Pizza Rescues Earth!

“Saving the Earth, One Pizza at a Time” is the motto of Pizza Fusion, the first ever organic pizza franchise that is getting set to open at 14815 Biscayne Boulevard in mid-November. The Fort Lauderdale based restaurant chain offers pizza, ciabatta sandwiches, salads, desserts, and organic beers and wines, all untainted by artificial additives such as pesticides, preservatives, antibiotics and hormones. The company has over 75 restaurants opening in 15 states across the U.S., and is planning to open forty other Florida locations over the next five years.

Pizza Fusion also sells gluten-free pizza, brownies and beer, which is good news for the celiac community (not to be confused with the celeriac community, which is composed of folks who love the knobby brown root vegetable). Vegans are taken care of too, menu items including casein-free soy cheese, breadsticks, brownies and sandwiches.

Pizza Fusion bills itself as the ”most eco-friendly restaurant in America”. The chain has eliminated the use of water heaters and air heating units by recycling heat from the ovens; countertops are culled from reused glass bottles from other Pizza Fusions; flooring is bamboo and 30% recaptured industrial concrete; furniture gets made from reclaimed wood; ceiling panels are made from 74% recycled aluminum cans and 24% post industrial metals; non-VOC paints are used; and get this: insulation is provided via recycled blue jeans (so that’s what my wife did with all my old dungarees!). Plus more: The pizzas get delivered in hybrid and Smart cars, and the company offsets 100% of their power consumption with the purchase of renewable energy certificates.

There is no denying that this is one hell of a sustainable pizza business. Kudos to Pizza Fusion for having its’ organic little heart in the right place. Only one question remains: How does the pizza taste? We’ll find out soon enough.

--Lee Klein