It is crucial for all business to reduce their carbon footprint in order to improve the environment and stop global warming. While each type of business affects the environment differently, it is important to assess their individual carbon footprint on the basis of used and disposed resources. The carbon footprint of a facility depends on the utilization of environmentally friendly solutions. The consumption of energy and its character affects the impact on the environment. In the case of a restaurant the rules apply. It is important to buy environmentally friendly food products and buy from local suppliers. However, the impact of a restaurant on the environment increases with the amount of disposal and utilization of energy.
Restaurants are a staple of the landscape. From mega-franchises like Burger King through the growing fast-casual chains such as Panera Bread to the local cafe, Americans spend roughly half their food budget eating out (Nielsen 2004). The restaurant industry in 2014 reaped more than $558 billion in sales (National Restaurant Association 2014), and continues to grow. Restaurants continue to function as an essential element of our culture and our economy.
Among retail industries, restaurants represent an enormous use of natural resources. Water for dish-washing, gas for cooking and heating, electricity for running high-powered kitchen equipment, and of course the food itself draw immense amounts of materials from the natural environment. And as any restaurant employee will tell you, the amount of waste can be enormous. Food waste, kitchen grease, glass bottles, and disposable packaging send heaps of garbage to landfills. Each restaurant produces an average of 50,000 pounds of waste per year (Nielsen 2004).
So, the question is: Can one small restaurant in Staunton, Va. make a difference on the environment?
My belief is yes, although the impact may not be huge, it will make a difference. Others say that larger businesses would likely have more resources to devote to specialized concerns such as the environment, with a large number of staff and the capacity to assign duties to an environmental expert. Small restaurants on the other hand often rely on a few staff to perform a vast number of duties and thus the environment risks falling lower on the agenda, competing with the more immediate concerns of day-to-day management.
Environmental issues can encompass such a wide range of subject matter that it is important to specify what issues in particular are most significant in the restaurant industry. This section will briefly address each major category of environmental interest affecting restaurants.
Energy
The use of fossil fuels, which produces energy, such as oil, coal and natural gas, has been highlighted as the ultimate “unsustainable” practice in that these resources are finite. In addition, burning fossil fuels produces harmful byproducts such as particulate air pollution, green house gases, and in some cases toxic waste.
The restaurant business is one of the most energy intensive industries in the commercial sector, utilizing five times the energy per square foot of any other commercial space (National Restaurant Association 2009). Roughly a third of restaurant energy is generated through cooking. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that “if a restaurant cuts its energy costs by just 20 percent, profits could increase by 30 percent or more” (National Restaurant Association 2009).
The strategies for decreasing energy consumption in a restaurant include lowering heating and cooling costs by turning down their thermostat at night allow, using energy efficient lighting, opening windows instead of air conditioning
Energy is also consumed by the production and transportation of the food itself, as well as its disposal. Sourcing locally produced foods (discussed later in the paper), also makes an impact.
Water
Each restaurant in America utilizes a massive amount of water each year: 300,000 gallons on average (Nielsen 2004). In the kitchen, water is used for steamers, combination ovens, pasta cookers, steam tables, sinks, sprayers, and dish washing. In the dining area water is typically served to all customers and used in conventional bathroom fixtures. Reducing water consumption can benefit a restaurant directly by reducing the water bill and by cutting down on the costs of heating the water. Restaurants can decrease their water usage either through behavioral changes or advanced water systems.
Paper
Paper represents another natural resource of concern: forests. One fifth of wood harvesting world-wide is attributed to paper production (World Watch Institute 2012). Much of this cannot be recycled due to contact with food. The resulting landscape of landfills can lead to pollution of land and water, off-gassing of methane and destruction of natural habitat.
Energy usage may be higher overall with non-disposable products but the advantages of forest and habitat protection could justify this added use of energy.
Food
As growing attention has been paid in recent years to food quality in the United States, the type of food sourced to restaurants becomes increasingly important
Three major concepts drive interests in local food; environment, local economy, and culture. Local food is often considered to be more environmentally friendly because it travels fewer miles to reach its destination and therefore burns less fuel, emitting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This has been contested however by the view that fewer large vehicles transporting mass quantities of food across the country may actually use less fuel than numerous small trucks carrying produce to local markets (The Economist 2006). On an economic level, local food is seen as a way for individuals to strengthen their communities by supporting small farms and local jobs.
Now that we have addressed the issues at hand I find it would be difficult for larger changes to make quick and affective decisions in order to lessen their carbon footprint. Larger corporations have to answer to their owners, usually multiple, stockholders and consumers. Where a small, locally owned restaurant can make quick immediate decisions. Such as automatic lights or sourcing only local foods.
Large chain restaurants typically source food items from a single distributor. Large food distribution firms rarely take the locality of their product into account when arranging deliveries. Where a small restaurant supports the local farmer. Here in Staunton, we have a food Hub that delivers from the local farmers in the surrounding area and makes one delivery, lessoning the carbon footprint of food deliveries.
The incentives for small restaurants to address environmental issues differ from those of chain restaurants.
Chain restaurants are after the publicity or the “hey look what we did” and it takes years to implement, where small restaurants do address environmental issues because it is they right thing to do.
Small restaurants are able to find unique ways for addressing environmental concerns. These unique actions result from the fact that small restaurants have only one or two locations to manage and thus have the flexibility to find environmental actions that suit particular needs and local circumstances.
The smaller restaurant could focus on the following:
PEOPLE-
Having good labor practices, product responsibility and making an impact in the community by being socially responsible.
PLANET-
We only have so many resources. Air quality, water quality, being conscious of energy usage and waste helps us protect the environment. Leftovers will not get thrown away, use the local universities civic engagement center to provide volunteers to give the food to the local shelter.
PROFIT-
Have fair menu prices, support local farmers by purchasing directly from them when possible, provide jobs for local people. Give 10% of our profits to nonprofit organizations focused on environmental stewardship.
QUALITY-
Sources only local ingredients when possible.
If each small restaurant did what they were able to do to conserve our natural resources it would make one large impact in our area.