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NRA’s Green Task Force aims to provide roadmap for sustainable practices to foodservice industry

NRA’s Green Task Force aims to provide roadmap for sustainable practices to foodservice industry

Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants and chairman of the National Restaurant Association’s Green Task Force, firmly believes that going green is both good for the environment and for business. Her challenge now is helping the NRA spread that message.

How did you get involved in the NRA’s Green Task Force?

I serve on the board of directors for the NRA, and I guess it was about three to four years ago, when I was serving on the Programs and Services committee, brainstorming what kinds of services our members would benefit from that we currently weren’t offering. I suggested environmental practices as an opportunity to provide a service members would be looking for and a way to attract, perhaps, a new audience of NRA membership. It really was born out of my own personal experience because Kimpton had been operating hotels with environmental practices [in place] for many years. In 2004 I wanted to bring standards and practices to [our restaurant operations] and Googled “environmentally friendly restaurants” and went to the NRA’s website and couldn’t find anything that would provide me with a roadmap to [building] sustainable practices. Just out of that I realized that others didn’t have [a roadmap] and would want it. Shortly after that the Ted Turner Foundation approached me. They had funding available to provide and were looking to partner with a national association to influence the industry’s behavior and impact on the environment.

What has the group accomplished so far?

Well, we’re just getting started. We’ve formed the official Green Task Force, and we’ve got a working group that serves as an advisory council to the task force that is made up of people from both independents and big national chains, people who are already engaged in their own environmental efforts.

What initiatives are underway?

We’ve created an educational video and launched the Conserve website—it’s conserve.restaurant.org .—which offers how-to tips and restaurant stories relatable to [sustainability]. We’re still adding content to the site, so in the coming months the breadth and depth of the site will include tips on packaging and cleaning chemicals. That’s sort of where we’re headed. Currently and initially, we identified practices that conserve energy and water and information on eco-friendly construction practices and materials.

Has eco-friendliness reached its height or is there more to come?

I don’t think it has reached its height. It’s really just beginning. The momentum will continue; it’s going to become a way of life because we have no choice. We’re depleting our natural resources. And I think a younger generation of employees is more passionate about protecting the environment than we were 20 or even 10 years ago. We need change that makes sense for our businesses and the environment. We need to lead the change. We don’t want to have those kinds of changes mandated for us.

What is the biggest challenge associated with spreading the eco-friendly message?

Well, one particular challenge right now is that the restaurant industry is facing a crisis with the [increased] cost of commodities, the change in consumer dining habits and the economic situation we’re in. A lot of restaurant operators are facing survival right now. The margins in restaurants aren’t that high to begin with, and now we have these negative trends affecting us. So getting people’s attention to change operating practices to protect the environment may not be a priority when just staying in business is.

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