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How Can Restaurants Lead the Way in Sustainability? Lessons from Zia Taqueria When we think about sustainability, restaurants might not be the first industry that comes to mind. But what if I told you that a small taqueria in Durango, Colorado, is setting an example for businesses everywhere? Tim Turner, owner of Zia Taqueria, has proven that sustainability isn’t just a buzzword it’s a way of doing business that benefits the planet, the community, and the bottom line. Here’s how they’re doing it: 🌞 Energy Efficiency: Beyond the Basics -Solar Power: Zia Taqueria runs on solar energy, with a 45 KW photovoltaic system covering 100% of their energy needs at one location and 25% at another. -Solar Hot Water: They’ve eliminated the need for natural gas in the summer by using solar-heated water. -Energy Audits: By switching to LED lighting, improving insulation, and sealing cracks, they’ve significantly reduced their energy consumption. 🍅 Local Sourcing: Fresh, Sustainable, and Community-Driven -Freight Farms: They’ve invested in hydroponic shipping containers to grow greens year-round, cutting down on transportation emissions. -Partnerships with Local Farmers: From purple cabbage to root vegetables, they source as much as possible from nearby farms, supporting local agriculture and reducing their carbon footprint. 💼 Employee Well-Being: A Sustainable Workforce -Living Wages: Zia Taqueria pays employees 10–10–15/hour, offers 401(k) matching, and provides benefits like bus tokens, Rec Center passes, and even loans for personal needs. -Low Turnover: By treating employees well, they’ve built a loyal team, reducing training costs and fostering a positive work environment. 🤝 Community Engagement: Giving Back -$80,000 in Donations: Last year, they supported 80–100 local organizations through food, gift cards, and cash donations. -Marketing Through Impact: Instead of traditional advertising, they focus on community events and outreach, creating lasting relationships with their customers. 💡 What Can We Learn? Tim’s approach shows that sustainability isn’t just about the environment it’s about people, too. By investing in employees, supporting local farmers, and giving back to the community, Zia Taqueria has created a model that’s both profitable and impactful. As sustainability professionals, we often focus on big-picture strategies, but sometimes, the most powerful changes start small. What’s one small step your business could take today to be more sustainable? #Sustainability #RenewableEnergy #EmployeeWellbeing

I was both relieved and inspired to read that Kerala’s Food Safety Department is enforcing a major regulation: eateries that reuse cooking oil more than three times may now face fines of up to ₹ 1 lakh, unless they hand over used oil to authorized agencies. This isn’t just a health policy — it’s a societal investment. Repeatedly reheated oil breaks down and produces toxic compounds, which have been linked to serious diseases. But the regulation also ties into sustainability: through the RUCO initiative, used oil is collected, repurposed, and sent for biodiesel production rather than being misused. Why this matters for all of us: Consumers: This measure protects our health — what we eat from street food joints or restaurants will be safer. Entrepreneurs / Food business operators: While this adds a compliance cost, it also presents an opportunity. By partnering with authorized collection agencies, they can contribute to a cleaner, greener food ecosystem. Policy-makers: This is a model worth replicating in other states — not just as a punitive measure, but as a way to embed public health and environmental responsibility into food business practices. Kudos to Kerala’s leadership and food safety teams for placing long-term health and sustainability over short-term cost-cutting. Call to action: I hope more states, and even countries, look at this model. Healthy food + green disposal = a win-win for citizens and the planet.

I’ve spent the past week at Hilton Bali Resort, and one thing is clear: this hotel has turned sustainability in F&B into its superpower. Led by Chef Clinton Webber and embraced by the entire team, their efforts not only benefit the planet but also resonate deeply with guests. Take their breakfast spread as an example. Feeding the 800+ guests is no small task, but they’ve made it a celebration of local flavors and eco-friendly practices. From handmade nut butters to Balinese cheeses, 99% of their ingredients are sourced from Bali and Indonesia. They’re even repurposing ingredients - fruit and vegetable seconds become compotes, flavored whey, and even banana peel caramel jam! This is a shining example of how small steps - like portion control, repurposing, and local sourcing - not only reduce waste but also support the local economy and enhance profitability. It’s the kind of innovation we need to see more of across the industry. In a world where sustainability is increasingly a priority for guests, adapting now isn’t just about staying relevant; it’s about securing the future of our businesses. For us in F&B, there’s always more to learn. How are you integrating sustainability into your operations? Let’s share ideas and inspire change together. Amit Sakhrani Erlangga Farizky Agus Ardana #Sustainability #HospitalityLeadership #SustainableHospitality #LocalSourcing #EcoFriendlyDining #CulinarySustainability #ResponsibleTourism #GreenOperations #FoodInnovation #FutureOfHospitality #HiltonBali #SustainableLuxury #HiltonFoodAndBeverage

