At Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in Lakeside, Calif., sustainability efforts stem from the potential to receive both a return on investment and a natural way of life. Situated on the land of the Barona Band of Mission Tribe, Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino consists of 400 rooms and 15 kitchens. With a long heritage rooted in preserving the land, in the early 1990s the tribe urged the resort to become more sustainable. In 1994, the Barona Band of Mission Tribe built a multi-million-dollar waste-water-treatment facility to help conserve water.

Becoming a Rainmaker
Among Barona Valley’s many sustainable initiatives, water conservation has proven to be one of the most successful. Initially, the land did not provide any access to fresh water, forcing the Barona Band of Mission Tribe to drill very deep wells just to survive. Taking this into consideration and the fact that Barona Valley is located in a drought area, the resort knew that water was going to be an issue from the beginning. As a result, all of Barona’s water is derived from its property. The resort collects well water, rain and waste water to be processed at their two reclamation and treatment plants where it is then reused to operate the facility. For instance, all of the kitchens use purified well water that is later used to water the hotel’s golf course and gardens. Given the area’s history and drought conditions, the greenery couldn’t survive otherwise.

“Just one inch of rain falling on 700 acres of land can yield more than 19 million gallons of water,” said Chef de Cuisine Duncan Firth.

Additionally, Barona Valley has stopped selling bottled water in their restaurants to reduce waste.

Reducing Energy and Gaining Efficiency
Replacing old kitchen equipment with new energy-efficient appliances is an ongoing practice for Barona Valley. For Barona Valley, it is mainly due to the sheer size of their establishment. With 15 kitchens on location, food equipment is replaced when it is necessary to avoid downtime. Barona Valley also makes sure that they get the most mileage out of their equipment by implementing reuse and recycle practices. For example, when Barona Valley remodels a kitchen with newer equipment, the old piece is moved to a different location until it reaches the end of its life span. Once an appliance is no longer functional, working parts are sold to be installed in various other pieces of equipment, before finally recycling the scrap metal.

In addition, the way in which Barona Valley operates their food equipment is vastly different from the way kitchens normally operate, especially when it comes to preparation schedules. While most foodservice operators turn on every piece of equipment as soon as they enter their kitchen, Barona Valley works in stages. By moving cold prep to non-peak hours, when ovens and other fixtures are running at reduced levels, the resort uses much less power and water during the day.

Taking Farm-to-Fork Even Further
Turning to local vendors for produce, dairy and meat is better for the environment and is more cost efficient. With gas prices becoming increasingly higher, the shorter the distance suppliers have to travel, the more gas and money are saved on delivery charges. Not only does Barona Valley source their ingredients from local farmers, but they also developed their own garden. The 40-by-60-foot garden produces more than 20 varieties of organic vegetables and herbs for the resort’s restaurants.

Reuse and Recycle
In addition, Barona Valley sells their fryer oil to local businesses to be recycled into biofuel, and uncooked vegetable waste is sent to Barona’s gardener for composting. The hotel no longer uses Styrofoam to-go containers and has requested that their suppliers not use it as their packaging material. Instead, Barona Valley’s staff uses butcher paper when applicable. Firth recommends that for lodging facilities just starting sustainability programs to first conduct a project that is simple to execute but offers a big reward, like switching to LED lights.

Setting the Example
Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino also incorporates its green practices in their Culinary Institute. Employees are able to take classes free of charge and learn more about sustainable practices. Educating future chefs how to run a sustainable kitchen will not only broaden Barona Valley’s environmental efforts, but will also make them a standard.

Moreover, Barona Valley distributes a newsletter to their guests who visit frequently. The newsletter explains their green initiatives and the benefits that those initiatives provide to the resort and to the patrons.

Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino has earned five awards for water conservation and recycling since 2005. “Our commitment to green is ongoing and intense,” said Firth. “There is always something we can do to make it better.”

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