Bay Area shoppers interested in patronizing environmentally friendly businesses will soon be able to refer to a new consumer guide that lists 1,400 “green” companies, from rental-car providers offering hybrid vehicles to eateries serving organic food.
Sales of the Greenopia book begin next month, one year after the group’s inaugural guide on Los Angeles businesses offering eco-friendly products and services hit the stands.
“We look at everything from where to get your nails and hair done to where to have your dog groomed or who to hire to clean your home with non-toxic cleaning products,” said Ferris Kawar, Greenopia’s education and development director. Even green burial services are featured: “There are quite a number of great alternatives to your typical formaldehyde embalming and putting you in a lacquered mahogany box that decomposes and spreads the toxins around,” Kawar said.
He said the book covers the Bay Area, and includes businesses in Los Altos, Novato, Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland.
The 242-page guide – which sells for $14.95 – does not accept paid listings or paid advertising. Companies included in the book were reviewed by one of seven researchers who checked out the business, examined its products and talked to company managers. All retailers listed were deemed to have a minimum of 25 percent of their products or services classified as eco-friendly.
Companies are graded on a rating system that lists one leaf for companies that meet the minimum eco-friendly standards, to four leaves for the greenest businesses. “We want to drive demand to the stores that are trying the hardest, but at the same time, not exclude people that are not 100 percent” eco-friendly, said Kawar.
Information on Greenopia and where to buy the guide is available at www.green opia.com or by calling (310) 917-1100.
COOK IT YOURSELF: Dream Dinners, a hot new “prep kitchen” chain, will open in the San Jose MarketCenter next month.
It’s the seventh Bay Area location for the 5-year-old, Seattle-area-based meal-preparation company that was the first to enter what is now a $270 million industry made up of about 566 national and regional chains.
The number of meal prep centers is growing fast as busy Americans seek an easy way to get tasty meals on the table. Chances are you’ve heard of one of the other companies operating in Silicon Valley, including Santa Clara-based Chef Danes and Super Suppers of Texas.
For customers, making dinner at a prep kitchen means no grocery shopping, no vegetable chopping and no pots to clean. Instead, they walk into an oversize kitchen, where an array of cooking utensils sit at the ready. Diced onions, pre-cut meats and other ingredients are stored neatly in refrigerated bins; the items can be easily assembled into as many as 12 entrees or side items in about two hours. Buyers take the dishes home, store them in the freezer and can later thaw and reheat them for a “home cooked” meal.
Some groups even turn meal prep into a party night with friends, or arrange hands-on outings with their grade school children.
The idea resonates with Barbara Sancen, who along with her husband, Mario, will operate the Dream Dinners business at the MarketCenter, located at the intersection of Taylor Street and Coleman Avenue.
“One of the things I always hated was cooking the same thing over and over again,” said Sancen, who lives in San Jose. “This gives you the opportunity to make a whole different set of meals every month.”
For the cooking-challenged, step-by-step recipe cards are provided. In March, for example, Dream Dinner customers can chose to make sesame marinated flank steak, Mexican meatballs, or seafood cioppino, – all for about $3 to $6 a serving, depending on the item. Most companies have minimum purchase requirements. Dream Dinner’s Web site says customers must order at least 36 servings of the various items listed on their menu board.
CALL FOR CHEAPEST GAS: As gasoline prices rise again, a new San Jose-based telephone service is offering consumers information on gas prices at individual gas stations.
I’m not sure I’d use the service. When the gas gauge starts looking really low, I screech into the closest station for a fill-up, no matter what price is listed on the sign.
But callers who plan ahead can phone GoUAskMe’s toll-free number, 1-888-468-2756, and just by plugging in their ZIP code can get what the service deems are the six lowest prices for regular unleaded gas in any Bay Area community. The prices are compiled by the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks retail prices derived from credit card transactions daily at about 90,000 gasoline and convenience stores across the United States.
GoUAskMe also has geographic-specific information on traffic conditions, real estate and property prices and India-connected cultural and religious events.
Anyone with Internet access also can search for the best gas prices on a site run by the AAA auto club at www.csaa.com.
Contact Michele Chandler at mchandler@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5731.
