Cooking good food and serving it well is one of the surest ways to attract and retain customers in your food business. However, as the global awareness of environmental issues grows, consumers are looking and prioritizing something else other than your delicious food. The demand for eco-friendly products and practices has surged in recent years. Statistics reveal that more consumers now prefer restaurants with green practices.
So if you’re considering starting or are already running a food business, it’s time to up your game on matters of sustainability.
It’s worth noting that the food business is among the most significant contributors of global emissions (more than 36%). Therefore, by adopting green practices, you’re not only satisfying your customer’s values but also caring for our planet.
Here are five essential tips to help you make your food business green.
Minimize food waste
Do you know that food waste alone is responsible for 6% of global emissions? And food businesses account for a significant portion of that.
How can you minimize waste in your food business?
Portion control
What happens when restaurants prepare more than enough food and unfortunately it’s not bought? The excess is often thrown away.
While you may not precisely predict the number of people eating out at your restaurant, you can estimate. This can significantly minimize the amount of food that goes uneaten.
Additionally, when serving customers, offer options for smaller portions or allow them to customize their meals to minimize leftovers.
Additionally, encourage them to take leftovers home with eco-friendly containers.
Repurpose leftovers
Try repurposing ingredients from one day’s leftovers into new dishes for the next day. For instance, you could use roasted vegetable leftovers as veggie soup or salad topping for the next day.
Additionally, offer “end-of-day” discounts to sell perishable items before they go bad, or create a “chef’s special” using ingredients that need to be used up.
Donating leftovers
Partner with food banks, local shelters, or community organizations to donate your unsold food. Also, highlight your food donation efforts in your marketing to show customers that you’re committed to helping the community.
Compost organic waste
If you have enough space within your business premises, set up an on-site composting system to turn food scraps into nutrient-rich soil for growing vegetables or herbs. If not, partner with local farms or community gardens that can use your food waste for compost.
Alternatively, work with a waste management service that specializes in organic waste composting.
Source locally and ethically
Where you buy your ingredients and other business items matters. The longer these items have to travel to reach you, the more harm they create to our environment.
Therefore, as much as is possible, source your items locally.
Here are some of the benefits of sourcing locally:
- Reduced transportation emissions: Buying from local suppliers minimizes the distance food travels from farm to table. This, in turn, helps minimize your carbon footprint and lowers greenhouse gas emissions linked to long-distance shipping.
- Support for the local economy: Sourcing from local farmers and producers strengthens the local economy, creating jobs and supporting community businesses.
- Freshness and quality: Local produce will often reach your kitchen faster, maintaining higher freshness and nutritional value. Also, fresher ingredients typically lead to better-tasting dishes.
Remember, while sourcing locally is an excellent idea, you also need to keep in mind ethical practices. For instance, choose local suppliers that practice sustainable farming methods like soil conservation.
Eco-friendly take-out packaging
If many of your customers prefer carrying their food home, it’s important to have sustainable take-out packaging for them.
To do so, you’ll need to focus on compostable, recyclable, and reusable materials to reduce environmental impact. Switching to green packaging not only minimizes landfill waste, but it’s also cheaper.
Here are the three groups of materials that make up sustainable packing;
Compostable materials: Compostable packaging is designed to break down into natural components in a commercial composting facility. The materials are able to decompose effectively under the right conditions without harming the planet. Examples include cornstarch-based plastic like PLA, paper-based products, and certain food waste.
Recyclable materials: Recyclable packaging is designed to be processed and reused in the production of new products. Common recyclable materials include certain types of plastics, glass, and aluminum.
Reusable materials: Reusable materials can be used more than once before needing replacement. They help minimize overall waste and resource consumption. Examples include metal tins and glass jars.
Minimize energy usage
Food businesses require energy in significant amounts to operate. Statistics reveal that about 3-5 percent of the total operating costs for restaurants goes to energy spending. The kitchen, lighting, and heating take up a significant percentage of the power in a restaurant.
Therefore, it’s important to optimize and improve your energy usage as part of your sustainability efforts.
So, how do you boost energy efficiency and conserve energy in your food business to achieve your sustainability goals?
Upgrade to energy-efficient equipment
Energy-efficient equipment and appliances consume less energy. Mostly, old appliances aren’t energy efficient and thus use more electricity.
Therefore, invest in appliances and equipment that work effectively and efficiently. Choose Energy Star appliances, which indicate they meet energy-efficient guidelines set by environmental agencies.
Replace old equipment with newer models like energy-efficient refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers. This will significantly lower energy use.
Optimize kitchen operations
Your kitchen operations can also take a heavy toll on your electricity bills. Therefore, it’s important to optimize these operations to ensure efficient energy consumption.
For instance, ensure proper equipment use—only use equipment and appliances when necessary. Also, minimize oven use and instead utilize other cooking methods like stovetop cooking or steaming, which are more energy-efficient than baking.
Implement smart lighting solutions
Replace fluorescent and incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED bulbs, which consume less power and have a longer lifespan.
Additionally, install timers or sensors to control lighting in less-used areas like bathrooms and storage rooms.
Avoid greenwashing
It’s good to let people know about your green initiatives in your marketing. This is an effective and converting digital marketing strategy.
However, you might be tempted to sweeten the stories in an attempt to lure more customers to your business. This is not right and may work against you, not to talk about the legal implications involved.
Greenwashing is the practice of making misleading or exaggerated claims about the environmental benefits of your product, service, or practices to make your company more environmentally friendly than they actually are.
Greenwashing includes;
- Making vague or misleading claims
- Making irrelevant claims
- Unsubstantiated claims
Avoiding greenwashing is essential for maintaining trust with customers and ensuring that your food business genuinely contributes to sustainability.
Strategies to avoid greenwashing include;
- Being transparent and honest: Provide accurate claims, detailed information, and third-party verification.
- Communicate genuine efforts: Focus on what you’re doing, not what you plan to do.
- Provide evidence and data
- Focus on continuous improvement
To ensure regulatory compliance, you might want to hire an attorney experienced in sustainability issues.
Final thoughts
In light of the current global need to save the environment and our planet, you must adapt strategies for your food business to ensure sustainability. The above strategies will not only help you grow your food business for the future but also contribute your part in saving the planet.
What else are you doing to save the planet and grow your food business?
