Best Eco-Friendly Restaurants in Omaha
This is our Eco Eats Guide, a running list of the best eco-friendly restaurants in Omaha. Every spot is Hillside-verified.
Last updated: May, 2026
You’re in Omaha. You wanna eat. But if you’re reading this, you’re probably a conscious consumer. You wanna support your belly and the environment at the same time.
We have good news for you. Omaha has a ton of eco-friendly places to eat!
Omaha may have a west vs east divide, but one thing that unites us all is our love of eating out. So we actually have a pretty insane amount of incredible places to eat.
TL;DR: The best eco-friendly restaurants in Omaha include Kitchen Table, Café Postale, Coneflower Creamery, Bánh Mì Shop, Veg.Edible, and Heirloom — alongside the other spots on this Hillside-verified guide. Every restaurant featured here composts food scraps with Hillside Solutions, the only industrial composting facility in the Greater Omaha Area, and many also recycle, source locally, or run zero-waste programs. This guide is updated regularly — last updated May 2026.
But here’s an interesting thing we’ve noticed: many of the “best places to eat in Omaha” locations are also eco-friendly. If you care enough about making incredible food, there’s a good chance you’ll wanna invest back into the systems that produce great food.
So we compiled a list of the most delicious and eco-friendly restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and caterers in Omaha. Many of them are …
Investing in local soil health by composting
Cutting down carbon emissions by sourcing locally
Practicing zero-waste methods and/or ditching single-use plastics
Here's what makes this list different: it's Hillside-verified.
We haul landfill, recycling, and compostables for local businesses, and every place on this list uses us for at least one of those services. That means we see what's in their bins and we know where it's going. We also run Soil Dynamics, the Greater Omaha Area's only industrial composting facility — so if a restaurant composts, it's coming to us. And if they're serious about sustainability, they’re probably working with us.
The bar to make this list: At a minimum, every spot composts. We also flag who's recycling, using compostable take-out, or going further with zero-waste practices.
Find them on the map
All Hillside-verified spots, mapped by category. Toggle layers in the legend to filter by use-case (coffee, casual, date night, sweets, drop-off sites, and more).
Updated whenever a new Omaha restaurant joins. Open the full map →
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Coffee & Cafés
The best eco-friendly coffee shops and cafés in Omaha include places like Café Postale, Amateur Coffee, and Archetype Coffee — among the other shops on this Hillside-verified list. Café Postale operates from a carbon-neutral building, Archetype roasts with shade-grown and direct-trade beans, and every cafe below composts their grounds with Hillside Solutions. Many also tackle single-use cups with reusable mug discounts or BYO-cup programs.
Amateur Coffee Shop
3913 Cuming St., www.amateurcoffee.com
They’ve done what no other Omaha coffee shop has done: zero-single use items. Even the to-go stuff.
Glass jars for every drink. Reusable utensils for every muffin. (Unless you bring your own). Regardless of whether you stay or go. Since 2019, they have kept 185,000 paper and plastic cups out of the landfill. If you wanna do the same, here’s the deets on the program. Add in that they make their own beans in-house and are 100% vegan, we think they probably have the smallest carbon footprint of any local coffee shop.
Because of these bold moves, we gave Amateur Coffee our 2024 “Reuse Award.” Here’s the video we played at the awards show.
Zen Coffee
Farnam Hill (Flagship location), 2504 Farnam St. // Tiffany Plaza (West), 2505 S 133rd Plz. // zencoffeecompany.com
Green America's Green Business Certification isn't easy to earn. Zen's flagship location is the only Omaha coffee shop that's done it — and they've put in the work. They compost and recycle glass at multiple locations, source fair-trade and direct-trade coffee, bake all their pastries in-house, serve dine-in drinks on real tableware, and skip straws by default (agave when you need one).
Our favorite part? They offer a cup swap program and/or give you 15% off your drink if you bring your own. Free bags of coffee grounds for your garden, too.
Lola’s
4952 Dodge Street, lolasomaha.com
Think Parisian café with many vegan, low-carbon options. They have an old-world approach to food. Making sourdough bread the slow and wholesome way. Wines that may be organic without being certified (just because that’s the way old vineyards have always done it). Seasonal produce and close ties to local farmers. Reusable dishes for dining in, compostable straws, compostable bar/cups for drinks that go into the next door theater. Clean compost bins out back and emptied wine bottles fill about 120 gallons of space each week.
