![]() | This biographical article is written like a résumé .(February 2022) |
Sean Meenan | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur Restaurateur |
Known for | Eco-friendly Restaurants Original Etsy Investor |
Website | http://seanmeenan.com/ |
Sean Meenan is an American entrepreneur from New York. He conceived and owns Cafe Habana in the Nolita section of Manhattan, Habana Outpost in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Habana Outpost in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Cafe Habana Malibu in Malibu, California and Cafe Habana Dubai in Dubai, UAE. He is the initial investor in Etsy [1] as well as the initial investor in The Elder Statesman (brand). [2]
Meenan is a fifth-generation New Yorker and a former amateur boxing champion. [2] [3] He had always worked in either film or restaurants before opening his own. [2] Meenan was co-owner of the restaurant Rialto prior to opening up numerous "Habana" restaurants. In 1997 he opened Café Habana in NoLita, and followed up with Habana To Go in 1998. Meenan opened New York's first solar powered restaurant, Habana Outpost, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in 2005. [4] Meenan opened two additional "Habana" restaurants in 2010 (Café Habana Malibu) [5] and 2013 (Café Habana Dubai). [2]
In addition to being a restaurateur, Meenan is also an investor in other industries. He is credited as the original investor in Etsy, with the idea for the website originating from a collaboration at his restaurant Habana Outpost. [1] Meenan is also an investor in the cashmere clothing company The Elder Statesman. [2]
Meenan's restaurants are environmentally conscious, community-driven restaurants known for educating the public about sustainability. His restaurant Habana Outpost is New York's first solar-powered restaurant and marketplace, [4] employing such eco-friendly elements as a human-powered blender, [6] rainwater harvesting to flush toilets, [7] furniture made of recycled materials, and fully compostable utensils (plates and cups made of potatoes, sugarcane and corn). [8]
Meenan has founded a 501(c)(3) called Habana Works, [9] a grassroots community organization working toward strengthening, educating and beautifying Brooklyn. [10] Through hands-on programming that spans green architecture, design, community gardens and children’s programs—all celebrating sustainable living—Habana Works provides environmental education and urban study to Brooklyn residents.
Sustainable living describes a lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint by altering their home designs and methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet. Its proponents aim to conduct their lives in ways that are consistent with sustainability, naturally balanced, and respectful of humanity's symbiotic relationship with the Earth's natural ecology. The practice and general philosophy of ecological living closely follows the overall principles of sustainable development.
Dumbo is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one situated between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another extending eastward from the Manhattan Bridge to the Vinegar Hill area. The neighborhood is bounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park to the north, the Brooklyn Bridge to the west, Brooklyn Heights to the south, and Vinegar Hill to the east. Dumbo is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2.
Alex García is a Cuban American chef who helped popularize a version of Cuban food at several New York City restaurants and on the Food Network. Born in Havana, García attended Northeastern University in Massachusetts where he earned a degree in hotel and restaurant management. García later attended the Culinary Institute of America, and Florida International University. He worked alongside chef Douglas Rodriguez for four years at Yuca restaurant in Miami. García's work in New York has included stints on the Food Network in Soho, Babalu, Patria, and Calle Ocho.
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit, aquifer, or a reservoir with percolation, so that it seeps down and restores the ground water. Rainwater harvesting differs from stormwater harvesting as the runoff is typically collected from roofs and other area surfaces for storage and subsequent reuse. Its uses include watering gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, and domestic heating. The harvested water can also be committed to longer-term storage or groundwater recharge.
The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. It operates 219 full-service restaurants: 206 under the Cheesecake Factory brand and 7 under the Grand Lux Cafe brand, not including the number of restaurants operated under the North Italia nor any of Fox Restaurant Brands' names. The Cheesecake Factory also operates two bakery production facilities—in Calabasas, California, and Rocky Mount, North Carolina—and licenses two bakery-based menus for other foodservice operators under the Cheesecake Factory Bakery Cafe marque. Its cheesecakes and other baked goods can also be found in the cafes of many Barnes & Noble stores.
Etsy Inc. is an American e-commerce company with an emphasis on the selling of handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home decor, religious items, furniture, toys, art, as well as craft supplies and tools. Items described as vintage must be at least 20 years old. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee of US$0.20 per item. Beginning in 2013, Etsy allowed sellers to sell mass-manufactured items.
