Nearly 50 years after Alaska gained statehood in part to manage its resources sustainably, more than 40 years after hippies started settling in communes, growing organic food and talking about “ecology,” and 38 years after the first Earth Day, environmentalism has made it to the mainstream.
With energy and food prices skyrocketing and global warming now a widespread concern, the state of our environment is being discussed in corporate boardrooms and casual conversations alike, and many foodservice operations are responding by changing the way they feed their guests.
In this edition of On the Cutting Edge, we examine how chains, independent restaurants and on-site companies are carrying the green banner.
The approaches are as varied as the foodservice world, with some independents focused on their composting and others on reusing everything from the leather on their banquettes, which is repurposed from other restaurants, to old wine lists, which are folded over and used as table tents.
At chain restaurants, a small change can make a huge difference, such as replacing employees’ disposable cups with reusable ones, as Harrah’s Entertainment did, resulting in the purchase of 1.1 million fewer cups a year.
Even chains can purchase locally, as Chipotle is proving with its new initiative to buy from its neighbors.
The press can be good: After McDonald’s rolled out more energy-efficient practices, the Environmental Protection Agency gave the company an award.
On-site companies are not just changing the way they feed their clients, but teaching them, too. Sodexo has launched a sustainability-training platform for its staff that includes how to educate clients about the company’s green efforts.
Bon Appétit Management is working on reducing its carbon footprint and encouraging its customers to change the way they eat.
Aramark is finding that the simple act of doing away with trays in college cafeterias, and thus the need to wash those trays, can save a lot of energy and money.
But many actions that seem environmentally sound aren’t necessarily, and so we also examine the pitfalls of jumping onto the green wagon, or pretending to, without first examining the consequences.
We hope this special section will give you ideas for how your own operations can surf the green wave and perhaps benefit others in the process.
The following stories are part of a special report. The first story is available online. The others are available to subscribers only. To purchase the full special report, click here.
On-site feeders institute eco-friendly standards Chains make an impact with greener practices Indies find going green worth the extra energy ‘Greenwashing’ emerges as an inconvenient trend