I recently stumbled across a London restaurant that has blown me away, while quietly revolutionising the way we think about food - The Orangery TCR Tucked away on New Oxford Street, they have built the West End's first underground hydroponic farm in partnership with Square Mile Farms. Today, they're growing over 35,000 plants beneath one of London's busiest streets. The numbers tell the story: • 35,000+ plants grown across the equivalent of 1.1 acres • 90% less water used vs conventional farming • 0 food miles — ingredients harvested hours before service Here's what makes them different: 🌱 Farm built into the experience - Guests dine surrounded by living crops growing on the walls. The Chef's Table sits inside the basement farm itself - a private dining room where you're surrounded by the plants about to reach your plate. 💧 Hydroponics done at scale - Plants are grown in nutrient-rich water under LED lights, entirely underground. Despite no soil and no sunlight, the farm cultivates over 35 varieties including herbs, kale, sorrel and pak choi - the equivalent of 1.1 acres of traditional farmland beneath Central London. ♻️ Sustainability baked in from the ground up - No food miles on vegetables. Minimal water waste. Ingredients that travel metres, not miles, from farm to kitchen. For fish and meat, they source from carefully selected local suppliers - the same commitment to provenance, applied across the whole menu. They've taken one of hospitality's most overused phrases 'farm-to-table' and made it real. It's one of the most genuinely innovative dining concepts I've come across in London. What's one restaurant concept you've seen quietly doing something brilliant?

Together with myclimate — and funded by Futouris e.V. and its members DERTOUR Group, (former) Hotelplan Group, and schauinsland-reisen — we calculated, analysed, and worked to reduce the carbon footprint of six selected hotels in Europe (Greece, Spain, Germany) over the past 18 months. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆: 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺. 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 41% 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. That insight strongly echoes a second project we ran in Germany, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, where we worked with eight restaurants for a year on footprint reduction. Our chef Harald jr. Gratenau identified a set of practical, high-impact levers—simple enough to implement, powerful enough to matter: 👉 🌱 Plant-forward wins in most cases (with a few exceptions). 👉 🥩 If meat, reduce beef/ruminants where possible (methane matters—often 4x+ impact). 👉 🧀 Dairy: lower-fat tends to perform better; butter and many cheeses can be major drivers. 👉 🫒 Fats: plant-based beats animal-based (butter is significantly worse than vegetable oils). 👉 ✈️ Avoid air-freighted ingredients (not a “nice-to-have”—a modern baseline). 👉 🗑️ Cut food waste—because waste is literally “emissions for nothing.” The bigger point for tourism decision-makers and hotel operators: If we’re serious about decarbonising hospitality, we can’t treat F&B as a side topic. It’s one of the biggest levers—and also one of the best opportunities to combine climate impact, cost efficiency, and guest experience. If you’re currently working on hotel decarbonisation, destination strategies, or supply-chain initiatives: How are you tackling food & beverage emissions—and what’s been the hardest part to change? #Tourism #Hospitality #Gastronomy #Sustainability #ClimateAction #ESG #Transformation #FoodService #RegionalValueChains

Is your buffet costing the planet (and your budget)? 🌍 🍽️ We often underestimate the impact of what ends up in the bin. Food waste alone accounts for 8-10% of global emissions. For hotels specifically, food and beverage can make up a staggering 30-40% of the total carbon footprint. Hotel groups like Hilton, Radisson Hotel Group, and Iberostar Hotels & Resorts are deploying everything from Artificial Intelligence to behavioral science to solve this problem. Here are 4 ways hotels are innovating to cut waste: 🤖 AI-Powered Kitchens - Hotels are using smart bins and AI scales to track exactly what gets thrown away. Hilton used this data to identify that croissants were frequently left unfinished, leading them to simply reduce portion sizes. Iberostar cut food waste by 28% across 48 hotels in just the first half of 2023. 🍽️ The "Small Plate" Psychology It’s not just about high-tech. Behavioral science shows that reducing buffet plate sizes by just 3 centimeters can cut food waste by almost 20%. Even simple signage encouraging guests to visit the buffet multiple times (rather than piling one plate high) reduced waste by 20.5% in tests. 🐛 Insect Innovation In Malaysia, some hotels are taking a biological approach, using black soldier fly larvae to consume organic waste. These larvae process waste much faster than traditional composting and can be converted into fertilizer. 🏷️ Carbon Labeling Radisson has introduced "carbon grades" (A-E) on menus. By highlighting that a beef burger is an "E" while vegan options are an "A," they help guests make informed, lower-impact choices. The Business Case? 💸 Sustainability pays. By reducing overproduction by 64% using AI tracking, the Hilton Vienna Park saved over $35,000 annually. Read the full piece by Darin Graham here: https://lnkd.in/eUKxjjrz #Sustainability #FoodWaste #Hospitality #GreenBusiness #ClimateAction #HotelTrends

