7 ways to bring sustainability into your restaurant

Practicing sustainability is good for the environment, but can also cut costs and drive profits for restaurants large and small.

That’s the word from restaurant sustainability experts who shared tips and advice at NRA Show 2014, held in Chicago in May.

We’ve compiled their top tips in our new “Spotlight on Sustainability” report, to help spread the word about the easy steps restaurateurs can take to incorporate enviro-friendly practices at their restaurants.

Seven starters from the experts:

• Make sure your sustainability program blends seamlessly with your operation. “There has to be a reconciliation of your sustainability initiatives with what works for you,” said Elizabeth Meltz, director of food safety and sustainability for the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group.
• Compost your organic waste material into mulch and plant flowers outside your restaurants, like employees at some White Castle burger locations do. “Your cheapest resource tool is education and engagement,” said Shannon Tolliver, White Castle’s manager of social responsibility and sustainability.
• Reinvest efficiency savings into other projects. Helen Cameron of Uncommon Ground in Chicago spent $3,000 on six accelerated hand dryers for her two restaurants. In one month she saved $1,000 on paper towel costs. The investment resulted into annual savings of $24,000. She took that money and invested it in LED lighting for her business.
• Communicate the sustainable actions you take—particularly with millennials, born between 1980 and 1992. “The green message is critical to attracting and retaining [millennials’] loyalty,” NRA research and knowledge senior vice president Hudson Riehle said. “The research is pretty clear. If an operator communicates what he or she is doing, it can have a positive retention factor.”
• Outfit your restaurant with energy efficient equipment. Buying an energy-efficient fryer for $1,400, versus $700 for a traditional fryer, will cost more at the outset, but will end up extending the life of your fryer oil. Plus, local utility companies often offer rebates on the more efficient equipment. “Efficiency is saving you money,” said Richard Young, senior engineer and director of education for the Food Service Technology Center. “The market wants it, and it’s the right thing to do. Really, it’s good business.”
• Visit farmers’ markets for locally sourced items. Ryan Stone, executive chef at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., says farmers’ markets are “a great place to start [searching]. I also started reading labels on products in grocery stores to see what was out there.”
• Assess the amount of waste you create at your establishment. Sodexo’s senior sustainability manager, Christi Cook, said operators need to understand “what food and recyclables are coming through the back door. Education is important, and looking at portion control is part of that. The best way is to track your food waste and figure out where it’s being generated.”

Download the full Spotlight on Sustainability report.

Learn more about the Association’s Conserve program and sustainability best practices for the restaurant industry here. Also, subscribe to Bright Ideas, Conserve’s free, monthly newsletter focusing on sustainability tips and tools for foodservice businesses.

Bright idea! Sustainability newsletter now available for restaurateurs

The National Restaurant Association issued “Bright Ideas,” its first-ever sustainability newsletter, which offers tips and tools to restaurant and foodservice operators on eco-friendly practices that save money, resources and help protect the environment.

The newsletter, which is produced by Conserve, the NRA’s sustainability initiative, features a variety of videos, best practices, case studies and personal accounts of chain and independent operators who have achieved success by practicing sustainability at their businesses.

“We are pleased to offer this newsletter that we think will go a long way toward helping operators embrace the prospect of sustainability and better understand the financial and environmental impacts it can make on their respective businesses and the communities they serve,” said Conserve Director Jeff Clark. “This is yet another way our Association can help educate operators on a subject many don’t yet fully understand, are confused about, but want to try at their stores. We know that this information will prove invaluable to them as sustainability becomes more widely integrated into our businesses and everyday lives.”

Subject matter experts, including Clarice Turner, vice president of U.S. business development for Starbucks Coffee Co., George McKerrow Jr., co-founder and CEO of Ted’s Montana Grill and Dan Simons, operating partner of Founding Farmers restaurants in metropolitan Washington, D.C., are among the operators to be featured in Bright Ideas and Conserve’s new and improved website, which launched earlier this month. In addition, blog posts and news stories will provide information on sustainability issues, tips and trends that impact restaurants and will help improve operations and practices.

The NRA is offering the newsletter free of charge, but it is available by subscription only. Subscribe today.

It's now free for members to Conserve!

The National Restaurant Association’s Conserve initiative is designed to inspire actions that improve a company’s bottom line, but also are good for people and the planet. Conserve explores conservation efforts being adopted by restaurant around the nation, and in Louisiana, and offers suggestions and resources to help you reduce the cost of running your operation—both for your bottom line and the environment.

Beginning Oct. 1, the Conserve program is now free to Louisiana Restaurant Association restaurant members, who are also members of the NRA through the dual member program.

Several restaurants in the New Orleans area have already taken action. Two LRA members—Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group (RBRG) and Ye Olde College Inn –participated in the first Idea Zone at the recent Louisiana Foodservice and Hospitality EXPO to share their progress and successes in the sustainability arena.

Restaurant Management magazine featured the Idea Zone Restaurant Sustainability Initiatives panelists in the article, Restaurateurs Offer Eco-Friendly Solutions just last week.  Five ways to shrink a carbon footprint were outlined from RBRG’s Chef Haley Bittermann, Ye Olde’s Johnny Blancher and Tales of the Cocktail event founder Ann Tuennerman.

The NRA Conserve can help you implement a plan today by providing industry-tried best practices, educational videos by industry experts, money-saving techniques and a personalize action plan.

It’s free and can save you big bucks and win you more customers in the process.