While most restaurants are not in a position to take meat entirely off the menu, adding some clearly labeled vegan and vegetarian options can be a good start. After all, meat and dairy production account for 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

Americans are becoming more omnivorous, so adding plant-based menu items won’t just be appealing to a niche audience. A 2021 study by research firm One Poll found that 47% of Americans identify as flexitarian and want to eat more plant-based meals than meat-based ones.

“Adding those items can bring in new customers, because you don't need to be a vegan restaurant to attract a vegan customer,” Oshman said. “Even by having 10 or 20% of the menu items be vegan or vegetarian, it can really strengthen your current consumer base, and all of a sudden get on the radar of consumers that might not have been coming to the restaurant before.”

Reducing food waste is another cost-savvy sustainability tactic for operators. Technology can lend a hand here. Companies like PreciTaste and Choco offer smart food inventory management tools that can predict ingredient needs so that operators can cut supply costs.

There are also low-tech options for avoiding food waste. Brandon Collins is a corporate executive chef for Unilever Food Solutions, the sustainability arm of the consumer goods company (Hellmann’s, Magnum ice cream) where he helps explore different ways for foodservice professionals to make more sustainable decisions. Food waste, he said, is one of the top ways a restaurant operator can reduce their carbon footprint, from using all parts of a raw ingredient to pickling leftover produce before it goes bad.

“A prime example is a carrot — whenever a carrot comes into the kitchen, nine times out of 10, the first thing a chef will do is throw away the greens,” Collins said. “So that’s waste, and then if they order them pre-peeled, that’s more waste. But I could chop up the carrot head and make pesto, and I can turn the peels into carrot chips. It gives me so many more options than if I order them pre-peeled. This will cost me less money, and I’m not throwing away food.”

Sometimes, making a few tweaks to kitchen equipment can make all the difference when it comes to reducing energy costs and water usage. One of the simplest fixes is to replace the kitchen sink spray valve. According to Jeff Clark, expert exchange director with the National Restaurant Association, a classic spray valve uses about 1.28 gallons of water per minute, but more efficient spray valves can get the job done using 0.7 gallons of water per minute. Over the course of a five-year lifespan of the piece of equipment, this could save operators about $1,000 in water bills, Clark said.

“Spray valves are not terribly exciting — you’re not going to find a documentary on them, though you will find documentaries on solar power and electric vehicles,” Oshman said. “But they are an easy change, and they’re very inexpensive, and could save you lots of money.”

Greenwashing — or misleading the public about your company’s sustainability practices — is a controversial topic, and there’s conflicting information on what exactly counts as greenwashing, and what does not.

For example, composting is a very trendy sustainability initiative. But not all cities have robust composting programs, or if they do, products could be mislabeled as compostable, and compostable products could easily end up in landfills by mistake. That’s why the National Restaurant Association suggests operators do their homework before trying out a composting program.

“You have to understand your local infrastructure, know what fees are associated with the composting [and] how does the recycling and composting play together,” Clark said. “So to just jump in can be very difficult for operators, especially those with multiple locations.”

Carbon offset credits are another controversial topic. While operators of all sizes use these — investing in solar, wind, and other “clean” energy sources to offset their own carbon emissions — some experts think this is a form of greenwashing because the operators don’t actually use solar or wind power firsthand. The Green Restaurant Association thinks that carbon offset credits are OK if done in conjunction with other sustainable practices.

“The problem is with restaurants that say, ‘come to our carbon-neutral restaurant,’ and meanwhile there’s nothing sustainable on the menu, no energy or water efficiency,” Oshman said. “Operators get these renewable energy credits and carbon offset credits because they think it’s something good. But you should do it in addition to, not instead of.”

Sustainability is a sliding scale, with operators on one side that are zero-waste composting masters that only use organic, locally sourced ingredients, and operators that want to start reducing their carbon footprint without breaking the bank. Even using eco-friendly cleaning products and energy star equipment is a step up from doing nothing.

“The reality is that with any large-scale societal problem, there is no silver bullet,” Oshman said. “There are many options, many sustainability certification levels. … There are lots of things restaurants can do, from replacing their petroleum candles with electric ones to using green pest control. Not everybody’s an expert in sustainable seafood. We don’t want people to get discouraged.”

Hannah’s Bretzel is a three-unit concept famous for its German sandwiches made on authentic bretzel (pretzel) bread. Besides sandwiches, the brand is also known for its stringent sustainability practices.

Hannah’s Bretzel composts or recycles almost every bit of waste that comes out of the restaurant, purchase credits from wind and solar power companies, and purchase biodegradable packaging. But the brand has perhaps become best-known for its electric Mini Cooper, which the company uses to make all of its food deliveries.

While some of the brand’s eco-friendly investments end up costing the company more, Hannah’s Bretzel just charges about 30 cents extra per sandwich to offset those costs. Plus, the Mini Cooper saves the company money.  

“We saved about $9,000 in gas money, and we park it in a public parking garage where they have EV chargers,” founder Florian Pfahler said. “We basically operate that car for free, and the savings make up any anything I pay in other sustainability areas.”

Besides saving money on gas, Hannah’s Bretzel’s sustainability practices have become a brand differentiator. The brand is known for its fresh bread, locally sourced ingredients, and ethical business decisions, which makes it a hit in the Chicago community. 

Build-your-own salad concept Neon Greens takes hyper-local sourcing to a whole new level. The vertically integrated brand grows its own lettuce in a hydroponic farm right next door. The 80 different lettuce varietals are grown in container farms, and the entire contraption was installed in four hours using a 150-foot crane.

“We are all about embracing radical transparency in food and piggybacking on the movement of people wanting to know more about where their food comes from,” Neon Greens owner Josh Smith said.

So, why lettuce? Smith said that freshly grown lettuce tastes “completely different” from store-bought lettuce and lasts a lot longer in the fridge, too. Lettuce is also the highest yielding and quickest growing produce the company could grow. While some of the other produce is local, items like citrus have to come from Florida, for example.

Neon Greens only has one location for now, and Smith imagines it will be even easier to spread hyper-local lettuce farms to other locations due to the benefits of economy of scale.

As sustainable seafood practices become more commonplace, how challenging is it for a multi-unit restaurant group to purchase only sustainable seafood? According to Norman Wu, founder and CEO of 60-unit Conscious Hospitality Group — owner of Just Poke, Sugo Hand Roll Bar, and other brands — it has actually gotten easier as they’ve scaled and attracted more purchasing power.

“From day one, everything we’ve done in the restaurant[s] is eco-friendly,” Wu said, adding that they compost, are plastic-free, and only use certifiably sourced fish in their poke bowls and other seafood dishes. “When we started, we reached out to every tuna vendor and put them through a rigorous vetting process asking about their exact certifications.”

Once the company started growing, it became cheaper to both vet fish suppliers and make sure the company was investing in as many sustainable operations practices as possible.

“Once you’re at scale, a compostable fork costs exact same as a plastic fork,” Wu said.

While the company’s rigorous sourcing practices are not cheap, Wu added that their customers are willing to pay more knowing that they can trust in the ocean-to-plate journey.