Most food businesses are sitting on a financial leak that they should want to fix. Food waste typically represents 2% to 6% of total sales. For a restaurant doing $3 million a year, that is up to $180,000 thrown into the trash bin. That level of food waste can wipe-out half to nearly all of the profit margin of most full-service, quick-service and fast casual restaurants. Those numbers are attention grabbing. According to the Champions 12.3 coalition - governments, companies and other entities striving to meet the UN SDG 12.3 goal by 2030 - every dollar invested in reducing food waste within operations returns a median of $14. That's a significant return on capital. Targeted food waste mitigation makes a strong business case, no matter how you slice it. Food waste is forecasted to cost the global supply chain $540 billion this year. That estimate was before the rain of indiscriminate tariffs began and the war with Iran abruptly disrupted energy supply chains. Meat alone accounts for 17% (~$94 billion) of that total food waste number. And over 60% of business leaders still admit they lack full visibility into where waste is happening in their operations, particularly during up- and downstream transit and in production. Tools to help support food waste mitigation are many. All are effective such as: • AI-integrated kitchen platforms show staff in real time exactly what's being thrown away and what it costs, turning an invisible problem into an actionable one. • Machine learning-powered demand forecasting tools analyze purchasing patterns, seasonal trends, and sales data to help operators order smarter and reduce overproduction before waste ever happens. • AI-powered waste diversion tools identify what's being discarded and match it to the highest-value recovery option, whether that's redistribution, composting, or another use, so nothing leaves the operation without a plan. Organizations using these tools consistently see food waste drop by 30% to 50% within the first year. But the benefits go beyond the bottom line. Staff engagement increases meaningfully when teams can see the direct impact of their decisions. Supplier relationships improve when ordering becomes more precise and predictable. And for businesses with sustainability commitments, verified waste reduction data becomes a tangible, reportable metric, not just an intention. At TripleWin Advisory, we work with food businesses across the full arc of this problem. We help organizations measure where waste is happening and what it costs. We run hands-on reduction pilots to test what works in their specific operating context. And through our Mitigate training program, we build the internal capacity for staff to own waste reduction as an operational discipline, not a one-time initiative. If your organization is ready to quantify the cost of food waste, let's talk. https://lnkd.in/gAPH5CFT #FoodWaste #Sustainability #ROI #CircularEconomy #FoodBusiness #AI

New York City is meeting its climate goals through food policy! Proud of the plant-forward work in New York City, special shout-out to Kate MacKenzie and Sierra Hollowell! Our op-ed today in the Daily News: https://lnkd.in/eSeWqSip ** How New York City is Taking a Bite Out of Climate Change   New York City is fighting climate change by minimizing meat’s carbon footprint  Ask anyone what’s causing climate change, and the usual culprits come to mind — coal smokestacks, gridlocked traffic, and more. But six years ago, New York City issued a challenge: we need to start thinking about what’s on our plates, too. We made it clear: reduce meat consumption or risk losing the battle against the climate crisis. We called on cities and the private sector to step up and confront the urgent need for change. Today, as the world turns its gaze to New York City for Climate Week, we’re proud to say that we not only accepted this challenge — we are leading the charge. So, how did we do it? The Office of Food and Nutrition Services (OFNS) took Meatless Mondays, which started as a pilot in 15 schools, and expanded it citywide. Then, in 2022, we rolled out Plant-Powered Fridays, where scratch-cooked plant-forward meals are served every Friday. But sustainable meals are only as impactful as they are delicious. That's why OFNS introduced “Chefs in the Schools,” enlisting a Chefs Council led by Rachael Ray to develop over 100 plant-forward recipes, eight of which made it onto the menu after student taste-testing. And, to ensure these meals are a hit every time, they're providing culinary training for all school cooks.  In 2022, New York City Health + Hospitals (H+H) took this vision to all eleven public hospitals, launching a plant-based default program that made the daily “Chef’s Special” a plant-based option for lunch — soon expanded it to dinner, too. But we knew we could do more. In 2022, the Department of Health updated the New York City Food Standards, evidence-based nutrition criteria for all foods purchased with city dollars. These new guidelines require every agency to serve at least one plant-based protein per week for each meal type and phase out processed meats by 2025. These initiatives are delivering exactly as intended: our food emissions are steadily declining. Between 2019 and 2023, the city slashed its purchases of animal products by nearly 15 percent, with ruminant meats (predominantly beef) dropping by over 60 percent. This reduction translated into a 29.2 percent decrease in our food-related emissions overall — or 43.7 percent less per 1000 calories. Within the first year of the plant-based default program, H+H achieved a remarkable 36 percent reduction in their emissions.  With this momentum, New York City is on track to meet its climate commitments... (read the full op-ed by clicking the link)

