Chasing trends in the restaurant industry isn’t always a reliable strategy. What’s hot and popular today may be out tomorrow, leaving you in a sticky situation. But one trend worth chasing is sustainability. Sustainability in restaurants is more than a fad. It’s a popular way to demonstrate you’re a good steward of the planet and are doing your part to ensure it’s around for future generations.
What Is Sustainability In Restaurants?
Sustainability generally means reducing and minimizing negative impacts on the environment — reduce, reuse, recycle, is a good example. In a restaurant, sustainability means the business is making an active, conscious effort to make sustainable choices, like reducing food waste and water consumption or decreasing its carbon footprint.
Why Does it Matter?
No matter where you eat, food production and distribution have a significant impact on the environment. It:
- Uses 70% of all global freshwater
- Contributes just over one-quarter (26%) of all greenhouse gases
- Takes up half of the world’s habitable land
- Contributes to the loss of natural habitats
But as people become increasingly aware of the negative effects on the planet, they are looking to dine in restaurants that actively contribute to the solution — even if it costs more.
A study by Simon Kucher estimates that sustainable restaurant practices add as much as 20% to the total cost of a meal. However, nearly every person interviewed for the study reported they’re willing to pay more to eat somewhere that practices sustainability, with younger people willing to pay as much as 20% more for a meal.
While these choices may cost more, they can be offset by other restaurant sustainability practices. For example, installing low-flush toilets may cost more upfront, but the money you save over time gives you more cash to reinvest in the business. Likewise, using every part of an ingredient and composting what you can’t reduce two kinds of waste: food and money.
14 Practices to Create a Sustainable Restaurant
Here are 14 restaurant sustainability practices to adopt to create a more sustainable restaurant. Trying all 14 at once may be a bit much. But as you incorporate one or two, adding more over time will compound the positive effects.
1. Nose-to-Tail Cooking
You’ve probably heard of nose-to-tail cooking, where the chef uses every edible part of the animal in various dishes. From the bones to make broth to using less desirable cuts of the meat to make new dishes, nose-to-tail cooking reduces food waste and allows you to order, manage, and budget your inventory more efficiently.
A similar sustainability trend that’s growing in popularity is root-to-stem cooking. Like nose-to-tail, chefs use all of the edible parts of a vegetable in recipes in composting the rest. For example, the green tops of carrots and radishes can be used in salads or to garnish sandwiches.
2. Plant-Based Options
Another popular sustainability trend in the restaurant industry is plant-based menu items. Some chefs are offering more vegetarian or vegan options, like using tofu as the main protein. Other restaurants use plant-based “meat” products to give people more options for a meat substitute.
3. Local Sourcing
While there’s no official definition for “locally sourced,” most suppliers and customers agree it means the ingredients for a recipe were consumed within 100 to 400 miles of where it was produced. Locally sourced ingredients in a sustainable practice that reduces carbon emissions and supports local businesses. As an added bonus, you may be able to negotiate a better deal and can visit the facility where the food is produced.
4. Hyper-Local Sourcing
Hyper-local sourcing is when ingredients are produced and consumed within 100 miles of the restaurant. For many businesses, this means the local neighborhood, and depending on where you’re located, it could also include the local river or pond for fish.
5. On-Site Garden
The ultimate local and hyper-local sustainable ingredient sourcing comes from an on-site garden. If you have the space, adding an indoor or outdoor garden demonstrates your deep commitment to sustainable practices.
6. Other Sustainable Ingredients
If using local or farm-to-table sourcing for your ingredients isn’t an option, consider buying products and ingredients from producers that use sustainable practices. Buying seafood from companies that don’t overfish or only provide sustainable species is one way, as is buying coffee and tea from producers that use sustainable farming practices.
7. No Waste Menu Engineering
The restaurant industry is a major source of food waste. For example, the USDA estimates that as much as 30% to 40% of the entire food supply is wasted, with one study finding that the majority of the waste comes from the food service industry.
Some ways to reduce food waste at your restaurant include:
- Composting scraps
- Donating unused food and ingredients
- Conducting a food waste audit to identify where you can reduce waste
- Implementing an inventory tracking system to ensure you only order what you need
One additional way to minimize food waste is to reduce portion sizes. If you find that many patrons don’t finish their meals and don’t take them home, consider serving smaller amounts.
8. Cut Energy Consumption
While minimizing food waste is a great place to start your sustainability efforts, consider the other ways your restaurant impacts the environment. For example, choosing energy-efficient appliances and products can decrease carbon emissions. You can:
- Put lights on timers
- Add motion sensor lights to the bathrooms
- Switch to LED or CFL bulbs
- Install an occupancy sensor in the freezer to control the lighting
9. Vintage Products
Whether you’re a new restaurant or an established one, consider using vintage or second-hand products where you can. Hardware, light fixtures, linens, and dishes can all be sourced from vintage shops and restaurant auctions. Reclaimed wood tables allow you to give discarded doors and floors new life.
10. Go More Green
Small changes can have a huge impact. Other ways to make your restaurant more sustainable include:
- Using green or eco-friendly cleaning products
- Switching to electronic record-keeping
- Choosing sustainable packaging that can be reused or recycled like:
- Straws
- Utensils
- Plastic bags
- Take out containers
Also, consider your menus, especially if you print them often or have a rotating special. You may want to ditch the physical menu in favor of a contactless one or use a chalkboard instead of paper.
11. Reduce Water Waste
Restaurants use a lot of water, but a few switches can help you conserve. Consider:
- Installing low-flow or automatic toilets and faucets in the bathrooms
- Using energy-efficient dishwashers
- Serving water to diners only if they ask for it
Another way to rethink your water usage is to consider what you do with the leftovers. For example, if you boil eggs, you can use it to water the plants in your on-site garden.
12. Cut Carbon
Sourcing local ingredients and offering more plant-based options can cut your carbon footprint, but it may not be as much as you think if you offer delivery.
Reducing or restricting delivery hours is one way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Limiting your delivery area so drivers can use low or no-emission vehicles (like a scooter or pedal bike) is also an effective strategy. Likewise, if you partner with a delivery platform, request that drivers use low or no-emission vehicles to deliver your food.
13. Seasonal Menu Planning
Creating a menu designed around seasonal offerings is another fantastic sustainability practice to adopt for multiple reasons.
First, it reduces your carbon footprint. Buying in season generally means the farm used less energy to produce and transport those ingredients to you. Second, the chef can design a rotating menu that takes advantage of fruits and vegetables when they’re at their peak freshness and less likely to spoil.
14. Avoid Greenwashing
Greenwashing is when a company makes a misleading claim about how sustainable a product or practice is. While you may not be able to control what your suppliers do, making sure you do what you claim goes a long way toward reassuring customers that you’re a sustainable restaurant they want to support.
More Than a Trend
Choosing sustainable products and practices for your restaurant isn’t just trendy. It also demonstrates you understand the impact your business has on the globe and are making responsible choices to minimize the negative impacts and improve things for everyone. Making sustainable choices isn’t a quick or easy solution, but starting small and adding new practices will add up over time and have a positive impact in the long run.
If you’re a new restaurant, an established brand, or somewhere in between and want to take advantage of expert insights into the restaurant industry, Kezner Consulting can help. We’re your trusted partner in making sustainable choices, navigating the local restaurant scene, and can help you take your concept to the next level. Contact us today for a free consultation.
