If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on Demonbreun (who hasn’t?), there’s a good chance 1 Hotel Nashville’s verdant exterior has at some point caught your gaze. Covered in English ivy, the luxury hotel offers a striking oasis in an otherwise-bustling city. Its leafy decor doesn’t just provide a visual distinction from its surroundings — it plays an active role in our city’s ecosystem, removing carbon dioxide from the air downtown. “It could clean the air in a 750-foot room seven times a day,” says Tyler Lee, executive chef for hotel restaurant 1 Kitchen.
In a market rampant with greenwashing, 1 Hotel doesn’t use gimmicks to earn business. Rather, health, wellness and nature are central to guests' experiences — upon entry, a farm stand greets you, offering fresh fruit picked from local farms. From the food you devour to the pillow where you rest your head, many aspects of your 1 Hotel stay are environmentally beneficial. 1 Kitchen’s Italian-inspired farm-to-table experience, Harriet’s rooftop ambiance and Asian tapas, and Neighbors’ nourishing snacks and beverages all offer high-quality food with minimal environmental impact. “Sustainability, to me, isn’t a feature,” Tyler says. “It’s the foundation of how we build our culinary program.”
Waste-Free Hospitality
Tyler moved to Nashville in 2018 when sustainability practices were “under the radar.” Since then, 1 Hotel Nashville has become a guiding force for the movement, proudly implementing a zero-waste model. Minimal packaging, a robust composting initiative and recyclable aluminum water bottles help make this possible. Tyler attests that every kitchen corner features multiple compost bins, which are collected by The Compost Co. But the four Rs of recycling don’t stop there.
After guests enjoy their morning coffee, chefs harvest the leftover grounds and turn them into espresso syrup, which later fuels the restaurant’s ever-popular espresso martinis. The team’s desire to maximize every resource even applies to cooking scraps. For instance, Tyler and other chefs transform leftover carrot tops into a carrot salsa verde, allowing guests to savor the full flavor of the vegetable. “We’re able to build a good-quality product for ourselves, purely from something that was normally going to go to the garbage,” he says.
Through partnerships with local farmers, 1 Hotel’s culinary team carefully sources food for each restaurant and educates guests about its process. A few of these farmers include Sylvia Ganier from Green Door Gourmet and Samantha Foulks from The Farm & The Fiddle in Fly, Tenn. “Knowing that we can go to the farms, see how everything’s going, taste right off the vine, check what they’re doing in their own farming practices — making sure they align with us — has been such a blessing,” Tyler says.
Education and Innovation
If you ever get the chance to chat with Tyler, he’ll likely tell you education is a crucial part of sustainability. Through a collaboration with Urban Green Lab, a nonprofit that teaches Nashvillians how to live sustainably, 1 Hotel serves as a prime resource. The goal is to create fun, accessible experiences — and teach people things in the process. Last spring, for example, several chefs hosted a zero-waste culinary competition where they crafted delicious, creative dishes using beets as the central ingredient. “It’s never been about restriction,” Tyler says. “I think it’s more of our responsibility and pushing creativity. It allows us to be better leaders [and] neighbors overall.”
In late June, 1 Kitchen participated in Green Crab Week. The highly invasive European crustacean can destroy entire ecosystems in weeks — despite being the mere size of a $1 bill. While these pesky little creatures are destructive, they’re also delicious — inspiring 1 Kitchen chefs to incorporate them in a rich, one-week-only green crab pasta dish.
This consistent innovation, research and improvement is central to 1 Hotel’s mission. “Sustainability really thrives on different iterations,” Tyler says. “I think the guests appreciate the honesty of progress more than a normal, polished narrative.” To see this growth in action, look no further than the property’s Certified Sustainable Gatherings, which ensure on-site celebrations are entirely waste-free. The program has taken off and continues to expand, implying a fruitful future for 1 Hotel — and the team’s fresh ideas.
What’s to Come
Tyler is especially passionate about an upcoming initiative where staff will visit with local farmers to film an informative video showcasing foods harvested locally and served at 1 Hotel restaurants. The video will be accessible via a QR code on every menu, enabling guests to discover precisely where their food is coming from.
The property’s new on-site beehives are also worthy of excitement. The two hives, aptly named “Reba” and “Dolly,” will help the local ecosystem prosper and facilitate homegrown honey in the middle of downtown. “One’s a little more feisty than the other,” Tyler says. “I’ll let you determine whether it’s Reba or Dolly.”
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