Harvard University has 19 dining locations certified as Green Restaurants. For the third consecutive year. Not a pilot. Not a single showcase dining hall. Nineteen locations, all undergraduate dining halls, professional schools, and campus cafes, each independently evaluated by a third-party auditor across eight environmental categories. This is what institutional food service sustainability looks like when it becomes a system, not a statement. Sustainability in food service is easy to claim and genuinely hard to operationalize. The gap between a mission statement and a certified, audited, repeatable environmental standard is where most organizations quietly stall. Scale is the complicating factor. When you operate 19 locations serving thousands of people daily, consistently aligning purchasing, energy, waste, water, chemicals, and food procurement to earn third-party certification across every unit is a systems challenge of the first order. Intent is not enough. Infrastructure is required. Green Restaurant Association certification is not self-reported. Each location is evaluated across eight primary categories: energy consumption, water use, waste management, reusables and disposables, chemicals and pollution, food procurement, building and furnishings, and education and transparency. Over the past three years, Harvard's certified dining locations have collectively implemented more than 1,100 environmental steps and earned over 4,500 GreenPoints. 100% of undergraduate dining halls now operate with advanced waste-tracking technology to minimize food waste before it reaches the plate. Reusable containers have eliminated compostable clamshells across undergraduate operations. Recent retrofits in professional school cafes have saved an estimated 500,000 gallons of water annually. Expanded plant-based menu options and energy-efficient equipment upgrades have measurably lowered the carbon footprint of daily operations. Harvard is not unique in its values. What it has done is build the systems, vendor relationships, staff training, waste infrastructure, and procurement discipline to make those values auditable and repeatable at scale. For culinary and food service professionals in senior living, healthcare, and corporate dining: this is the benchmark. Not because every operation has Harvard's resources, but because the GRA certification framework is available to any operation willing to commit to it. The question is not whether the standard is achievable. The question is whether we build the systems to pursue it. Sustainability is not a value. It is a practice. And a practice requires a process. #Sustainability #FoodSystems #CulinaryLeadership

Hilton just turned its kitchens into data labs, and sliced food waste by up to 60% The chain rolled out Winnow’s AI-powered vision scales across 200+ hotels in EMEA, capturing every croissant, curry or carrot heading for the bin. The camera-and-scale combo photographs scraps, learns patterns, and spits out hard numbers the chefs can act on. Result? 🥐 At Conrad Dubai, 74% of buffet waste was coming from untouched bread baskets, until AI suggested “bread-on-request.” Waste plummeted. 🍳 Smaller portions and more cook-to-order stations are now the norm, cutting buffet over-production. ♻️ Some properties now divert surplus via Too Good To Go or local food banks and compost what’s left. Hilton’s next move: scale the program to North America and APAC and try to negotiate with suppliers to better practices, like shrinking pastry sizes industry-wide. That’s not CSR fluff, it’s P&L gold and methane avoided in one shot. Why should every GM and F&B director pay attention to such a movement? AI in hospitality isn’t limited to chat, revenue or ops dashboards. Your back-of-house can run on predictive intelligence, too: 1. Waste → Margin: Even a 15% cut in kitchen waste can save tens of thousands annually for a mid-size property. 2. Menu engineering on steroids: Real-time data tells you which items guests leave untouched and which dishes push them to spend more. 3. Brand value with substance: Guests (and staff) rally around purpose-led initiatives, they just need concrete proof it works. AI gives the receipts. If AI can watch your bin and grow your margins, what other “invisible” corners of your hotel could it optimize next? 👇 #HospitalityInnovation #AI #FoodWaste #Sustainability #HotelOps