So have you ever gone to a catered event and noticed how cool and exciting the room and décor looked—but then tasted the food and things quickly went flat?  Well, not if Artemis Foods was the event caterer.

Portland is a Food Town, and Portlanders expect and want good food—and not only in restaurants.  But what sets Artemis Foods apart is not only the food.  According to many of their clients, it is amazing.  But they also practice sustainability in ALL operations.  What a package for Portland!

Grace Henricks gained notoriety in Portland by leading the kitchen at Santé to earn The Oregonian’s Restaurant of the Year award in 1994 (she was formerly known as Burniece Rott).  She founded Artemis in 2001, and as Owner and Executive Chef has earned business based on her creative, fresh, local and seasonal food, as well as the company’s sustainability practices.  Her choice of using Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt and of the Wild, to be the symbol for her business is based on Artemis being known as the protector of women and children and for her use of natural foods for healing.

She has a hands-on approach that keeps the food real and the creativity fluent.  She shares the passion for creating the most delicious food experiences with Artemis’ Culinary Director, Pati Gallagher, and a great kitchen team, who time after time are winning the appreciation and respect of clients old and new.

But Artemis doesn’t stop at great food—they provide event planning, event management, décor services, full bar and whatever else one might need to pull off the event of anyone’s dreams.  Josh Cunningham, Artemis Foods’ Events Manager, heads up the events management team of planners and professional servers and bartenders.  They will personally tailor every event to your needs.

All of this under the umbrella of sustainably-managed operations at every level. 

Grace believes that by providing all local, natural and organic foods within a framework of sustainable business practices is her way of being an activist—of making a difference and affecting a change, many times at the expense of a larger profit.  “Do the right thing and good things will follow” is a tried-and-true motto of hers.  And here’s a favorite quote: 

“Eating is an agricultural act,' as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world and what is to become of it.” – Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Artemis has earned Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development Blue Works award every year since 2005 and was named one of the Top 100 Green Businesses to work for by Oregon Business Magazine in 2013.  And they have achieved Gold Status in the City of Portland’s Sustainability at Work Award program for 4 years.  

This year, Artemis completed the exhaustive documentation process of earning a B Corp™ certification. 

B Corp™ certification is like Fair Trade certification for the entire company, not just a bag of coffee. They went through the certification process to quantify and measure impact on all stakeholders: workers, suppliers, community, consumers and the environment. A minimum of 80 points is required to earn a B Corp™ certification; Artemis Foods documented and presented data that earned 117 points. Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of all of their decisions not just on their shareholders, but on all of their stakeholders. 

Artemis continues to earn work based on sustainability, but equally as importantly, they earn the raves and the sighs from loyal clients that only delicious food can evoke:

“We used Artemis to cater our wedding and everyone in attendance raved about the food and how it was the best event food they had ever tasted. Not only was the food delicious but the presentation was gorgeous...” – Ingrid H., testimonial

“Everything I've ever tasted from Artemis is super delicious! They are absolutely committed to preparing and serving Grade A+ Quality Food! Bonus, they are very dedicated to sustainability.” – Jamie C., testimonial