From Guest Blogger Eileen O’Shanassay: Tips for Opening an Eco-Friendly Restaurant

Restaurant businesses are one of the most profitable business ideas out there. If a restaurant becomes a part of the community it will always have a steady stream of customers to work with and that means that it can also expand to other similar profitable industries.

Since a lot of customers these days are considering their impact on the environment, the restaurants should be as well. Food and its preparation are probably the most responsible for the impact an average person has on the environment. Advertising your restaurant as an environmentally friendly one will provide you with a niche customer base.

Food shipments
Preparing foods, especially meat, is where we damage the environment the most. This is especially true for those that have extravagant tastes and like to have their food shipped from all over the world. An eco-friendly restaurant needs to find ways to use only the produce that doesn’t increase their carbon footprint too much by shipping the food long distance.

This often means that you need to buy food in bulk or that you can only use local suppliers. Both have its upsides and downsides in terms of quality and cost and you’ll need to choose a supplier carefully.

Water waste
Water is rarely thought of as one of the important resources because we take it for granted. However, it’s becoming scarce and there should be restrictions put in place in order to waste as little of it as you possibly can.

One of the ways of doing this is to rally on sensor based technology that opens the water valves when you approach the faucet and closes them when it’s not being used. This reduces the use significantly in comparison to traditional water faucets.

The appliances
Choosing the right appliances can greatly reduce energy use and waste. It’s also an investment because good appliances need to be repaired and maintained much less frequently. Sturdy appliances can also be used for catering a service which is a direction in which most restaurants tend to expand and grow.

When it comes to purchasing, commercial catering equipment Sydney market provides options for restaurants of all sizes.

. It’s usually best to purchase a bit better equipment than you need at the moment. That way you get to plan for the restaurant you want to have later on and won’t need to spend too much at once to achieve it.
Managing waste
Every restaurant produces a lot of waste, both natural and artificial and this is an opportunity to cut down on the damage you make to the environment and to create an additional stream of income – small, but a reliable one.

Make sure that you recycle everything that can be recycled. This is easily done when you have a system in place and instruct the employees to be careful regarding waste. The food and the produce that aren’t used can be sold to local farmers and used to make compost which can sometimes be charged quite handsomely.

Advertising
It’s important to note that having a green business can be a great advertising tool. There’s no reason to keep your business practices a secret at least in regard to green management. Let the customers know that by buying your products and using your services they are doing something useful for the environment.

This can be done via a menu, in which you explain where the ingredients for the meal you’re serving come from, but you can also go much more in depth especially if you use videos and social media to advertise the restaurant. Letting the customers go beyond the scene and see how the restaurant treats its eco-related obligations can create a loyal base of guests.

Opening an eco-friendly restaurant can be very profitable, but you need to make sure that the business considers its impact on the environment every step of the way.