They also have a downtown cafe called Fig that follows many of these same practices.
Grove Juicery
Downtown, 2401 Farnam Street / Elkhorn, 18101 Chicago Street, Aksarben 1911 S. 67th Street, thegrovejuicery.com
Omaha’s first all-organic juice shop with a zero-waste production facility. They offer a glass-jar buy-back program, and do clever reuse things like make snacks out of juice pulp (while of course composting the rest). They even use some of the compost they help create to pot the soil for their shop plants. And they have front-of-house options to recycle and compost. If you’re a health-nut, you’ll love the selection
Saddle Creek Breakfast Club
8734 Pacific St · facebook.com/SCBCOmaha
The beloved Omaha breakfast spot is keeping it sunny side sustainable — composting eggshells, coffee grounds, and food prep waste with us before the lunch rush even starts. The menu rotates with the seasons, almost everything in the kitchen is locally sourced, the coffee is Amateur Coffee (one of our top picks), and the sausage and bacon come from O'tillie (an Omaha butchery). Plus the neon-pink walls and pop music make it the brightest mood you'll catch before noon.
Located inside Countryside Village, the shopping plaza quietly has more eco-verified spots than any other Omaha neighborhood. If you want to do a one-stop eco-eat tour, this is your shortcut.
Urban Abbey
1516 Jones Street, theurbanabbey.org
A coffee shop, a bookstore, and an inclusive Sunday worship service — all in one spot. The milk comes from Nebraska cows (lower carbon footprint), the coffee is fairly sourced and locally roasted, and 10% of every coffee bar sale goes to a rotating local nonprofit. They've partnered with 30+ organizations and given away over $100,000.
Café Postale
950 S 10th Street, cafepostaleomaha.com
Rooftop solar panels plus renewable energy credits?!
That makes Café Postale a carbon-neutral building — perhaps the only Omaha restaurant that can make that claim. Inside, it's a lovely Little Italy breakfast and lunch spot with locally sourced ingredients, partnerships with other Omaha businesses, vegan options, and compostable service-ware that actually gets collected on-site (the part that matters). Bonus: those cute "newspaper" wraps for food.
Myrtle & Cypress Coffee
517 N 33rd St, and 7023 Cass St, myrtleandcypresscoffee.com
They roast on an electric fluid-bed air-roaster (cleaner than traditional drum roasting), make their own cashew milk in-house, and run a 50-cent discount when you bring your own container. They compost with us, host a Compost Club drop-off site at the Midtown location, and source locally. We know firsthand: anything Myrtle & Cypress does, they've thought about it carefully first.
Cups Café
8501 N. 30th St, nmepomaha.org
They grow their own herbs in a hydroponic garden inside the café — and you'll taste them in seasonal drinks like the Honey Bear Latte and Summer Fizz. Cups is operated by No More Empty Pots, a North Omaha nonprofit focused on food security, which means buying coffee here funds their broader mission. Locally sourced everything, locally roasted coffee, they recycle/compost, and host a Compost Club drop-off site.
Archetype Coffee
3926 Farnam St, and 1229 Millwork Ave, drinkarchetype.com
Archetype changed Omaha's coffee scene. Most of us were drinking burnt carbon until they showed up. They're sourcing from farmers using natural, non-chemical processing methods, small-batch roasting for quality and less waste, and composting all their food scraps and coffee grounds with us at two of their locations.
Roast Coffeehouse
1904 S 67th S, ahillofbeans.com
Direct-trade sourcing from farms using regenerative and organic methods, energy-efficient roasting, recyclable and compostable packaging, and a 50-cent discount when you bring your own container or reuse a bag. Roast also turns less-than-perfect beans into chocolate bark and coasters — and composts their grounds with us. Aksarben locals know it as the central spot for studious UNO students and business-casual networking vibes.
Durham Cafe
2200 Dodge Street, joslyn.org
Inside the Joslyn Museum's Conagra Brands Atrium, the Durham Cafe is run by Clean Slate Food Co. and pours Archetype Coffee — two of the most sustainability-focused names on this list, both in one spot. The menu rotates seasonally, leans plant-forward (think Mediterranean salads and lemon orzo with butter beans), and accommodates vegans and gluten-free diners by default. They recycle glass and compost pre-consumer food waste with us.