Fred Wilson is an American businessman, venture capitalist and blogger. Wilson is the co-founder of Union Square Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm with investments in Web 2.0 companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Zynga, Kickstarter, Etsy and MongoDB.
Russ & Daughters is an appetizing store opened in 1914. It is located at 179 East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. A family-operated store, it has been at the same location since 1920.
Flushing Avenue is a street running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens, beginning at Nassau Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and ending at Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It divides the neighborhood of Williamsburg from Clinton Hill and East Williamsburg from Bushwick. After crossing the Queens border, the avenue serves as the dividing line between Ridgewood, Queens and West Maspeth. Flushing Avenue then terminates in Maspeth. Despite its name, however, the avenue does not extend to Flushing.
Aquavit is a Scandinavian restaurant located at 65 East 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In November 2016, an outpost was launched in London by Philip Hamilton.
Dossier Journal is an independently published and owned bi-annual arts and culture magazine. Content draws upon a wide range of subjects, including fashion features, art and photography portfolios, fiction, poetry, critical essays, interviews, recipes, crossword puzzles, articles on film, architecture, music and culinary pursuits.
Both the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom promote green building. Presently, there are already regulatory mechanisms in place that establish Britain's commitment to this kind of building construction. The government, for instance, set out a target that by 2016, all new homes will have zero carbon emission and it also includes a progressive tightening of energy efficiency regulations by 25 percent and 44 percent in 2010 and 2013, respectively. The UK Building Regulations set requirements for insulation levels and other aspects of sustainability in building construction.
Xi'an Famous Foods is a chain of fast casual restaurants based in New York City that serves Shaanxi cuisine. Xi’an Famous Foods, a family-run business with no outside investors, was founded in 2005. It has been featured in television shows such as the Cooking Channel’s Food(ography), Kelly Choi’s Eat Out NY, and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. It has also appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and others. Xi’an Famous Foods has stores in the New York boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
The River Café is a restaurant located on a former coffee barge in the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge. It has offered its own ferry service from Wall Street. Opened in 1977 by Michael O'Keeffe, who has also owned several other New York City restaurants, it was one of the first fine dining restaurants in the city to promote locally sourced and organic food, American cuisine, and high-end California wines. Heavily damaged due to Hurricane Sandy in fall 2012, it reopened in February 2014.
Luke Thomas,, is a celebrity chef, author and entrepreneur who made headlines when he was just eighteen years old, being named the youngest head chef in the United Kingdom. Thomas is the brand owner of the historic social club known as Blacks, located in a restored 18th-century Georgian townhouse in Soho London, as well as the chef-owner of Luke's Dining Room located at Sanctum on the Green, in Cookham. Thomas has also appeared as himself in a number of television shows produced in the United Kingdom, including Russell Howard's Good News, the Great British Menu and Junior MasterChef, as well as the BBC Three documentary titled Britain's Youngest Chef featuring the trials, tribulations and meteoric rise of a young Chef Luke Thomas.
The Swanston Academic building is an RMIT building designed by the architecture firm Lyons and is located on Swanston Street in Melbourne across from Peter Corrigan designed building 8 and ARM's Storey Hall. Construction began in September 2010 and was completed in September 2012. The budget for the SAB was $200,000,000. The new building contains 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft) of floor space, is 11 storeys high and provides 6 large lecture theatres for students. The colourful building is intended to reflect the cities surroundings in the façade. “The idea is to wear the ‘cloak’ of the city”.
3rd Ward was an art centric business in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was variously described in the media as an artist collective or community, a contemporary art facility, an all-encompassing work studio and art space, a finishing school for the Etsy set, and a creative mainstay. It went out of business October 9, 2013.
The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population of the New York City metropolitan area was an estimated 893,697 as of 2017, constituting the largest and most prominent metropolitan Asian national diaspora outside Asia. New York City itself contains by far the highest ethnic Chinese population of any individual city outside Asia, estimated at 628,763 as of 2017.
The White Dog Cafe is the name of four restaurants located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. The restaurants employ dog-themed decor. The first restaurant was founded in University City, Philadelphia by Judy Wicks in 1983. Noted for its commitment to local food and environmental stewardship, it became a Philadelphia institution. In 1993 Conde Nast Traveler magazine recognized the White Dog Cafe as one of "50 American restaurants worth the journey".
Louisa Shafia is an American chef and cookbook author. Her 2009 cookbook Lucid Food focuses on local and sustainable eating. The New Persian Kitchen (2013) features traditional Persian dishes as well as reinterpretations.