I recently hosted a discussion with local business leaders, Andy Berke, mayor of Chattanooga, and Heather McTeer Toney, southeast regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We had an important conversation about the role of the business community in combating climate change.
As the owner of 212 Market Restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, I’ve experienced firsthand that small businesses can make meaningful changes to protect the environment, while becoming much more efficient and reducing costs.
While the restaurant industry accounts for only four percent of the economy, it has a large impact on the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. Restaurants use more electricity and emit more greenhouse gases than any other type of retail business. A significant amount of a restaurant’s overall operating cost is spent on energy use. Becoming more sustainable can both help the environment and help the bottom line.
In an average restaurant, lighting is about 13 percent of energy use. Compact fluorescent bulbs and LED bulbs for exterior lights reduced our energy needs. We recently put solar panels on the roof to provide some of the restaurant’s energy. Energy-efficient hand dryers cost 90 percent less than paper towels over the course of a year. These efforts have cut costs.
The same thinking can reduce the 300,000 gallons of water an average restaurant consumes per year. In my restaurant, we learned that we could conserve a lot of water through relatively inexpensive retrofits. In the kitchen and bathrooms, the aerators on faucets cut water flow by 75 percent.
Of course, the most important part of a restaurant is the food. According to author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, most food travels 1,500-2,000 miles before landing on the plate. Our menu changes with the season and focuses on foods that are available locally. Buying from local sources saves on shipping and handling costs and means using less diesel fuel and emitting fewer pollutants.
A typical restaurant throws away an average of 100,000 pounds of garbage a year. We contribute leftover food to the local food bank, which has helped promote our business with volunteers and the community. Local farmers collect everything from coffee and tea grounds to mango peels for their gardens, chickens, and pigs. A local wildlife curator takes leftover meat scraps to feed it to red wolves, coyotes, and foxes. Our used fry oil is converted into biodiesel for cars. This resourcefulness has cut down on waste disposal costs.
I encourage other restaurant owners to examine their own business practices and find ways to become more sustainable. While some sustainable efforts cost more up front, our business has stayed profitable. If we don’t come together and do this now, in the long run we’ll need to pay more to keep the restaurant cool while the ovens are hot.
Sally Moses
Owner and manager of 212 Market Restaurant