The Village Grinder
8706 Pacific St, villagegrindercoffee.com
The Countryside Village neighborhood spot — cozy, traditional, the kind of place you go for a slower morning. Daily in-house baking cuts down on packaging waste, and they compost coffee grounds and food scraps with us, recycle their cardboard shipments, and properly dispose of milk jugs and creamer bottles. Solid foundational practices, executed consistently.
Coffee Alley - Callejon del Cafe
7310 Harrison St, callejondelcafe.com
A bilingual, family-run coffee shop — women-owned and Latina-owned — that hosts neighborhood cleanups and Earth Day community events as part of how they show up locally. The eco work isn't just behind the counter; it's out in the streets. They also compost coffee grounds and leftover baked goods with us, and the panaderia-style desserts and Mexican-inspired drinks are reason enough on their own.
Fig
345 Riverfront Dr, figomaha.com
Owned and operated by the team behind Lola's Cafe — which means Fig inherits the same scratch-kitchen, locally-sourced, eco-conscious DNA. The riverfront location inside the Kiewit Luminarium is reason enough to come (pair it with the museum), and the food is among the most fun in town (get the burger). They use compostable single-use items and make every sorting stream available to guests so leftovers actually go where they belong.
Rooted Table
8705 Shamrock Rd, rootedtablecafe.com
Rooted Table built an actual food waste protocol, and you can feel it on the plate. Carrot tops become pesto. Broccoli stems go into soups. Day-old bread becomes croutons. The Countryside Village cafe is fully vegan and from-scratch, runs on flexible portion sizes (so you eat what you order), partners with local farmers who turn the scraps into compost and animal feed, and donates extra prepared food to community partners. They also use the Hefty Renew bag for hard-to-recycle plastics and compost the rest with us.
Casual Dining
The best eco-friendly casual restaurants in Omaha include places like Kitchen Table, Bánh Mì Shop, and Veg.Edible — alongside the other Hillside-verified spots below. Kitchen Table was the first restaurant in Omaha to ditch single-use plastic, Bánh Mì Shop became the first restaurant in Bellevue to compost, and Veg.Edible is Omaha's first dedicated vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free spot. Every casual restaurant on this list composts food scraps with Hillside Solutions.
Casual dining is Omaha’s preferred lane. And these are the one’s making great food and being good to our environment at the same time.
Block 16
1611 Farnam Street, block16omaha.com
This restaurant basically grows a bunch of its own food.
The owners live on a farmstead in the Loess Hills. The place sounds like a Garden of Eden: bees for pollination and honey, egg-laying hens, farm-raised pork, and goats for weed control. Fruit trees, berry bushes, and a summer garden with all the produce, herbs, and edible flowers you could conjure. Since farming is a seasonal endeavor, they also have a geothermal greenhouse. Boom! Year-round produce like lemon, orange, banana, and fig trees. And for the extra credit: they're doing this on land that's been in the family for 100 years.
Kitchen Table
1415 Farnam St, kitchentableomaha.com
Kitchen Table was the first Omaha restaurant to ditch plastic and switch to compostable serviceware — back when nobody else was doing it. They were also one of our OG composting partners. Today, they keep weekly partnerships with farms like Long Walk Farm (beets, greens, and seasonal produce), and accept "ugly" produce that other restaurants would reject. The kind of “slow food” place that's been quietly setting the standard for over a decade.
Noli’s Pizzeria
4001 Farnam Street, nolispizzeria.com
One of our original composting partners! Noli’s was early to the eco-movement, paving the way as one of the first to offer front-of-house recycling and composting to customers. Meaning that you can have a zero-waste dining experience when you put all your items in the right bins. And they source local and seasonal when they can.
Mootz Pizza
8725 Shamrock Rd, mootzpizzaomaha.com
Arguably the best pizza in the Westside district & easy on the planet. They toss pizza, compost food waste, and recycle Coke bottles. Slice up sustainability!
Bánh Mì Shop
923 Galvin Rd S #101, Bellevue, thebanhmis.com
The first restaurant in Bellevue to compost — and the only one as far as we know. The Bánh Mì Shop also hosts a Compost Club drop-off site, so neighbors can divert their food scraps. They sell reusable Bumblers for boba tea (cuts down on the single-use cup pile), prioritize local and low-waste sourcing, and recycle cardboard and other materials with us. And of course the sandwhiches are amazing, as they bake bread in-house and make their own mayo and pickle their own daikon and carrots.
