Hotel Confidential: Sustainable Eats on Vail’s Slopes

Traveler’s Hotel Central editor Susan O’Keefe whets our appetite for some new meal options at Vail Resorts.

The next time you pull off the slopes for a juicy hamburger served at one of Vail Resorts 40 mountain dining venues, it will feature all natural hormone- and antibiotic-free beef. Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts, has partnered with two neighboring companies, Coleman Natural and Horizon Organic, to bring "Good Food on a Grand Scale" to its five resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone (in Colorado) and Heavenly (in California and Nevada). Starting this season, Vail Resorts is purchasing 90 percent of its fresh meats—beef, poultry, pork, and deli meats—from Coleman Natural, and 87 percent of its fresh dairy (butter, cheese, milk, and yogurt) will be organic, with an increase in organic products planned for the following year. This month, they began serving organic cheeses on sandwiches, pizza, and burgers. Katz adds that the initiative, being called the largest resort undertaking to offer natural meats and organic dairy in North America, is about "the investment we are making in our guests, particularly kids, to ensure that we are doing our part to make our dining experience as healthy, clean and natural as the activities that happen every day on our mountains.”

IT applauds Vail Resorts commitment to sustainable menus, and loves the idea of green skiing being extended from the slopes to the plate.

Photo: Vail Resorts