Green Eats

Today EDF and Restaurant Associates (part of the foodservice giant Compass Group) released the Green Dining Best Practices, a comprehensive set of science-based recommendations for environmentally friendly dining. The recommendations cover twelve key dining categories related to food purchase and facility operation, and will be updated over time as new best practices evolve.

The project began over a year and a half ago in response to a growing number of inquiries we were getting from companies confused by the plethora of "green" solutions being recommended to them by the media, vendors, and suppliers. Some of the questions included: what's more important local or organic? What do I do about bottled water? Is this biodegradable package really more environmentally friendly? Frankly, they were confused. And no wonder.

Chefs and dining managers make dozens of decisions each day that have environmental impacts. Everything from the type of seafood they purchase to how long they run their ovens. And so in partnership with Restaurant Associates, we set out to provide clear, concise information to dining companies on where to prioritize their efforts and which science-based, environmental best practices to implement. We also knew our best practices had to be affordable to achieve widespread adoption throughout the dining industry.

Our full set of recommendations can be viewed at edf.org/greendining. I won't bore you by repeating the content that's available on the site. But, I do think it's useful to highlight some of the more surprising results from our project's two pilot sites – Random House and Hearst Corporation (both Restaurant Associates clients) – who worked hard to implement the best practices over the past several months:

1. Sustainable food doesn't have to be expensive. There's often an impression – and I admit I'm just as guilty – that good, environmentally friendly food costs more. This is sometimes the case, but we found just as many instances where the environmentally preferable option cost less. For example, reducing high cost, GHG intensive, red meat items in favor of chicken or vegetarian menu items can save a company thousands of dollars each year. Purchasing arctic char – a “green” list seafood species on EDF's seafood card – actually turned out to be more affordable than many red list species (and it makes sense, as red list species are often scarce and shipped long distances). So, sustainable food can be affordable food after all.
2. To save energy, it's not necessary to buy the latest energy-efficient gizmo (although restaurants should, given quick paybacks). We found dollars on the ground right there for the taking by just being smarter about when appliances are turned on and off. Coffee urns, for example, can be big energy hogs when they're left on 24/7, even though they may only be in use a few hours each day. By conducting an appliance audit, posting operating times, and educating their employees, one of our pilot companies was able to identify thousands of dollars in savings each year on their utility bills.
3. Food waste represents opportunity. Food waste (much of which is pre-consumer kitchen scraps) can represent half of a restaurant's waste stream. And because food waste consists of lots of water by weight, it's heavy and costly to haul away. By composting this material or installing a digester to break down the organic matter into liquid, a restaurant can significantly cut waste hauling costs and divert tons of waste from landfill each year.

So, those were just a few of the surprises. Not all of the Green Dining Best Practices instantly lead to cost savings. But, enough of them do that we're confident you can implement a wide range of best practices at No Net Cost by investing any savings in initiatives that do cost a bit extra. And that should make these Best Practices easier for dining companies – and their customers – to swallow.

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