How to Build a Sustainable Restaurant | Eater

"Led by Martha Hoover, this Indianapolis-based restaurant group grew from a single concept opened in 1989 without prior restaurant experience into an empire of multiple concepts and 14 locations, plus a foundation addressing food insecurity in Indiana. The owner credits her early naiveté for allowing her to reject traditional, often toxic industry templates and instead build a culture that prioritizes workers and community. The group pays beyond-livable wages, runs robust financial-literacy workshops, maintains a company-seeded but employee-operated emergency relief fund, and provides a 24/7 employee assistance program offering legal, psychological, and substance-use support. It also prioritizes sourcing from family farms, reporting that it supports more family farms than all other restaurants in the state combined, and ties its operational choices to environmental sustainability and community reinvestment." - Hillary Dixler Canavan