The Green Foodservice Alliance (GFA) has just announced that Ecco, of Fifth Group Restaurants, in Midtown Atlanta, as the first restaurant in the state of Georgia to receive the Green Foodservice Certification. As a result, Ecco and GFA are leading the way for greening the restaurant industry nationwide, uniting several foodservice organizations in the fight to incorporate environmental conservation practices into the daily operations of dining establishments. Fifth Group Restaurants Partner Steve Simon helped to develop this program and now sits on the Green Foodservice Alliance Executive Committee. Simon strategized on the functionality of the certification requirements, providing input about what would be operationally reasonable and what would be discouraging for restaurateurs.
The Green Foodservice Certification program is brand new and will evolve to become more stringent each year for the next few years. While there are many more things that Ecco and other restaurants can do to be greener and more environmentally conscious, this is the beginning of an effort to drive the hospitality industry in Atlanta and the state of Georgia to greener practices.
The 2009 certification requires that the restaurant adhere to the following practices:
· Recycle common recyclable goods such as aluminum, cardboard, plastic, glass and paper. The restaurant must report tonnage of recycled products hauled into recycling company on a monthly basis to the GRA.
· Spent grease must be used for the local production of biofuel.
· A written plan must be provided for donation of non-sellable but edible food to a local food bank, other charitable organization or some consumable source.
· A written plan must be provided for energy conservation (gas, electricity, water).
While these practices haven't been a focal point in the past from an operational standpoint, Ecco was able to divert 65% of its waste immediately and reached 75% with more focus. Simon found the kitchen and dish room to be the most challenging areas of the restaurant due to lack of extra space, while the bar area proved to be more conducive to recycling. As for energy conservation, Ecco's energy consumption is monitored on a monthly basis, and the results are used to put operational procedures into effect in order for the restaurant to use less energy.
Ecco has been adhering to these practices and the other certification stipulations for six months now, and Fifth Group is currently in the process of rolling out recycling procedures at the company's catering arm, Bold American, and all of their other establishments including South City Kitchen.
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5 comments:
Awesome! I plan to forward this to those who the they are GREEN! It's noe easy being green. Michael F.
Congratulations to the management and employees of Fifth Group Restaurants for this award and their efforts in improving the quality of our environment. May their example make us Green.
Judy Gochenour, Woodstock, VA.
My name is Chef Ben Cyr, owner of Green Planet Catering in Cleveland ,Ohio. I can be reached at benfcyr@yahoo.com or my web site www.gogreencatering.com Is GFA only in the Georgia area? We currently meet your criteria and are very interested in getting involved with your group. I hope to hear from you soon.
Chef Ben
This is great news and I'm glad to see venues in Downtown Atlanta adopting green practices as well! Congrats to the Green Foodservice Alliance for helping restaurants take such great strides.
Congratulations to Ecco, the management team of the fifth group restaurants, and awesome management team of the Green Food Service Alliance. It is widely known that committing to green practices can be daunting and ever challenging but the collaboration shown here is commendable! Being a fellow 'greenie' I seek out green certified restaurants & businesses, and it is with them that I chose to do business. Great to see Atlanta coming to the forefront sustainability.
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