Eco-friendly Tips for Restaurants and Cafes
With so many restaurants and cafes worldwide, these businesses need to come together and do what they can to be more eco-friendly. Not only does it help save the precious earth, but it also provides a better business image.
In this day and age, implementing environmentally friendly methods is a no-brainer; today’s forward-thinking consumers are more focused on the environment than ever before – and companies must conform if they want to keep up with their audience’s expectations.
With this in mind, use these tips if you’re a restaurant or café owner looking for greener ways to run the business. It’s what your customers expect, after all – and the environment is also counting on it.
Use Recyclable Food Packaging
Food packaging makes up much of the world’s waste, but it doesn’t have to – not with recyclable packaging. Custom business shipper boxes are perfect for restaurants and cafes that want to increase the sustainability and convenience of their food packaging. Not only do custom shipper boxes provide an increased level of branding opportunities for businesses, but they also create convenience for customers through their easy-to-access designs. Recyclable options for custom business shipper boxes allow restaurants and cafes to give their customers stylish, eco-friendly food packaging. Businesses like Envior Limited are a focal point in this green field, offering recyclable and compostable food containers that you can customize.
Using these packaging alternatives produced by green-thinking companies will significantly reduce your business’s waste, which, in turn, contributes to a healthier planet as well as happier customers.
Shop for Ingredients Locally
Shopping locally is an eco-friendly method of purchasing ingredients. That’s because your fruits, veggies, milk, and other food items don’t have to be shipped across the country or continent. Instead, their food miles are less, so your menu items have a lower carbon footprint. As such, shop for your ingredients locally where possible to reduce your outlet’s environmental impact while gaining the bonus of deliciously fresh foods.
Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Cleaning is a large part of running a restaurant or café. Unfortunately, with so much cleaning comes copious use of cleaning products filled with environment-harming chemicals. While you can’t avoid cleaning, you can choose eco-friendly cleaning products to ensure you don’t harm the planet even further.
Use Long-Lasting Equipment
Having to replace your equipment often equals waste, which is what you want to avoid! Instead of the cheaper option, choose long-lasting equipment that will see you through many years. For example, if you are buying new chef knives, research the best brands to ensure they are indeed the best your budget can buy.
Reduce Waste Through Better Organization
Many restaurants and cafes are known for their piles of food waste. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. By implementing a better, more organized system, you can reduce the food waste you produce.
An extra tip: use a compost bin for the food waste you can’t use in the kitchen.
Use Eco-Friendly Lighting
Restaurants and cafés have lights switched for most of the day. Many even keep lights on during the night to prevent thieves. That electricity use quickly adds up, so consider eco-friendly lighting to reduce your carbon footprint. Little changes like these make a huge difference overall. Plus, it’ll reduce your electricity bills.
Educate Staff in Eco-Friendly Practices
It is not just the effort of the restaurant or café owner that makes the difference – it is the effort of all the staff involved in running the business. From the chefs to the servers and greeters, educate all staff in eco-friendly practices to ensure everyone is focused on the same goal. That way, you can be sure recyclable products are getting recycled, less food is wasted, and equipment isn’t left on when unnecessary.
Final Thoughts
Becoming an eco-friendly restaurant or business helps save the earth while improving your brand’s image. Most people would rather go to an environmentally focused eatery than one that produces a lot of waste and doesn’t care for the planet!
Luckily, these tips are not too hard to use, so you can go green without changing all of your business practices.