Vitality Bowls
1922 S 67th St, vitalitybowls.com
While Vitality Bowls has a ton of locations around the country, we can vouch that this Aksarben Village location is giving us all the banana peels and fruit peelings we can handle. It’s a fast-casual spot with super-duper healthy options. Best açaí bowls we've had. Vitality Bowls leans into the zero-waste mindset most fast-casual chains don't bother with: strawberries nearing peak get frozen for smoothies instead of tossed, mistake bowls get eaten by staff, organic superfoods are the standard, and they'll use imperfect-shaped produce instead of rejecting it.
Clean Slate Food Co.
1233 Millwork Ave (Ashton Building, Millwork Commons) · cleanslatefoodco.com
Three businesses under one roof: a Millwork Commons cafe serving made-to-order breakfast and lunch, a weekly meal delivery service that drops insulated cooler bags at your door across Nebraska every Sunday, and a catering operation that also runs the Durham Cafe at the Joslyn (also on this list). Locally sourced, scratch-cooked, with a dedicated 100% plant-based menu alongside the omnivorous one. They compost their food waste with us, recycle what they can, and use certified compostable to-go containers. The reusable delivery cooler bags get picked up the next order.
Veg.Edible
2740 N 61st St · eatvegedible.com
Nebraska's first dedicated vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free eatery — with soy-free options on top. Owner Stacie Van Cleave opened the Benson spot in 2023 to make allergen-friendly food a default, not an afterthought. The menu is full comfort food: Veg Head Nachos, the Matty Melt (Beyond burger with cheddar, sauerkraut, and Matt Sauce), Baffalo Chick'N Salad — plus a daily pastry case with cookies, brownies, cupcakes, donuts, and mini loaves. By going fully plant-based, they cut serious greenhouse gas emissions, water, and land use compared to a typical kitchen. They compost food prep waste, recycle cans and cardboard, and use eco-friendly packaging.
Fine Dining & Date Night Drinks
The best eco-friendly date-night and fine-dining spots in Omaha include Au Courant, Koji, and Le Bouillon — among the other Hillside-verified restaurants below. Au Courant builds tasting menus around hyper-local, in-season produce; Koji provides small plates from David Utterback (the James Beard finalist behind Yoshitomo); and Le Bouillon anchors Old Market with classic French cuisine and a long-standing composting program. Every restaurant in this section composts with Hillside Solutions.
Dolomiti Pizzeria
1105 N 13th Street, www.pizzadolomiti.com
Chef Tim Maides runs this restaurant like a Mediterranean grandma from the 1800’s. Not because it’s an Instagram-worthy moment. Just because it’s how he lives his life (like an old nonna knee-deep in the garden).
Think “scratch kitchen” model where ingredients are local (because that’s where the best flavors are). Sourdough crust they hand make using organic local grains (because it tastes better). Reusable dishware when dining-in (because the dining experience is better). Plus, all wine bottles are recycled. They use digital menus to cut down on paper waste. They source half of their ingredients domestically or locally. They make relationships with their farmers who grow organically and prioritize seasonal ingredients.
Au Courant — Benson
6064 Maple St · aucourantrestaurant.com
Watch the loop close in real time at Au Courant. They compost their food waste with us. We turn it into soil. We sell that soil to Stream Meadows, an organic tomato farm. Stream Meadows sells those tomatoes back to Au Courant. Au Courant cooks them and composts the trim with us. The same atoms, cycling through Omaha's food system. Watch the documentary →
Avoli Osteria
5013 Underwood Ave, avoliosteria.com
One of those places you go when you're ready to spend money and get blown away by Northern Italian fine dining. Just happens the chef drives an electric car and is a serious recycler and composter — the same care he puts into the food shows up in how he runs the place. Pasta made fresh in-house daily, weekly menu rotation tied to what's actually in season, and a real range of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. They compost and recycle glass with us.
Herbe Sainte
1934 South 67th Street, herbesainteomaha.com
Fancy casual hip spot for southern flare & killer cocktails. Plus our compost piles go nuts for leftover grits. Bonus points: they recycle more glass bottles than any other Aksarben Village restaurant.
Fizzy's Fountain & Liquors
1408 S 13th St, fizzysomaha.com
Imagine a 1950s soda fountain, but for adults. Boozy shakes with Fernet Branca. Wagyu burgers. Orders placed on the corded phones hanging in your booth. To reduce carbon footprint (and have delicious food) the Little Italy spot makes their own sodas, syrups, and infusions in-house, sources local beef from Jon's Naturals, coffee from Archetype (on our list), and ice cream from Coneflower (also on our list). Cherry on top: they compost and recycle glass with us.
