​Know your menu’s carbon footprint

For the all-powerful millennial and Gen Z guest, it’s no longer enough for restaurants to offer a healthy menu and run an employee-friendly operation. These consumers also think about their impact on the environment and look to support businesses that try to minimize their carbon footprint. There is increasing power in using local, seasonal ingredients — as well as suppliers who share those values — and then promoting that to your guests. This goes not just for produce but for pantry staples as well, since the carbon footprint of these ingredients can be surprisingly significant. For a sense of how your menu ingredients stack up, check out the tool listed in this report from the BBC. It can help you analyze ingredients from apples to wine for their impact on the environment. For a deeper dive and a better sense of the normal environmental impact of other businesses in your industry, look to Blue Star Integrative Studio, a green business and building evaluation firm that Fast Company reports has developed its own method of tracking restaurant and supply chain emissions — then comparing the result to typical competitors in the industry. The Carbon Disclosure Project, which launched an initiative that Darden Restaurants joined, and the Climate Change Registry may offer you some helpful guidance too.