How do you reduce your footprint as a future sustainable restaurant?

Having delicious and sustainable food delivered by a restaurant. A demand from consumers that is increasingly emerging as a trend. More and more people are becoming aware of the impact a high footprint has on the climate. Unfortunately, few delivery restaurants still see the necessity of the situation and a sustainable offer is still often seen as a cost and restriction rather than an opportunity or win-win situation. A win-win situation, it can indeed be when, as a sustainable restaurant, you can simultaneously reduce your footprint and increase your profits through some smart adjustments. How best to go about this? We explain that in this blog.

 

“Are consumers really open to a sustainable restaurant?”

9 in 10 people consider sustainability an important issue and 49% claim to live sustainably themselves (Ruseler, 2021). Sustainable living also refers to the kind of restaurants they order from. This is reflected in the buying behavior of Dutch consumers: In 2021, Dutch people spent 21% more money on sustainable food compared to 2019 (Van Geneijgen, 2021).

So the ecological dilemma is indeed one that consumers now understand the seriousness of. Today’s customers are demanding accountability from businesses, and thus also from delivery restaurants. They expect them to act responsibly regarding their footprint, the meals they provide and the packaging they use.

 

“And what do I, as a restaurant owner, gain from a lower footprint?”

In addition to a moral argument, there is also a financial argument for restaurants to become a sustainable restaurant. As a delivery restaurant you want to offer what your target audience needs. When the needs of your target group change, you will have to move with this change. You can do this by adjusting your offer accordingly. Earlier, we wrote a blog about how to respond to this sustainable need. Read it here!

Do your customers crave sustainable meals, and do they care that a sustainable restaurant is trying to reduce its footprint? Chances are they would be willing to pay an extra 1-2 euros for this. A missed opportunity if you don’t offer them this option…. Moreover, there is often a lot of margin to be gained on vegetarian and vegan dishes because of the relatively low purchase costs. Do your customers care that you use sustainable packaging? Stop using plastic packaging, reduce your footprint and inform your customers about it.

When you know how to best meet the needs of your customers, it will benefit your restaurant. You will be able to offer your customers a better experience, they will be more positive about your sustainable delivery restaurant in their immediate vicinity, and moreover, they will come back more often themselves. In short, a sustainable restaurant in this case is beneficial to all parties!

 

Calculating ecological footprint as a sustainable restaurant: some handy tools

One way to assess your restaurant’s sustainability is to calculate your carbon footprint. That footprint, also known as the carbon footprint, can be defined as “the calculation of an organization’s total greenhouse gas emissions” (Climate Neutral Group, 2021). A broad term, then. This includes your food production, transportation, meal preparation and waste management. All of these processes affect the footprint of a restaurant, whether sustainable or not.

There are several tools and calculators available that allow you to estimate your carbon footprint. Below we highlight some of them:

1. My Emissions Food Calculator: Allows you to easily and quickly calculate the footprint of dishes. Results are based on global averages.
2. Food Emissions: This calculator allows you to make a detailed calculation of the footprint of each ingredient used, including production, transportation and waste emissions. Please note that meal preparation and packaging is not included in this calculation.
3. Climate Square: Even things not related to (delivered) meals increase your restaurant’s carbon footprint. Think, for example, of heating your premises and (business) transportation. This tool calculates emissions from those kinds of activities, and therefore may be a good addition to one of the calculators above.
4. Climate Neutral Group: This company has a (customized) method available for each type of organization to calculate its carbon footprint. You won’t find a simple tool here, but Climate Neutral Group may be a party that could be interesting to contact.

 

The average carbon footprint of delivery restaurants

Of course, it’s nice to be able to compare your calculated footprint against other (comparable) delivery restaurants and sustainable restaurants. Unfortunately, little is known about the average ecological footprint of delivery restaurants. A survey of 23 restaurants with French-Dutch cuisine conducted by Natuur & Milieu and Greendish (2019) found an average of 4.2 kg CO2-eq per dish.

As a (future) sustainable restaurant, you may be interested in obtaining a sustainability certification. Examples are the Green Globe and Green Key certificates. For the criteria of these, we recommend that you contact the agencies that issue these certificates.

 

5 Tips for reducing your carbon footprint as a restaurant

Tip 1: Use sustainable packaging and start separating waste

Exactly what does and does not work regarding packaging and waste varies from one sustainable restaurant to another. For example, some takeout restaurants have had success with reusable packaging that carries a deposit, reducing their footprint. Burger King tested this extensively in 2020 (Business Insider Netherlands, 2020). Deliveroo offers customers of affiliated delivery restaurants in Paris and London the option of returning packaging so that it can be reused after a wash (Marston, 2021).

