EUGENE, ORE.—Sustainable Foodservice Consulting has launched, www.sustainablefoodservice.com, a resource for food service owners and operators interested in adopting sustainable business practices. The website is a free resource promoting environmentally sound food service operations by providing practical information on energy-efficient kitchen equipment, green cleaning products, food waste management, links to private and public sector websites providing technical help, rebates and tax incentives, product information, and energy efficiency information. The “Tools” section offers energy efficiency calculators, energy tracking spreadsheets and a variety of forms and checklists to help implement sustainable business practices.
Paul Kuck, the owner and founder of Sustainable Foodservice Consulting, conceived the idea for the website after struggling to find information on sustainable goods and practices while opening a restaurant in 2002. “There are many resources and products available today, but much of the information is still scattered across the Internet,” Kuck said. Kuck used his experience as a sustainable food service operator to compile this information into a central website intended to assist the food service industry in addressing unsustainable business practices. The industry is the most energy intensive consumer in the entire commercial sector.
“For this reason, it’s time for the food service industry to adopt more sustainable business practices,” Kuck said. “Furthermore, food service operations run on a small margin. Wasteful consumption is not only environmentally unsound, but also financially unfavorable. Really, it comes down to good business—trimming waste and reducing consumption of resources, while still putting out a good product.”
