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Paint a Pumpkin 2022

Thursday, October 27, 2:30p – 5p at La Vita Dolce

Join us on Thursday, Oct 27 for our 8th annual Paint a Pumpkin event! We’ll have everything you need – pumpkins, paint, brushes, and all the seasonal treats!

No reservations or tickets – just show up ready to get festive and enjoy Spiced Pumpkin or Apple Chai Lattes, award-winning Pumpkin Pie gelato, pumpkin bread, and more!

We’ll continue until 5p or until we run out of pumpkins! It’s $7 for a pumpkin and all the paint you need. All ages welcome – we’ll have plenty of tables!

Paint a Pumpkin at La Vita Dolce event

Farewell to Erin (with free gelato)

Thursday, July 21, 1:00P to 3:00P

Erin, our beloved Manager, has been at La Vita Dolce since we opened our doors over 7 years ago. She’ll be leaving for a new job in the nonprofit sector later this month, and we want to send her out with what is both a farewell event and also a celebration of all she has done for La Vita Dolce, and all of our stakeholders. Because it’s really so much.

Join us Thursday, July 21 from 1pm to 3pm on one of Erin’s last days to say goodbye, hear what’s next for her — and enjoy a FREE gelato while you do! No ticket or RSVP  required — just drop in and help us send Erin off with lots of love!

School’s Out Gelato Party!

Tuesday, June 7, 2:30-5p

Celebrate the beginning of summer vacation with us on Tuesday, June 7, 2:30-5p, at our School’s Out Gelato Party!

We’ll have a gelato topping bar, a raffle, and patio games set up for kids!

It’s $5 + tax for a scoop of made-in-house vanilla or chocolate gelato plus your choice of any and all of the toppings at our self-serve topping bar. No tickets needed, just show up and enjoy!

Paint A Pumpkin 2021

Thursday, Oct 21, 2:30-5p

kids painting pumpkins at La Vita Dolce

Fall is here and it’s time for one of our 7th annual Paint a Pumpkin event!!

We supply everything you need — pumpkins and paint to those Spiced Pumpkin Lattes with real pumpkin and ground spices, Pumpkin Pie gelato, and more — you just show up ready to get your paint on!

No reservations or tickets needed, but we recommend arriving on the earlier side to ensure we still have pumpkins — we go until we run out! One pumpkin and paint is $6 + tax.

All ages are welcome and we will have an extended patio set up for painting. So bring the kids, your friends and their kids, or just yourself and get in the seasonal spirit with us on Thursday, October 21, 2:30 – 5p!

Paint a Pumpkin 2020

Tuesday, October 27, 2-4p or 4-6p

Smiling girl painting pumpkin

We’re keeping the seasonal spirit (BOO!) alive, even in the craziness that is 2020! Our 6th annual Paint a Pumpkin event is coming up next week, and this year there are a few changes…

 In order to make the event as safe and smooth as possible, we’re requiring reservations and breaking the event into two time slots on Tuesday, October 27th, either 2-4p or 4-6p. Here’s how it works:

  1. Head to http://www.lavitadolcecafe.com/order-online/ to choose a ticket for either 2-4p or 4-6p.  (Click the button and then tickets are located at the bottom of the order page.)
  2. Buy one ticket PER PUMPKIN you’d like to paint! Make sure to include your email address when purchasing so we can send you information and reminders about the event. Each purchase — whether it’s one ticket or more — will get 1 reserved table. So if you need to social distance from another painter who isn’t in your “quarantine pod,” be sure to purchase those tickets separately.
  3. On October 27, arrive during your time slot (we recommend arriving within the first hour to have plenty of painting time!), give your name to a crew member, and we’ll provide everything you need: your pumpkin(s), paint, and brushes!

Seasonal drinks and treats (think Spiced Pumpkin Lattes, creamy hot chocolates, Spiced Apple Chai Lattes, pumpkin gelato, and more!) will be available to fuel your creativity!

Masks are required unless seated and all tables and art supplies will be disposable or disinfected between uses.