Le Bouillon — Old Market
1017 Howard St · lebouillonomaha.com
French-inspired Old Market gem that loads us up with carts of food waste every week — and yes, give us all those clamshells. Chef Paul Kulik (a James Beard Outstanding Wine Program semifinalist) runs a seasonal menu sourced from local producers, with a daily oyster happy hour at the raw bar that's worth the trip alone. The cassoulet, the steak frites, the French onion — proper comfort food from rural France, executed at the level you'd expect from one of Omaha's most-awarded kitchens. Pair the meal with a bottle from the attached Howard Street Wine Merchant or duck into Mon Cave for a nightcap. They compost and recycle glass with us.
Koji
8718 Pacific St · izakayakoji.com
Sushi, yakitori, and small plates from David Utterback (the James Beard finalist behind Yoshitomo). The restaurant is named for koji, the fermented mold that gives miso and soy sauce their depth, and the kitchen leans into that same patient, intentional approach across the whole menu. Yakitori grilled slowly over charcoal, fish broken down to its last edible piece, vegetables sourced fresh and used carefully. What's left over comes back to the earth — they compost with us.
Sage Student Bistro
5730 N 30th St, Bldg 22, Metropolitan Community College · mccneb.edu/sage-student-bistro
Omaha's only restaurant-as-classroom — and one of the most serious fine-dining eco-operations on this list. Sage is the working bistro inside MCC's Institute for Culinary Arts, where one of the top-15 culinary programs in the country runs. The building is LEED-certified, the dining room uses real dishware (with certified compostables for takeout), and the kitchen sends us around 2,000 pounds of food scraps every week — test kitchen waste, catering trim, dinner service, all of it. Sustainability is built into the curriculum the same way knife skills are. Hillside speaks once a semester to a group of students.
Inkwell
8716 Pacific St · inkwellbar.com
A literary-themed cocktail bar three feet from Koji's front door — the natural pre-dinner stop. Owner Tyler Schaeffer learned his craft tending bar in Miami and LA, then brought a curated drinks program back to Omaha. House-made ginger beer (jalapeño, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla — force-carbonated overnight), reimagined classics, and bartenders who'll build a bespoke cocktail off your flavor profile if you'd rather not order from the menu. They recycle glass with us, which for a craft cocktail bar means a lot of bottles.
Cedar
8726 Countryside Plaza · cedaromaha.com
Where upscale meets cozy. Owner Nick O'Connor opened Cedar in 2015 as a neighborhood lounge focused on the details — vintage HiFi sound system, 400 vinyl albums on rotation, low lighting, local art on the walls, all-natural cocktails. The bar runs a robust wine-by-the-glass list (10 reds and whites), 30 beers in bottles and cans, and a curated cocktail program. They recycle glass with us — and for a wine and cocktail bar, that's a meaningful pile of bottles.
The Casual Pint
8718 Countryside Plaza · countrysidevillage.thecasualpint.com
Owners Dave and Becca Vannier brought The Casual Pint concept back to Omaha after falling for it in Knoxville. The Countryside Village spot pours 30 rotating craft beers on tap and stocks 200+ cans and bottles, plus flatbread pizzas, pretzels with house-made beer cheese, and a rotating mystery beer that's free if you guess the brand. The "BeerTenders" know their stuff — first time with craft beer or twentieth, they'll guide you through. They recycle glass with us and compost their drink garnishes, which on a 30-tap operation adds up.
Duck Duck Bottle Shop
4917 Underwood Ave (Dundee) · duckduckbottleshop.com
Chloe Fortina and Casey Fictum converted a 100-year-old Dundee yard into what they call a "third place" — outdoor bar, performance stage for live music and poetry, and a basement that doubles as a bottle-and-bookstore nook (a quiet tribute to Dundee Book Company, which closed nearby). They came out of the gate with what's probably the most nature-friendly wine and tea list in the city — every producer vetted for their commitment to protecting the environment and wildlife. Their to-go cups are the only truly plastic-free cups we've seen in Omaha, no plastic liner or film, with the cap built into the cup so there's no separate plastic lid. They use all our services from day one: compost, glass recycling, conventional recycling. Hard to think of another spot that had this many eco-practices locked in before opening.
