The achievement is recognized by the non-profit organization Surfrider, which strives to conserve and protect oceans and waterways
By RACHEL GAUER — features@theaggie.org
Nestled on D Street in Downtown Davis, Cloud Forest Café is a cozy coffee and breakfast hub known for its outdoor patio and homey interior. Now, the café has been recognized for its trailblazing efforts to instill sustainable practices in its operations.
The café is the first establishment in Davis and the greater Sacramento region to be formally considered an Ocean-Friendly Restaurant, an achievement recognized by the non-profit conservation foundation, The Surfrider Foundation.
Currently, there are 580 establishments nationwide that are recognized by The Surfrider Foundation as Ocean-Friendly Restaurants that follow the organization’s particular guidelines outlining sustainability and conservation methods.
To be considered Ocean-Friendly, establishments must abide by Surfrider’s seven mandatory criteria, which include the elimination of plastic bags for takeout orders and plastic bottles for beverages and providing single-use utensils only by customer request.
Additionally, the restaurant must choose at least three of their eight optional criteria to instill in their practices, such as providing a discount to customers who supply their own reusable items, like cups or bags, or regularly offering vegan or vegetarian options on their menus.
T.H. Fang and his wife, Tina, have co-owned the café since 2014 and have strived to be involved in the community through both the café’s inviting atmosphere and their art gallery events. After receiving financial assistance through the purchasing of café gift cards from both the city of Davis and UC Davis during the pandemic, Fang felt a strong sense of responsibility to give back to his community.
“When we were able to catch our breath, we thought we should do something for the community,” Fang said. “If there is something that I can do, that I can afford to do, I should.”
Emily Dumont, a fourth-year environmental science and management major, has worked as a barista at Cloud Forest Café since August 2023. On a personal level, Dumont named sustainability as one of her top priorities and serves as the vice president of the Zero Waste and Sustainability Club at UC Davis.
Dumont first learned of the Ocean-Friendly program through UC Davis’ Surfrider Foundation Club in winter 2024 and felt inspired to bring the practices to her workplace. After conducting research regarding the financial and logistical changes the café would have to take on, she proposed the idea to Fang.
“Given that I work at a cafe with a boss who is environmentally conscious and willing to make changes, I figured I’d have a conversation with him to gauge his interest,” Dumont said. “Everything was within reason and he was on board.”
Over the last year, Dumont and Fang have worked together to transition their practices to fully abide by the organization’s criteria. The transition focused primarily on minor changes, and Fang explained that the effort to become Ocean-Friendly was not the café’s first move to become more environmentally sustainable.
“Over the years, we have been trying to improve ourselves: we got rid of a lot of those paper and plastic cups, and we were using ceramics and glass prior to this effort,” Fang said. “We were moving towards the direction to be more environmentally friendly — that has always been our goal.”
Dumont outlined that the changes mostly concerned their takeout orders and single-use dining materials.
“One thing we had to change was the utensils for the to-go orders,” Dumont said. “They were plastic and we would include them in every takeout order. Now we’ve switched those to plant-based materials and we’re not including them in every order unless the customer asks.”
Dumont has more recently been working with the Davis chapter of Surfrider. The club will now be responsible for conducting compliance checks for the cafe to ensure that its practices align with the organization’s requirements.
Siobhan Gallagher and Samantha Settelmayer, both fourth-year environmental policy analysis and planning majors, first volunteered with the Surfrider organization in San Diego before bringing the chapter to the Davis community. They established the club in UC Davis during the 2022-23 academic year. Now, Settelmayer serves as president of the club and Gallagher as vice president.
Settelmayer explained that due to environmental requirements already set by the city, local restaurants tend to be very close to meeting Surfrider’s Ocean-Friendly requirements.
“Most of the mandatory requirements are already mandated by the city of Davis,” Settelmayer said. “However, a couple of them are not and those couple are the ones that have been most challenging to get restaurants on board with. We think it would be great for Davis, because a lot of students here like to be sustainable with their consumer habits.”
Gallagher expressed that the main issue lies in visibility, as many restaurants are unaware that they could somewhat easily transition their business practices to suit the requirements.
“It’s really easy for them to comply — it’s more just about raising awareness about it and drawing attention to the [organization],” Gallagher said.
Because of Davis’ distance from the coast, businesses may not recognize the necessity of implementing Ocean-Friendly practices. Dumont discussed that despite this distance, the city still directly has an impact on local waterways.
“We’re near the Sacramento River, and our water system is connected to the Delta which affects the bay,” Dumont said. “Just because we’re inland doesn’t mean we can neglect our plastic use and over-usage of single-use materials.”
Dumont hopes that Cloud Forest Café’s efforts will be recognized by other restaurants and inspire them to make similar changes.
“I want to demonstrate to other businesses in the area that making these changes is reasonable,” Dumont said. “A lot of students care about sustainability at UC Davis; Hopefully, that will bring in some more customers who care about the environment and will attract people who haven’t been coming already, which will maybe inspire other restaurants to do the same.”
Fang expressed that though he is proud of the café’s accomplishment, he hopes that their efforts provide inspiration to other local businesses.
“I’m happy and honored to be the first — but more importantly is what we can do for the community,” Fang said. “I think each business and each person should assess themselves to see what they can do to improve themselves in a way that benefits the whole community.”
Written by: Rachel Gauer — features@theaggie.org