A more approachable measure is to no longer provide a plastic bag, cutlery and wipes as standard with an order. To accommodate your customers who do need this, you can continue to offer the option for a small fee. In addition, you can make strides by using eco-friendly packaging such as bamboo straws. There is also room for improvement in the workplace at many delivery restaurants. Are you already doing waste separation in the kitchen and restaurant?

 

Tip 2: A sustainable restaurant involves sustainable ingredients and meals

It was mentioned earlier: consumers expect a sustainable restaurant to act responsibly regarding the meals they offer. The basis of these meals? Ingredients!

First, you can avoid having your ingredients travel the world before they arrive at your restaurant. In other words, buy locally. Second, each ingredient naturally has a different footprint. Differences in this are often larger than people think. By making conscious choices in this, also taking into account the needs of your customers, there is a lot to be gained without sacrificing customer experience. On the contrary, in many cases a more sustainable offer better suits the needs of your target group. A study by Natuur & Milieu and Greendish (2019) shows that there is room for more vegetables (30%), and less meat (20%) in the composition of meals, without sacrificing customer satisfaction.

Unfortunately, you often see vegetarian and/or vegan dishes get a separate spot on the menu at a sustainable restaurant. As a result, many people overlook these dishes or do not even consider them. Therefore, we recommend that you not only offer sustainable dishes, but also give them a prominent place on your menu.

 

Tip 3: Prevent food waste with an inventory management system

Globally, 25-30% of food is still wasted due to such things as spoilage, damage and overproduction (Nature & Environment & Greendish, 2019). There are relatively easy gains to be made in terms of food waste as a sustainable restaurant by using an inventory management system. Yet few delivery restaurants use this in the mission to reduce their footprint.

Besides the fact that a more sustainable composition of meals need not be at the expense of customer satisfaction, it can also reduce food waste (Wageningen University & Research, s.d.). Customers received twice as many vegetables on their plates during an experiment, and 13% less meat. Reactions were generally positive while less food was wasted.

 

Tip 4: Offer your customers the option to offset their footprint

You see it coming up more and more often, the option for customers to offset their purchases by donating a small amount to benefit the climate. It is possible to offset your air travel, but also when you order clothing. Why would a sustainable restaurant not offer this option? Calculate the average emissions of an order, give customers the option on the payment page of your ordering website to donate a small amount. It is important to clearly explain on your website where this money goes. In this way, you will (partially) remove any distrust your customers may have. Social media can also be an effective way to inform your customers about this.

 

Tip 5: Use sustainable transportation for delivery and make routes as efficient as possible with the CashDesk delivery app

Transporting meals is an important process for delivery restaurants. Many choices have to be made, but there are also plenty of opportunities to optimize this process. Do you opt for scooters, E-bikes or a combination of both? Everything has its pros and cons. Do you want to project that you are a sustainable restaurant? Then we recommend choosing the option with the lowest footprint: E-bikes or electric scooters.

A more efficient delivery process with lower delivery times also means a more sustainable delivery process and thus a lower footprint. The CashDesk delivery driver app offers a solution to this. Through the app, your deliverers have all order information visible on their phone. Using the menu, they can easily navigate to the order address. The fastest route is automatically mapped out!

As a future sustainable restaurant, what are you going to work on first?

Of course, there are many other ways for sustainable restaurants to reduce your footprint. For more tips, also take a look at this blog. We have highlighted the above ways because they seem appropriate to start with. Making step-by-step changes keeps things organized for both your employees and yourself. For example, focus on two changes each year, and schedule a time to reflect on them. You will find that customers and the workforce appreciate this type of initiative, and it will benefit your image. In short, making the switch to a sustainable restaurant is a win-win situation. For you, as a restaurant owner, and for your customers!

 

On our website, also take a look at “services” like the delivery app and/or other smart software solutions for delivery restaurants!

Questions? Contact one of our staff members at 020-8202196!

 

References

• Business Insider Netherlands. (2020, Oct. 23). Burger King conducts trial of deposit on reusable boxes and cups.
• Climate Neutral Group. (2021, Oct. 18). CO2 Footprint.
• Marston, J. (2021, June 15). Deliveroo Is Running a Reusable Container Program in Paris. The Spoon.
• Nature & Environment & Greendish. (2019, August). Restaurants of tomorrow.
• Ruseler, S. K. M. (2021, Oct. 7). Belgian consumers place more importance on sustainability today than before COVID-19. Copyright UBA 2021.
• Van Geneijgen, W. (2021, Sept. 24). Supermarket sales of sustainable products increased in 2020. Eatly.
• Wageningen University & Research. (s.d.). Healthier eating in restaurants by understanding behavior. WUR.