Glass Nickel Pizza incorporating green principles into its business

Glass Nickel cars run on Waste Vegetable Oil (Gabi King/Madison Commons).

The cars look identical to any other, except when it is time to fill up the tank. The fuel that delivers your Glass Nickel Pizza order comes from the oil that helped prepare it.

Waste Vegetable Oil cars are one of the ways Glass Nickel Pizza has incorporated environmentalism into its business plan, said co-owner Tim Nicholson.

“I’d like to change the world, but that’s hard,” Nicholson said. “So we’ll be a good neighbor. A good corporate citizen.”Glass Nickel Pizza converts used oil into fuel for the cars that deliver food from the restaurant (Gabi King/Madison Commons)

Driving down Atwood Avenue, you see huge solar panels on the roof before you see Glass Nickel Pizza’s name on their building. In the parking lot, electric cars and cars run by Glass Nickel’s own used vegetable oil bear the Glass Nickel Pizza name.

For Nicholson, an environmental aspect wasn’t in the plans when they first opened in ’97, but since they started, they haven’t stopped.

The Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) cars were first introduced by a UW-Madison professor who wanted to make use of Glass Nickel’s oil. Nicholson realized Glass Nickel Pizza could do that on their own as well.

A tube connects the WVO to a machine in the basement that supplies the fuel. Nicholson said there aren’t any differences in driving with the WVO vehicles, and it is worth the effort.

The list of green choices Glass Nickel makes goes on and on.

Walking around the restaurant, the little things that make a big difference come to light. The ovens shut off 90 percent when not in use. The coffee is delivered by bike. Kegs of beer replace bottle waste. Glass Nickel Pizza was the first to install LED lights 10 years back, said Nicholson.

All eight locations of Glass Nickel Pizza must be a part of this environmentally conscious business plan, with at least an alternative fuel vehicle and beyond.

As for the solar panels, Nicholson said that the 15-year mortgage is not cheap, but that they also act as a “huge billboard,” in a neighborhood that takes green choices seriously. He said customers appreciate it.

Most of the recognition Glass Nickel receives for their green choices is from the customers.

“Customers love it,” said Nicholson. “(I think) we’re the busiest restaurant in Madison.”

What’s next for Glass Nickel Pizza? Nicholson hopes for a wind turbine right on the property. 

The solar panels at Glass Nickel's Atwood Ave. location are more noticeable than the name on the building