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National Restaurant Association: The Importance of Sustainability in Restaurants

February 27, 2015

Restaurateurs face many business challenges every day and practicing sustainability is one of them. There’s no getting away from it; today, environmental consciousness and social responsibility are some of the most talked about topics among restaurant diners and operators. Customers want to know what restaurants are doing to minimize their environmental impact and want to support the businesses that align with their values. 

You only need to look at the research to see how important the topic has become.  For the second year in a row “environmental sustainability” was number three on the list of top twenty food trends in our What’s Hot Culinary Forecast

With this high-profile, growing trend in mind, the National Restaurant Association launched the Conserve program in 2009 to not only raise environmental awareness, but also give operators like you the education and tools needed to be more sustainable.  Through Conserve’s website, restaurateurs will find inspiring stories of others along with numerous best practices and training tools.  Free and open to everyone, the website focuses on different areas of conservation, including energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, and how they can help save resources and reduce operating costs.

One issue of particular interest now is food waste reduction and how to minimize uneaten food in both the front and back-of-the-house.  In 2011, the NRA joined the Food Waste Reduction Alliance in collaboration with the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute.  Its mission is to reduce, reuse, and recycle food waste.  Since the group’s inception, the FWRA has worked hard to share best practices and produce tools the food industry can use to reduce waste in its daily operations.

Nevertheless, there are some barriers to eliminating food waste and increasing the amount of food donations to those who need it. Whether it’s perceived or real, some restaurateurs think eliminating food waste is too difficult, and we must educate and assist our industry to overcome that.  To do so, it’s important to train employees better, build out supporting infrastructure, and make the practice something restaurateurs can embrace.  The first step, already underway, is to make the business case on how to save money on food costs and also satisfy environmentally-conscious customers.
So how should you start reducing food waste in your restaurant? First, conduct a waste assessment and begin tracking and measuring how much waste is produced.  Tracking can be accomplished traditionally with pen and paper; or by using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s online tools, or working with innovative companies, like LeanPath, that offer mobile tracking and reporting software that is installed on a tablet. Participating in a food donation program is another way to reduce food waste and do some good at the same time.

Many restaurants don’t know there’s a tax write off for donating food.  In addition, the Good Samaritan Act protects restaurateurs against liability claims associated with donating food.  So participating in a donation program is financially beneficial and helps communities, too. Everyone wins.  

To learn more, subscribe to Conserve’s monthly Bright Ideas newsletter, and follow on Facebook & Twitter @ConserveNow.

Laura Abshire is director of sustainability policy and government affairs for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C. She also works on its Conserve program and is the Association’s liaison for the Food Waste Reduction Alliance.