The sustainability shift

The sustainability shift
Tags: Customer Service / Experience, Sustainability
October 26, 2009 - Valerie Killifer

As a new mother, the topic of sustainability and sustainable living has been on the forefront of my mind for almost a year.

Like many consumers, I've spent the better part of the past several months trying to understand what it means to live a sustainable lifestyle and to feed my child foods produced in a way that causes minimum impact to the planet.

What sustainable living means to me is to create a lifestyle based on replenishing the foods and items I use on a daily basis. And believe me, that is a lot easier said than done.

We live in a society based on convenience, and sometimes it isn't convenient at all to think about where our food comes from and how the production of that food is used to regenerate the supply for future Americans. After all, I don't want to worry about the food supply of my great-great grandchildren, but I would like to think I helped positively contribute to their environment.

Restaurants can help contribute to that environment as well by using food products and suppliers that believe how we live now will determine how people live in the future. That also means implementing practices and building materials that don't deplete too many of our natural resources.

Like my task of trying to provide food for my family that is designed to support sustainability, the task of implementing sustainable practices can seem daunting to many restaurant operators. To help you get started, I spoke with Paul Kuck, principal consultant and owner of Sustainable Foodservice Consulting.

Together, we came up with five easy ways restaurant operators can make their own sustainability shift.

1. Purchasing Energy Star rated equipment. Energy Star is a government-backed program designed to help businesses and people protect the environment through the use of energy-equipment. The program was started in 1992 and in 2008 launched the "Change the World, Start with Energy Star" campaign to help fight climate change.

"I'm not necessarily saying that upgrading is the best option, but any time a restaurant is in need of new equipment they should always look at Energy Star rated equipment as long it will meet their needs," Kuck said.

Energy Star equipment is nothing new and is now readily accessible by manufacturers across the United States.

"(It) often costs no more than standard equipment, and equipment dealers are starting to really pay attention and push them," Kuck said. "It is also a good idea to plan ahead with potential equipment replacement so that when a piece goes out the company is ready to replace the equipment with Energy Star rather than the first available unit."

2. Use low-flow faucets and sprayers. Low-flow sprayers can make a huge energy-savings difference and preserve some of the nation's water supply, which can be in short demand in some parts of the country.

Kuck recommends the implementation of low-flow sprayers and faucets in kitchens and bathrooms to minimize the amount of water used in restaurants. He also recommends the use of low-flow pre-rinse sprayers used for washing dishes.

For starters, the sprayers have the ability to remove food particles more easily because the flow is more direct. And according to the Web site www.fishnick.com (Foodservice Technology Center), use of the sprayers can save a restaurant between $300 and $500 per year through the reduction of water consumption, water heating energy and sewer charges.

The Web site recommends a pre-rinse spray valve with a flow rate of 1.6 gallons per minute or less, and with a cleanability performance of 26 seconds per plate or less, based on the Standard Test Method for Performance of Pre-Rinse Spray Valves.

3. Implement a startup and shut-down checklist for employees. With some employees arriving and turning on equipment several hours before a restaurant opens, Kuck advises the use of an equipment start-up and shut-down checklist designed to save on energy-consumption costs.

He also recommends a maintenance schedule for getting refrigerator coils cleaned and for swapping out air filters to ensure kitchen equipment is working at its maximum efficiency level. For example, "buildup makes a compressor work harder and more often, and depending on how bad it gets, can lead to a compressor going out," he said.

And changing out HVAC filters every several months will be much cheaper than fixing a system once it breaks from lack of care.

"That also can be built into the schedule, but on a more long-term basis," Kuck said.

4. Use recycled/reused materials for new locations. Chipotle, Starbucks, McDonald's and a slew of other restaurant brands are beginning to build Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design locations. While it's not easy or even realistic for every restaurant brand to build an LEED-certified location, they can implement a few of the ideas used by the bigger chains.

Starbucks' new global-store design strategy features the use of recycled and reused products. For example, at its 1st Avenue & Pike Street location in Seattle, the columns, floors and ceilings were preserved from existing buildings, and leather used on the face of the bar was scrap leather obtained from show and automobile factories. For many restaurant brands, all it takes is a quick phone call to local businesses to see if scrap supplies such as wood and leather are available — and can be accessed at sometimes cheaper prices than new materials.

Chipotle took its sustainability push one step further by installing an on-site wind turbine and an underground cistern to collect rainwater at its Gurnee, Ill., restaurant. The restaurant also features low VOC paints and sealants, recycled drywall and stainless steel, photocell light controls that regulate electric lighting based on availability of natural lighting, or low-E window glass that helps reduce heating and cooling needs.

5. Hire a consultant. Energy auditors, sustainability consultants and foodservice consultants have the knowledge and experience to help implement sustainable practices and upgrades. They also might be aware of any local, state or federal financial incentives provided to business operators that implement energy-efficient upgrades.

"Most owners and operators are busy running their restaurants and may want to implement sustainable practices, but just don't have the time or energy to do the research to learn about these practices and measures," Kuck said. "Consultants can help develop programs and have the independent eye to see things so common to the operators that they don't see a potential efficiency measure. They also help ensure that those programs and new sustainable practices are implemented successfully."