Our Philosophy
service
Inclusion
Conversational Atmosphere
The Watershed arose out of millions of conversations we’ve had with friends and bosses over the years, peer bartenders, customers, environmental and social justice activists, and every day people. Our conversational atmosphere is established and maintained to foster a space where more of those conversations can take place. Believing as we do that the bedrock of democracy is our ability to speak with one another, we conscientiously observe the limit on the number of guests set by the fire code and do not host any performances or live music of any kind during business hours. Large groups and loud parties will not be accomodated.
The Watershed does regular trainings in sexual harassment prevention, NARCAN administration, Mental Health First Aide, as well as Barstander and equity trainings to combat racist, sexist, and LGBTQI+ antagonistic policies and conventions that are endemic to the American service industry.
Responsible Alcohol Service
At the Watershed we prioritize the enjoyment of our diverse clientele over intoxication. We are conscious that alcohol is not for everyone, and so we balance our menu with many non-alcoholic offerings as well as a stringent policy on not serving alcohol to visibly intoxicated people.
An extension of this policy is our consciousness that alcohol consumption in our society has a myriad of negative impacts, not least the harrowing statistic that 90% of sexual assaults and rapes entail the consumption of alcohol. Taking this problem with the utmost seriousness, we partnered with Naomi Barry at the Advocacy Center to train our staff in an innovative and timely “Barstander intervention” program, preparing us as bartenders to intervene in unwanted interactions and deescalate potentially dangerous situations. Since the Watershed’s first staff training in October, 2016 the Barstander program has become an industry standard in Ithaca nightlife, raising the expectations around the best and safest practices in bars and venues city wide.
Collaboration
The Watershed is an owner-operated DBA of GDAM Industries, Inc. Partners Dave Thomas and Ashley Cake run the bar while Gideon Stone and Michael Barnoski of Trade Design Build designed and built both the Watershed and The Downstairs draft bar. Collaborations between the partners and the building owner, John Guttridge of Urban Core, LLC are materially responsible for the existence of the Watershed in its central business location. Our many partnerships with local purveyors and vendors fill out the day to day commerce of the Watershed’s hospitality offerings, most notably Ithaca Bakery, Lively Run Dairy, the Piggery, and many others.
Our most important, everyday collaborations are with our talented bartenders, and we work very hard to provide our staff with opportunities to hone their skills and develop professionally in a supportive environment. At the Watershed we guarantee our bartenders a living wage and are certified living wage employers through the Tompkins County Workers’ Center program made possible by the AFCU living wage study, the first bar in Tompkins County to do so.
Finally, in a nod to our peers and comrades in the service industry, we offer a 20% discount to food and beverage professionals from 11pm to 1am, seven days a week.
Sustainability
According to the USDA, 30 to 40% of the American food supply goes to waste, an estimated 31% at the retail level. The consequences of this prevailing culture of consumption and disposability are not limited to the 250 million tons of trash we produce every year, but extend through to the lives of people existing at or near the margins, those with not enough to get by. Currently there are more than 42 million Americans – including 13 million children – living with food insecurity, not knowing where their next meal is going to come from.
Given that the more common bar model generates a tremendous amount of trash and food waste, the Watershed is committed to a different way of operating. We are very fortunate in Ithaca to have a robust recycling and composting infrastructure, and so we saw a unique opportunity to build a bar that would aim to get as close to zero waste as possible.
First, we do not use fresh citrus fruit or juice at the Watershed as citrus cannot be produced locally and has to be shipped from as far away as South America in the winter, often at great expense. In addition, the volume of juice required for craft cocktail service wastes hundreds of pounds of fruit hulls per month. Our cocktail list is curated to feature the many drinks that do not require fresh citrus and are garnished with pure citrus oils, extracts, and sodas processed in facilities closer to the source and utilizing more of the whole fruit.
Second, we do not use ice for drink preparation. It is a counter-intuitive fact that each shaken or stirred cocktail generates around four pounds of “dirty ice” which in most cases goes immediately down the sink. Instead of using ice to chill and dilute our cocktails, the liquors are chilled in a refrigerator and precise amounts of ice water are added to the cocktail like any other ingredient. This innovation also makes drink service faster and more efficient, so the customer can get back to their conversations more quickly.
Third, we do not stock disposable napkins or straws, we do not print paper menus or serve our drinks with inedible garnishes. Our food program is coordinated to manage perishability and proximity, as collaborating with vendors close by not only supports the local economy but allows us to cut down on disposable packaging and transport costs. Whatever food is in danger of perishing is donated down the street to Loaves & Fishes. Fourth and finally, we have tremendous support from John Guttridge and David Kuckuk of Urban Core in setting up the brand new utilities of our beautiful building to be as efficient as possible. All of these strategies paired with a lot of recycling and a few gallons of compost each week means that the Watershed generates less than a pound of trash per day.
Since the Watershed opened in 2016, assisted and assessed by Tompkins County Recycling and Materials Management, we have been able to divert 98% of our waste from the landfills (check out the assessment report here). In 2017 The Watershed’s business practices won the Signs of Sustainability Award along with Brookton’s Market, Good to Go, and Edible Acres. We continue to strive toward lessening the impact of our establishment on the environment and participating in community initiatives to highlight Zero Waste practices benefiting everyone.
