create ‘evergreen’ cocktails. 

Particularly impressive was their customised refrigeration system designed to avoid water waste. Itself water-efficient, this allows Thunderbolt’s bartenders to chill complete, diluted cocktails just above freezing point without the need to stir or shake with ice — generating zero water waste in their cocktails and significantly reducing their use of ice. This would be laudable wherever they were based, but is a particularly impactful and relevant action in drought-affected Southern California. 

They reuse empty glass bottles as containers and work with suppliers using reusable packaging, including Eco-Totes for spirit deliveries and reusable kegs. They also serve only tap or self-filtered water, eliminating water bottles from their value chain. 

Our Managing Director, Juliane Caillouette Noble, said, “We’re delighted to congratulate the team at Thunderbolt for this accomplishment! There was plenty here for our sustainability auditors to award, from their clever waste reduction strategies through to their support of small producers and impressive benefits package for employees.  

“A particularly noteworthy initiative for us was their customised refrigeration system — itself water-efficient — which allows them to chill complete, diluted cocktails just above freezing point, eliminating the need to shake, stir or serve with ice. In drought-affected Southern California, finding ways to serve top-quality cocktails with zero water waste is a fantastic example of well-considered innovation driven by regional challenges.” 

Read more about Thunderbolt here or learn about The Sustainable Restaurant Association’s long-standing partnership with The World’s 50 Best here. For more insights and stories from sustainable restaurants, hotels and bars across the globe, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter!   

 Lead image from Thunderbolt’s Instagram page.