Addressing climate change concerns must be a global effort, with every industry pitching in however it can help. The culinary industry has examined its environmental footprint and made considerable attempts to become more eco-friendly and ethical. Restaurants have many elements that they can alter to help them better for the environment, with sourcing ethical ingredients being the main change to consider.
While it’s easy to source unethical ingredients, it is now easier than ever to make the extra effort to seek healthier and more sustainable alternatives. Becoming more eco-friendly can improve the industry, benefiting your business and customers. There are many ways restaurants can source eco-friendly ingredients to achieve this, which we will explore throughout this article.
If you’re a restaurant owner or are looking to get into the competitive market, you should continue reading this guide to help you source ingredients to improve your environmental footprint.
Do Customers Want Eco-Friendly Restaurants?
Exploring how restaurants operate has never been more critical for customers, as it is becoming highly valued that a restaurant is ethical in its processes. Challenges like food sourcing are faced by restaurants every day, with customers paying close attention to how this is tackled.
A study conducted across 12 European countries found that over 59% of customers agree that the sustainability habits of restaurants will influence whether or not they eat there. In addition, 70% of customers believe that restaurants should do everything they can to operate sustainably. This means sourcing as much eco-friendly produce as possible.
The direct effect on customer satisfaction is a big reason for restaurants to become more sustainable and seek ethical ingredients. Restaurants can also lower food waste by using more eco-friendly solutions, resulting in higher money savings. This extra money can then be used to improve other aspects of the restaurant that will further enhance customer satisfaction and their experience.
How Restaurants Can Source Eco-Friendly Ingredients
Buy Local
Purchasing local produce should be essential for restaurants looking to become more sustainable, as it eliminates the need for long transportation methods that can harm the environment through high carbon emissions. Restaurants in Leeds are well known for getting most of their ingredients from local suppliers.
Restaurants can also get high-quality and fresher ingredients if they buy locally. This is because local farms can manufacture and harvest the produce and bring it to the restaurants within a much shorter time frame, meaning it’s fresh and ready to go once it reaches the kitchen.
Purchase Bulks
Buying ingredients in bulk can reduce the amount of packaging from restaurants. Plastic is a massive issue for restaurants and a concern among customers looking for a plastic-free future. Eliminating plastic from their ingredient sourcing can play a significant factor in reducing environmental footprint.
Bulk buying can lead to faster stock turnover, which means products are fresher and less likely to reach their expiration date. This results in less wasted food, which is excellent for the environment.
Use Seasonal Ingredients
Restaurant sustainability can be achieved by using seasonal ingredients, requiring less transportation and refrigeration. This reduces carbon emissions and food waste. You can grow these seasonal ingredients yourself or purchase them from local farms to maximise your sustainability practices.
Out-of-season crop growing requires high-energy input from artificial heating or lighting, which can increase greenhouse gas emissions and negatively impact the environment.
Organic Agricultural Practices
Organic agricultural practices are smart farming that promotes crop rotations and cover crops. It also ensures that there’s a better balance between host and predator relationships, which is considered to be eco-friendly.
This type of farming is more sustainable than conventional farming, as it can reduce pollution, use less energy, improve soil quality and increase biodiversity. Restaurants can grow their crops using organic farming practices for more ethical ingredients.
Regenerative Agricultural Practices
Another farming approach that is more sustainable than conventional farming is regenerative agriculture, as this allows the land, soil, water, nutrients and natural assets to regenerate themselves. Not allowing these to deplete will allow for richer and higher-quality crop growth, leading to long-lasting ingredient plans and less waste.
Regenerative agriculture can help reduce the impact of climate change by using precision farming to revitalise soil to capture carbon instead of releasing it.
Other Eco-Friendly Restaurant Changes
There are other changes that restaurants can make to become more sustainable and eco-friendly, including:
- Using sustainable packaging
- Composting
- Recycling
- Using energy-efficient appliances
- Reducing portion sizes
- Reducing water waste
- Using eco-friendly cleaning products
It’s important to remember that becoming more ethical and eco-friendly is not only about protecting the environment. Your restaurant should also look to become more sustainable to benefit your day-to-day operations and boost customer satisfaction.