Bakeries and Sweet Treats
The best eco-friendly bakeries and ice cream shops in Omaha include Coneflower Creamery, Conscious Comforts, and Ted & Wally's — alongside the other Hillside-verified spots below. Coneflower has been named Yelp's #1 ice cream shop in America and sources from local dairies; Conscious Comforts is a 100% vegan catering company; and Ted & Wally's runs its Benson scoop shop with composting and locally sourced ingredients. Every bakery and sweet shop on this list composts with Hillside Solutions.
Indulge your guilty pleasures while not feeling guilty about the environment.
Conscious Comforts
2320 Keystone Drive · consciouscomforts.com
A 100% vegan catering company and wholesale bakery — co-owned by Lauren Wright and Alexis Jensen, who've been at this since 2019. They started as a pop-up serving allergen-friendly nostalgic comfort food (deep-dish pizza, Nunzas — yes, vegan and gluten-free Runzas — pop tarts, cinnamon rolls, decadent cakes) and built a serious customer base for people who'd given up on those flavors after going vegan or gluten-free. Pickup and delivery four days a week, plus pop-ups at venues across the metro. They compost all pre-consumer food waste with us and host a Compost Club drop-off site.
Ted & Wally's — Benson
6023 Maple St, tedandwallys.com
Long before the craft, small-batch ice cream craze emerged, Ted & Wally's was showing us what good ice cream should taste like. They've been at it in Nebraska since 1984 — slow-churned the old-fashioned way in antique White Mountain freezers, made from scratch with no additives or artificial growth hormones. Milk and cream come from local farms within 100 miles of Omaha, and the rest of their ingredient list reads like a who's-who of local farms and producers: Benson Bounty's urban farm just down the street (mint, mulberries, elderberries), ShadowBrook Farm's Dutch Girl Creamery, Honey Creek Creamery, It's All About Bees in Ralston. The Benson location composts and recycles glass with us.
Happy Mango Bakery
9635 Giles Road, La Vista, happymangobakery.com
Yes, the baked goods are very sweet and very delicious. And yes, they recycles plastic, packaging, and shipping boxes religiously, offers gluten-friendly and dairy-free options on request, and composts with us.
But our favorite part? They donate day-old baked goods, free, available for any neighbor who needs one through La Vista bakery's Community Table program. And just to toss this in, Happy Mango sources from local women-owned partners (Nurtured Dough Co, Dough & Co, Sprinkle Joy),
Coneflower Creamery
Blackstone (3921 Farnam St) and Millwork Commons (1207 N 13th St) · coneflowercreamery.com
It's not the cow, it's the how. And how you gonna pass up this dairy dreamboat when you know they're composting 100% of pre-consumer food waste? Coneflower's "farm-to-cone" sourcing isn't a slogan — milk comes from a Hartington dairy, aronia berries from an Omaha farm, root beer from a local brewery, and produce from family farms across the Mighty Mo in Iowa. Everything is made in-house: the cones, the sauces, the toppings. They compost 100% of their pre-consumer waste with us. Extra credit: Yelp once named them the #1 ice cream shop in America.
Camille's Bakery
8717 Countryside Plaza · camillesbakery.com
Known for mouthwatering baked goods and inventive savory dishes (the carrot cake gets the most love, but the birria tacos are no joke), Camille's Bakery makes sustainability part of the recipe. They recycle baking spray cans, glass bottles, and cardboard ingredient packaging, and they compost eggshells, flour spills, pastry scraps, and bread with us. At Camille's, reducing waste is just as important as rising dough.
Rebel Rise GF Bistro & Bakery
11039 Elm St (Rockbrook Village) · rebelrisegf.com
Talk about a bakery and bistro that operates from the heart! Beth Gregory started baking gluten-free at home after a celiac diagnosis — and after four of her six adopted kids were diagnosed too. After years of testing, she'd cracked the code. Rebel Rise is a 100% gluten-free scratch kitchen, celiac-safe, no cross-contact, no shared surfaces. Donuts, sourdough, cinnamon rolls, breakfast, lunch, dinner — all of it built from the ground up gluten-free, with vegan options labeled alongside dairy, eggs, soy, and nuts. Beth also leads Fostering by Heart, a nonprofit supporting youth aging out of foster care. Plus, they compost with us!
