Nature, community, art, and culture come together at Wave Hill, a public garden in the Bronx and easily one of our favorite spaces to connect with nature. We’re honored to be Wave Hill’s food and beverage partner, operating the Wave Hill Cafe and catering the many events that take place onsite throughout the year. Through our partnership, food becomes another way for guests to engage with the gardens, the seasons, and the environment around them.
As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability and environmentally responsible hospitality, new initiatives across Wave Hill’s food and beverage program help reduce waste, support local businesses, and create a more thoughtful approach to everyday service.
One of the newest additions to the Wave Hill Cafe menu is the Spare Burger from Spare Food Co., an innovative and delicious burger that thoughtfully blends grass-fed beef with roasted surplus vegetables to create a more sustainable, flavorful, and juicy burger. Developed by Adam Kaye, longtime culinary director at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and co-founder of Spare Food Co., the burger was designed to address one of the food industry’s biggest challenges: food waste.
Rather than replacing beef entirely, the Spare Burger enhances it. Adam crafted a burger that uses grass-fed beef while replacing a portion of it with roasted surplus vegetables. During cooking, the vegetables absorb the juices from the meat, creating a burger that remains rich, juicy, and satisfying while incorporating ingredients that might otherwise go unused. The result is a flavorful, beef-forward burger with a lighter environmental footprint.
The Spare Burger is also designed to be more inclusive for guests with dietary restrictions. It is free of the top nine allergens, soy-free, gluten-free without the bun, dairy-free, and Halal certified. This is a burger made for all burger lovers.
The launch of the Spare Burger at Wave Hill Cafe is part of a broader sustainability effort Great Performances has been building with Wave Hill, both in the Cafe and throughout our catering operations onsite.
Recent changes include transitioning from bottled water to Open Water canned water for cafe service and Boxed Water for conferences and catered events. The cafe has also moved away from individually wrapped compostable utensils in favor of a utensil dispenser system, reducing unnecessary packaging waste while continuing to utilize compostable materials throughout service.
We’ve also partnered with several local organizations as part of our sustainability efforts and our commitment to supporting businesses that share our environmental and community values. Guests can now enjoy Buunni Coffee, a local New York roaster known for its ethical sourcing practices and community-centered mission. On weekends, the cafe also offers Kosher meals from Moss Cafe, the Riverdale-based cafe recognized for its farm-to-table philosophy and seasonal approach to food — values that strongly align with our own.
Together, these initiatives represent an ongoing effort to align hospitality operations with the environmental values that define Wave Hill and the sustainability efforts that remain central to Great Performances’ mission and core values. Whether through reducing single-use waste, minimizing food waste, or supporting local food businesses, Great Performances continues to explore how hospitality can positively impact both guests and the planet.