About Us
The original Green Bean opened in 1995 in the old Herald building and had a three part model: part café/roasterie, part dining room and part catering.
We found great success in this location, especially in our ability to adapt to corporate Calgary’s changing needs for food services. As more businesses encouraged working breakfasts and lunches, instead of people coming to our restaurant, we were able to adapt to bringing lunch to them-eventually selling the coffee roaster and expanding our kitchen to focus on the catering aspect of the business, while still running the café. For more than 17 years we served our customers from this location, however, as we continued to grow and the Herald building was slated for demolition the Green Bean moved down the street into Calgary House.
We moved to 550 6 Avenue SW across from the courthouse on June 27th, 2012. We decided to part with our sister restaurant the Chowder House’s name and adapt the Green Bean to keep 
the best of both our old locations in one space: a larger kitchen to expand our catering abilities and a vibrant restaurant focusing on weekday breakfast and lunch service, offering the dining room for private parties evenings and weekends. The new space is refreshing, elegant and the bright new dining room is alive with the clamour of culinary creation behind its swinging doors. We run two kitchens: on one side is a large cold kitchen where the aroma of a freshly roasted turkey swirls around busy staff turning out hundreds of sandwiches, fruit and vegetable trays and other delights before they’re whisked away by an army of delivery people to the offices and boardrooms of Calgary. On the other side, steaks sizzle, soups bubble and baked goods brown while cooks weave and duck and flip and pour with such dexterity, you’d think it was choreographed.
Steve Beddoe is a well-known Calgary restaurateur, being a Savoy-trained chef and the founder of the Green Bean with his wife Jane, as well as the former Chowder House, Piccadilly Grill, Terrace 15 and the Bristol Room, among others. Jackie Tyler, long time general manager, became Steve’s business partner in 2009 and has worked with him for over 25 years. Owen Beddoe is the fourth partner and actively involved in the day to day activities, while always looking to the future of the business. The combination of their partnership has enabled the Bean diversify and thrive successfully.
All of our food is handmade so we can tell our clients exactly what has gone into their meal. Every day our turkey, beef, and chicken is roasted and sliced in house, our salad fillings are made fresh, desserts are baked, all in all making it hard for any of us to stick to a diet. All our dining room menu items are created with freshness and originality in mind, and have a wine list to compliment every dish as well as local and import beers on tap.
We work on reducing our carbon footprint and being more sustainable in our purchasing and are making gains every year. We went foam free for our disposables in 2009 and have offered only compostable or recyclable disposables since. We are members of the Restaurant’s Canada ConSERVE Sustainability Education Program which works with restaurants to help them embrace environmentally friendly practices. We are Ocean Wise members which promote responsible fishing practices. Our meat is all hormone-free and Alberta raised whenever possible.
We look forward to seeing you either at your place of business or ours soon!
