GS-55 Minimizes Restaurant Environmental Impact By Addressing Food Sourcing, Waste Management, Energy and Water Use
Eight Chicago Area Restaurants Are First To Receive Certification
Green Seal, the nation’s oldest independent non-profit providing sustainability certification for products and services, today launched a new sustainability standard for restaurants and food services in conjunction with The Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition and The Rosenthal Group.
The standard, GS-55, covers retail restaurants and institutional food service operations through rigorous criteria that minimize environmental impact in several categories. These include food sourcing through use of foods produced in a sustainable manner; waste management, including food waste, compostable waste, recycling and water quality management; energy use; water consumption and the use of other environmentally-preferable products and services.
GS-55 is the result of a pilot program conducted in partnership with The Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition (GCRC), an organization dedicated to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources by helping the Chicago foodservice industry reduce its collective environmental footprint. The pilot was conducted with Chicago restaurants using criteria developed on the basis of a study by the Green Restaurant Research Team at the University of Chicago in cooperation with GCRC.
In the pilot program, one participating restaurant achieved 96% diversion of its waste, while another was able to limit waste to just a few gallons per year. These gains came about through compliance with the standard’s criteria for composting, food donation, recycling of solid waste and grease and limiting disposable packaging.
Eight Chicago restaurants and food services, including two in McCormick Place, have achieved certification so far. These include:
- Autre Monde Café & Spirits
- FIG Catering
- Food For Thought
- Sandwich Me In
- La Brea Bakery Café
- West Hall Food Court at McCormick Place
- Cicchetti
- The Sopraffina Marketcaffé
An additional 12 Chicago area restaurants are in the process of being evaluated for certification. Unlike other green programs, Green Seal verifies, monitors, and holds each restaurant accountable for meeting requirements. Green Seal conducts a complete review of purchasing records, processes and communications, as well as on-site audits.
“According to the EPA, more than 36 million tons of food waste were generated in 2011, 96% of which was thrown away into landfills,” says Arthur B. Weissman, Ph.D., President and CEO of Green Seal. “With our new standard, nearly 100% of waste can be diverted from the landfill. With nearly 1 million restaurants in the U.S., adoption of our standard would have a significant impact on the environment.”
“It is always encouraging when pointed research yields such tangible results. The launch of GS-55 answers the call of a defined market need for options in independent foodservice sustainability certification,” says Eloise Karlatiras, President & CEO, Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition. “This standard provides food service businesses nationwide with a comprehensive, third party option to measure, track, verify, and improve upon operational sustainability. As these efforts serve to reduce the food service industry’s environmental impact, we are delighted to have been a part of such important work.”
“Environmentally friendly practices and good business practices should go hand in hand,” says Karen Weigert, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago. “These actions will help establish Chicago’s long-term livability as we secure a more sustainable future. We congratulate Green Seal, the team and local participating restaurants on launching a national standard based on pilot work done in Chicago.”
“We’ve been involved in the creation of this standard from the outset and are thrilled that it will now be available on a national scale,” says Dan Rosenthal, President of the Rosenthal Group. “There is no other sustainability standard for restaurants out there that can rival GS-55 for its thoroughness or scientific basis. It is truly the gold standard for any restaurant that wants to validate its sustainability efforts.”
The Rosenthal Group’s Sopraffina and CICCHETTI restaurants participated in the Green Seal pilot and are among the eight local restaurants to receive the initial certification.
For more information about GS-55, including certification tools, application information, and to obtain a download of the standard, visit www.GreenSeal.org.
The original “Green Seal of Approval” was founded in 1989 to help safeguard the health of people and the planet. As an independent, science-based standards developer and certification body, Green Seal identifies products and services that are environmentally responsible, and provides public education for creating a more sustainable world. Call (202)872-6400 for more information, or visit www.GreenSeal.org for links to all Green Seal standards and certified products and services.
Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition is an organization dedicated to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources by helping the Chicago foodservice industry reduce its collective environmental footprint.
The GCRC provides educational resources to Chicago foodservice outlets, increases the availability and accessibility of sustainable goods and services in Chicago’s foodservice industry, and educates consumers about environmentally sustainable dining options. The GCRC also provides members with cost savings, personalized sustainability assistance, and access to a comprehensive online database of sustainable goods and services.
www.buygreenchicago.org
The Rosenthal Group, Inc. has been developing and managing high quality restaurant concepts in Chicago since 1988. Founder and owner Dan Rosenthal has also been a leader in Chicago’s environmental and sustainability arena for the last 8 years, devoting much of his time to correcting the huge negative impact that his and other Chicago restaurants have on the environment. His 2 newest restaurants, Sopraffina and CICCHETTI, have just been certified as sustainable by Green Seal, the nation’s preeminent certifying body for environmentally friendly products and services, and his 7 other restaurants are awaiting final Green Seal approval.
In 2007 he founded the Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition, an organization whose mission is to educate Chicago restaurant chefs and owners about sustainability and to bring products and services to Chicago area foodservice operations that are both sustainable and affordable. That organization now has nearly 200 active members.
Rosenthal has also been a passionate advocate for eliminating the non therapeutic use of antibiotics in the raising of animals for food, and has spoken widely on the issue. His restaurants serve over 30,000 meals a week, and purchase over 700,000 pounds of animal proteins a year, every ounce of which has been certifiably raised without antibiotics.