Composting Impact: Year in Review

La Vita Dolce Compost Year in Review Infographic

From Coffee Grounds to Much More

Over two years ago, La Vita Dolce began composting. We started by donating coffee grounds to the Mary Scroggs Elementary School garden. After several months, we started working with Orange County Waste Management to educate ourselves and develop a more structured and comprehensive program. We established a compost pick up station for La Vita Dolce, and started composting all food waste and some other materials, which were picked up twice per week.

Then, a little over a year ago, we got more serious about our commitment to composting by changing our supply chain. We switched almost all all of our single use containers to compostable options (eg. hot cups and lids, cold cups and lids, straws, stirrers, coffee carriers, and more). We shared about this step in our post from February 2019. The main driver for the change was that, as a business, we have a commitment to operate in a way that adds value for all stakeholders, the environment included. So we started doing more for this silent stakeholder.

For over a year now, La Vita Dolce has been composting almost all of our waste. Our pickup station, which started with one large bin, now has four to six large bins, and we’ve educated ourselves to make sure our program doesn’t just make us feel good, but is actually effective. We learned that certain materials, like corrugated cardboard, should still be recycled rather than composted, while all food waste and food packaging like cups that have food/drink residue on them should be composted.

Annual Impact

Orange County Waste Management and Brooks Contractors (who contracted with Orange County to pick up our compost waste twice per week) have been amazing partners. They’ve even helped us track our impact.

Over the past year, as shown in the infographic above:

  • La Vita Dolce contributed over 26,395 pounds of waste to Orange County’s composting program. That’s more than 500 lbs each week!
  • We saved, directly or indirectly, approximately $1,333 in waste hauling and disposal costs.
  • The amount of waste La Vita Dolce composted saved approximately 12 tons in greenhouse gas emissions.

What’s even more amazing is the bigger picture: the impact across Orange County as more businesses and individuals compost.

Over the past year, the Orange County Waste Management’s Composting program diverted 1,025 tons (2.05 million pounds) of compostable waste from landfills, contributing to production of 25,000 tons of Class A compost. Overall, the program saved about 900 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to removing 2,300 cars from the road for a year.

Education, Awareness, and Ease

In addition to using compostable materials and having a compost bin in front and back of house, we also need to make sure we educate our community and customers about optimal disposal and make it easy for them to compost when possible.

We’ve done things such as test different signage to see what is most effective in getting customers to choose the compost bin when appropriate, without having to think too much about it. We’ve tried to unobtrusively educate customers about what they should compost vs. recycle (all of our cups, lids, straws, and food scraps should be composted). When we switched to compostable cold cups, lids, and straws, we told every customer that who got a drink in these cups that the whole thing was compostable when they were done. We’ve also tried to use cups that are not only compostable, but that clearly state this status on the cup so customers can check and see.

Our crew’s commitment

La Vita Dolce’s employees deserve a lot of the credit for the positive changes we’ve made. They’ve been huge supporters of our composting and waste elimination efforts, not only in customer-facing ways, but behind the scenes as well. They’ve eliminated their use of plastic grocery bags when purchasing for the café, and continually suggest ways the business can do better. They push me to do more and we probably wouldn’t have taken the steps we have if not for their encouragement.

I’m proud of our efforts so far, but I also know there’s more we can do. We hope to have a greater positive impact in the coming year — and I know our staff will keep encouraging progress.

Continuing effort and education

The education I’ve received as owner of La Vita Dolce, and the continual encouragement of my staff, has also changed my behavior as an individual. Since businesses produce so much more waste than individuals, I knew it was critical for us as a business to do better. But our efforts at work have made it abundantly clear that I, as an individual outside of work, can make dozens of decisions that are better for the environment every day, too.

I’ve learned to always pause before throwing anything in the trash and check labels (which unfortunately aren’t always straightforward). I’ve learned a lot about what is compostable and what isn’t, and which materials are better to compost vs. recycle when you can do either.

The most important lesson I’ve learned is that it’s all about setting myself up to make make environmentally positive decisions with ease throughout the day. The easier it is for me to make good decisions, the more often I make them, and the more I strengthen new, better habits.

