As you are out shopping locally this season you will need to get some nourishment to get you through the day. Why not try Monica's Waterfront Bakery and Cafe in Old Town Silverdale! They support local and/or organic suppliers when ever possible to create their yummy menu. My absolute favorite is the crab and asparagus quiche. Check out their website for hours and daily menu.
And follow them on Facebook to get daily menus and announcements. I borrowed the article below from their page about more reasons to shop local.......
Here are the "Top Ten reasons to Think Local - Buy Local - Be Local" by Sustainable Connections up in Whatcom County:
1) Buy Local -- Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms -- continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community. These include case studies showing that locally-owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.
2) Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses... I know that we are asked for donations daily, if not multiple times a day, and our charitable giving policy is a donation matching program that allows us to say yes to nearly everyone who asks. That is huge!
3) Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun -- all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit. “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust. This means us, too, with 'Staycations' always becoming more popular.
4) Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution... many of you know that we offset our carbon emissions through our Carbonfund.org partnership, and we practice what we preach by sourcing from locally owned suppliers and producers for most of our needs. We recycle, re-use and have reduced waste through conservation and good practices across the board.
5) Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents. The more successful we are the more people we can employ directly and contractually.
6) Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers. ... and I want to add that whether or not this is true for the businesses you frequent, it is almost always true that locally owned businesses are usually intimate enough that you can go to the owner with any problem and have it addressed immediately. We certainly value all feedback and respond to everything we find on the internet, though we appreciate those who come to us directly, either in person, through email or on the phone, and really give us a chance to fix it when we mess up. We are human after all, and we make mistakes. However we don't always realize those mistakes until someone lets us know about them, and we always want to learn from them and improve. Every 'complaint' is actually the gift of an opportunity to make it right and learn from it! And that attitude helps us build relationships with those in our community.
7) Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future. We belong to many local organizations, co-ops, volunteer, donate, and serve on several committees and boards.
8) Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
9) Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices. This means the more you encourage small businesses the more small businesses will be able to grow and thrive in our community.
10) Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.
Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!
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