S.F. mayor urges bottled-water ban by restaurants

Nation's Restaurant News, March 31, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mayor Gavin Newsom has launched a citywide campaign to discourage restaurants from selling bottled water, citing environmental concerns.

The "Take Back the Tap" initiative does not include any proposed mandates, but would involve distribution to the city's more than 3,000 restaurants of a pamphlet titled, "How-To Guide for the San Francisco Restaurant to Switch to Tap Water."

Newsom, who founded the locally successful PlumpJack winery and restaurant group with oil heir Gordon Getty but sold his interest several years ago, pointed out that several local eateries had already stopped selling water that must be been delivered in bottles, including Berkeley's Chez Panisse and San Francisco's Incanto, Delfina and Nopa.

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