But it needs to be so easy. Like, absurdly easy. No matter what I tell myself I will do, the fact is that in the moment I’m often rushed, forgetful, or just freaking lazy. So I have to set myself up to still make the right decisions with as little effort as possible in the moment.

Simple things — such as putting my reusable bags back in my car immediately after unloading groceries (rather than having to get them from my house when I’m frantically leaving for the store), having an easily accessible compost bin in any area where I might need it, setting up a system for getting rid of compost that requires minimal ongoing effort, and finding the right reusable food storage containers (ones that are dishwasher friendly, durable, and airtight) so I’ll actually use them — have made the biggest difference in closing the gap between my intentions and my behavior. I’ve even gotten in the habit of making less than a recipe’s standard yield when I cook because I’m usually only cooking for two, and no matter how excited I am about what I’m making, I’m going to be a baby about eating the leftovers two nights in a row.

Moving forward

I’m sharing this post largely to make sure we continue to hold La Vita Dolce accountable. I hope that sharing about our efforts and commitment keeps them front of mind for us; and that reflecting on the impact our changes have had positively reinforces continued progress. I also hope that sharing how we went from not composting at all to setting up systems that work easily for us, we encourage others to do the same.

I am very much a “cost-benefit analyzer” in that I analyze the resources and time required of my business to make a change and compare that cost to the value the potential change will bring. After a year of tracking the costs and benefits of our composting program, despite slightly higher container costs, it’s clear to me that the changes we’ve made have had a net positive result. They have brought value to not only the environment, but to staff and customers. They’ve even had a significant enough impact on me that they’ve changed my behavior as a consumer.

Painting with Coffee

Coffee Grounds

It’s been a difficult month, mostly spent in our homes with our inner circles. And no matter how much we love those in our quarantine crews, we all need a little break sometimes — or at least a new activity to pass the time. One of our amazing baristas at La Vita Dolce, Courtney, is here to help!

Painting with coffee grounds is easy, requires only a few materials that you probably already have at home, and can be done by those of all ages.

Once you get it down, you can follow along with Courtney to draw a specific picture, or take off on your own.

And if you don’t have coffee grounds, come on up to La Vita Dolce, give us a call at (919) 968-1635 and we’ll be happy to bring some out to you for free!

Below are a few videos showing different designs that Courtney has made. We recommend watching Pt. 1 first as it shows the basic process.

Gingerbread Cookie Decorating 2019

Tues. 12/17, 2:30pm

Kids decorating gingerbread cookies

Get in the holiday spirit at our annual Gingerbread Cookie Decorating event, fun for all ages! Just show up and we’ll provide everything you need: gingerbread cookies, candy, icing, and holiday tunes!

Seasonal drinks and treats — Gingerbread Lattes, S’mores Hot Chocolates, made in-house Gingerbread gelato, and more — will be on hand, and all are welcome. $5 for cookies and decorating supplies, until we sell out. We recommend getting here by 3:00p to ensure that we still have cookies available. And if you really want to get in the spirit, feel free to wear your holiday get ups — our staff will be decked out!

Big Pink Party

Sunday, October 20, 5-8p

La Vita Dolce and Fit4Mom Chapel Hill are honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a family-friendly event to raise funds for UNC’s Get Real & Heel cancer recovery program!

Join us Sunday, October 20, from 5 to 8pm for rosé, pink gelato, and more treats at La Vita Dolce! No ticket needed — just drop by! There will be a raffle and the opportunity to donate directly to Get Real & Heel. 20% of all sales during the event will be donated to Get Real & Heel.

Jazz Night October

Jazz Musician

Friday, October 11, 6-8p

Our first Jazz Night in September was a hit, so we’re bringing it back in October! We’ll have a full jazz band performing on the patio (sax, guitar, drums, and bass) and wine, craft beer, small plates, gelato, and more available for purchase. Free to attend, full menu available, all ages are welcome (four footed friends welcome on the patio, too)!