Sustainable Catering in NYC: How Your Event Can Be Delicious and Climate-Friendly

If you're an eco-conscious human but still love to throw a fabulous party, keep reading. At Pinch, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword, it’s baked right into everything we do. From how we source our ingredients to what happens after the last guest leaves, we’re always looking for ways to make our events as kind to the planet as they are to your taste buds.

The best part? We’re doing it all without sacrificing the playfulness, flavor, or design you expect from a Pinch party. Same great parties, lighter footprint.

Let’s start with what’s on your plate. Fresh always tastes better, and it’s better for the planet, too. That’s why we keep our menus rooted in what’s local, seasonal, and sustainably sourced. Trust us, your guests will love the taste of the neighborhood. 

Our seafood comes from Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co., where everything is sustainably certified. Our meat? Straight from Queens’ own Ottomanelli & Sons, a family-run butcher known for grass-fed and free-range selections. For our plant-based lovers, we embrace Impossible, Beyond, and any chance to make vegetables the star of the show. And when it comes to wine, we pour bottles from biodynamic, organic, and woman- or minority-owned vineyards.

When ingredients don’t travel far, flavors shine brighter, and the planet breathes a little easier.

If you want your event to have disposables, fear not! We have the cutest most stylish biodegradable serveware made from fallen palm leaves and scrap balsa wood. 100% compostable, totally chic, it’s the Pinch way to do disposables. We also use 100% recyclable take-away boxes if you're looking to send your guests home with a little treat.

Now, let’s talk about what doesn’t stay on the plate.

When you’re planning an NYC event, you’ve got enough on your plate already: menus, music, decor, all the fun stuff. The good news? You can leave the composting and recycling to us.

At Pinch, we make sure all organic waste from our kitchen and events gets a second life as nutrient-rich compost. And because we love a good transformation story, we recycle glass, plastic, and aluminum at every event. Even our used cooking oil gets repurposed into cleaner-burning biodiesel.

A great party shouldn’t come with guilt,  just good vibes and a lighter footprint.

Our sustainability efforts don’t end with your party. Through Zero Foodprint, we donate 1% of event sales to help farmers transition to regenerative practices that pull carbon out of the atmosphere and back into the soil where it belongs.

In 2024, those efforts helped remove 104,000 tons of CO₂e, about the same as taking 22,500 cars off the road for a full year. And we’re proud to say we’re the only catering company in NYC that’s part of the Zero Foodprint movement (so far!). So if you’re looking for fabulous and farm friendly - I think we’re your answer!

We also work with the Earth Institute at Columbia University to calculate our carbon footprint and with Terrapass to offset it through renewable energy projects.

In 2024, our efforts neutralized 171 metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of 140 round-trip flights from NYC to L.A.. So when you host with us, you can celebrate knowing your event is completely carbon-neutral! Something you should 100% be bragging about.

We’re big believers that small, intentional choices can add up to real impact. And we know we can’t do it alone, that’s why we’re grateful for partners like Zero Foodprint, Earth Institute, and Terrapass, who help us track, reduce, and offset our footprint.

Together, we’re working toward a future where every event can be a little more climate-friendly, without losing the fun, flavor, or flair that makes a Pinch event a Pinch event.

At the end of the day, our goal is simple: throw unforgettable parties that leave behind good memories, not waste.

Whether it’s composting lemon peels, donating leftovers, or funding regenerative farms, every little thing we do helps make NYC catering more sustainable, one bite (and one party) at a time.