2014 Green Plus Sustainable Enterprise Award Winners Recognized

Durham is going green! All across town there are businesses that are making sustainable decisions and encouraging others to take care of the planet.


Green Plus, a program focusing on certification, education networking & recognition for green and sustainable businesses has announced several Durham winners of the 2014 Sustainable Enterprise Awards.

• Green Plus Sustainable Enterprise of the Year - Cocoa Cinnamon. Cocoa Cinnamon is a two-year-old coffee shop that prides itself on its community outreach, and sources the majority of its coffee, chocolate, milk, and pastries from local and sustainable businesses, and provides employee benefits and a living wage to both full and part-time workers.

• Green Plus Innovator of the Year - Bull City Forward. Bull City Forward is a nonprofit organization that supports local businesses and entrepreneurs that practice triple bottom line sustainability.  While socially innovative itself, Bull City Forward acts more as a conduit for other Durham-based businesses, encouraging innovation in business and helping businesses in the region improve their social capital.

• Green Plus Sole Proprietor of the Year - Food FWD. Food FWD, a startup run by married entrepreneurs Sarah and Noah Marsh, that partners with restaurants for large-scale collection of food waste.  The food waste is brought to a local composter, which is then re-sold to the public.  Food FWD also sells compostable serviceware.

• ​Green Plus Champion - Chris Carmody

This recognition isjust one more indication that Durham is home to an innovative and entrepreneurial community of businesses and citizens. The Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau was the first organization of its type in the nation to be certified Green Plus and just the second in Durham.

Media Continue to Rave About Durham

This week Durham has caught the attention of several major national publications like The New York Times, Garden & Gun, Bon Appetit, and The New Yorker with its spate of notable restaurants and features.


Garden & Gun readers lauded popular Durham burger restaurants Bull City Burger and Only Burger as having the "South's Best Burgers."

The New York Times visited Durham's Central Park District in "A Corner of Durham, N.C., Comes to Life." Places featured included The Pit, Geer St. Garden, Fullsteam Brewery, Cocoa Cinnamon and Motorco Music Hall.

Durham's Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop was recognized among Bon Appetit's "50 Nominees for America's Best New Restaurants 2014." The publication was particularly impressed with the spring onion sausage wrapped in puff pastry and the hot pastrami with fried potatoes. The top ten will be announced August 19.

The New Yorker profiled a Durham-based photography project, which documented the Durham Bulls' 2013 season in a book, "Bull City Summer." North Carolina writer Sam Stephenson led the project that focused on the world-famous Triple-A team.

See more Durham accolades or visit all of the places in these articles.