Green Options

Well, I suppose that depends. If we’re talking about the actual building, then yes, apparently it can, as announced recently by California-based Carl’s Jr. The company behind the ubiquitous burger chain, CKE Restaurants, Inc. opened its first eco-friendly Carl’s Jr. just a few miles from its Carpinteria headquarters.

What makes it green? Energy saving features include Energy Star-rated equipment, an energy management system, a reflective roof, and LED lights in the parking lot. Plus, rainwater reuse and smart irrigation systems will reduce its water consumption.

There are many ways for restaurants to go green, and nearly as many for them to be certified as a green restaurant. Which way to go? What’s the most useful? Which is valid? Between the numerous regional and national options out there, it can be overwhelming.

What if there was a program that made it simple, was free, modeled after and qualifying you for LEED credits, rewarded you for progress made along the way, and had all the equipment and supplies necessary to qualify available to you through them? Such a program exists, the Certified Green Commercial Kitchen program, through the national restaurant supply company Food Service Warehouse.

Now you may say, is this just a ploy for you to buy their products? Hardly. There’s no requirement that you buy through them to get certified. Though their prices do seem good. And in fact, they have a contest running now, open to any commercial kitchen, where you could win an entire green kitchen, from the oven to the ice machine, with $1000 worth of bio based disposables in there for good measure. Entry details can be found here.

Now what of the program itself? It’s broken down into 5 areas, of which you must accrue a certain amount of points of the total available, similar to how LEED works, in order to qualify in that area. When you do, you get rewarded.

And they’re not paltry rewards, either.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Food service Industry these days. A recent article in Environmental Leader noted that of all of the industries tracked by Climate Counts , an organization that produces a company scorecard , Food Service scored the lowest.

Overall the average company score increased from 30.6 in 2007 to 39.3 this year - a 22% increase. Twenty-three companies were ranked as “striding” (making progress toward change) vs. 18 last year. Ten companies are still ranked as “stuck” vs. 18 last year.

However, the Food Services sector had the lowest average (11.5 out of 100) of any of the eight sectors measured with smallest overall improvement.

Why is it so difficult for food service companies to go green?

Welcome to part 2 of our restaurant greening guide. If you recall from last week, I wrote about Ike’s Quarter Cafe, a restaurant that has found a great balance of quality food, sustainability in their facilities, and a wonderful experience. For those of you considering greening your restaurant, or just in search of ways to make eating a less impactful experience, this week we focus on that which goes around the food. As in the utensils, cups, bowls, plates, and even the foil.

Ike’s Quarter Cafe has been in business for seven years as of this month, and in that time has had plenty of opportunities to try out the various green options available. And, lucky you, we’re going to tell you the best of breed that they’ve found!

Try as we may, even the most eco-savvy folk tend to eat out on occasion. While in our own homes, we can control the quality of food, the amount of waste we generate and other eco- factors; it is a totally different story when it comes to dining out. Or is it? There is an increasingly popular moment within the restaurant industry to become more eco-friendly sector of business, and this means good news

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