Catering
The best eco-friendly caterers in Omaha include Catering Creations, Patricia Catering, and Heirloom — alongside No More Empty Pots and the other Hillside-verified caterers below. Catering Creations and Patricia Catering both achieve 90%+ event-waste diversion through composting and recycling programs, and Heirloom duplicates its eco-practices across both its catering kitchen on 72nd & Cass and its market in Millwork Commons. Every caterer on this list composts events with Hillside Solutions, the only industrial composting facility in the Greater Omaha Area.
Events produce a lot of waste. But it doesn’t have to. These are the local catering services that get the eco-approval.
Catering Creations
1915 Jackson St., cateringcreations.com
Omaha's first and only zero-waste caterer. Catering Creations diverts 90%+ of event waste from landfill by treating it as a resource: food scraps and uneaten leftovers go to industrial composting, surplus prepared food goes to Saving Grace for food banks and shelters, and fiber, glass, plastic, and metal all get recycled. In 2023 alone, they kept nearly 14 tons of material out of the landfill. When you book them, upgrade to the zero-waste package — they handle the compostable serviceware, the on-site sorting bins, and the staff training so guests don't have to think about it.
For all this great work, we gave them our 2023 “Resilience Award” at the Hillsides Award Ceremony. You can view the video here.
Patricia Catering
436 Galvin Rd N, Bellevue, patriciacatering.com
Our very first catering partnership and Bellevue’s first-and-only zero-waste caterer. Since 2019, they use 100% compostable plates and cups, runs a five-bin sorting system at events for only a $75 upcharge, and partners with us for hauling.
But our favorite part? The head chef gets some of the finished compost back, then uses it to grow herbs used in their food.
No More Empty Pots — Catering & Event Spaces
8501 N 30th St · nmepomaha.org
NMEP coordinates food for your event from the local food entrepreneurs renting their North Omaha commercial kitchens — meaning every booking funds culinary training, food security work, and small business incubation in the neighborhood. They've also got six rentable event spaces under one roof: a rooftop garden, the Cups Cafe community room, conference rooms, a kids' kitchen, and a training room at the Greenhouse on N. 30th. Available as catering only or paired with a venue. And our favorite part? Based on request, you can source greens from their own greenhouse, which includes hydroponic goodies. And all the food entrepreneurs have access to NMEP’s extensive recycling and composting infrastructure.
Heirloom Catering, Cafe, and Market
Catering kitchen: 72nd & Cass · heirloomff.com // Cafe & market: 1210 Nicholas St · heirloomffmarket.com
Lots of Omaha food concepts have multiple locations. Few duplicate their eco-practices across all of them. Heirloom does. Their catering kitchen on 72nd & Cass and their cafe and market inside Millwork Commons both compost coffee grounds and food prep waste, host a Compost Club drop-off site, and prioritize sourcing from local, low-waste, and ethical vendors. Same standard, two locations.
Composting at home is the next step.
Reading about restaurants composting is one thing. Doing it yourself is another. Compost Club gives you the option to drop-off at 60+ sites or get your yard waste and food scraps picked up weekly from your curb — just like the places on this guide.
Meet the Compost Club →Already a member? Forward this to a friend.
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An eco-friendly restaurant in Omaha typically composts food scraps, recycles glass and metals, sources locally where possible, and minimizes single-use plastic. Every restaurant on this guide composts with Hillside Solutions, the only industrial composting facility in the Greater Omaha Area, and many go further with carbon-neutral buildings, reusable cup programs, or zero-waste catering.
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All of the restaurants on this Hillside-verified guide compost food scraps with Hillside Solutions. That includes coffee shops, casual restaurants, fine-dining spots, bakeries, ice cream shops, and caterers across the Greater Omaha Area.
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Yes — Veg.Edible is Omaha's first dedicated vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free restaurant. Several other restaurants on this guide also offer strong plant-based menus, including Grove Juicery and Lola’s Cafe.
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The most recognized eco-friendly caterers in Omaha include Catering Creations and Patricia Catering, both of which achieve 90%+ event waste diversion. Heirloom Catering and No More Empty Pots are also Hillside-verified eco-conscious options.
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Yes. Hillside Solutions' Compost Club offers weekly curbside pickup of food scraps and yard waste, plus a drop-off options using 60+ sites around the Greater Omaha Area. It's the same composting service that all the restaurants on this guide use.
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This guide is updated regularly as new restaurants join the Hillside-verified list or update their eco-practices. The current version was last updated April 2026.