MAY 10, 2008 - Crain’s New York Business
NY eateries grow green
Environmentally friendly moves cut costs, please patrons
In recent weeks, Tavern on the Green has yanked the fancy napkins in its bathrooms, banned Styrofoam cups in its employee dining room and struck imported Fiji water off its menu.
The Central Park restaurant is now considering energy-sipping lightbulbs to replace the 750,000 energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs that festoon its trees.
Green has always been part of the famous eatery's name. Now Tavern has made it part of the restaurant's mission as well, joining dozens of other restaurants here—from cafe chain Le Pain Quotidien to three-star Del Posto—that are embracing the environmental movement.
Across the city, restaurants are composting their kitchen waste, buying locally grown ingredients and dedicating staff to cooking up green initiatives. Just last month, Bobo in the West Village named a grandly titled director of social and environmental change. And as of January, New York has its first certified all-organic eatery, Gusto Grilled Organics.
“It's the direction that the world is going in,” says Elizabeth Meltz, the kitchen manager at Del Posto, who oversees the restaurant's green efforts.
The movement is being fed by a variety of factors, which are gradually wearing down owners' fears that going green is simply too expensive. Some are eager to do their bit for the environment, and others actually see chances to cut costs—particularly energy expenses. Increasingly, however, many restaurateurs are going green because customers demand it.
Deep impact
While the movement is nationwide in scope, nowhere has it had a bigger impact than in New York City. The Green Restaurant Association, a Boston-based nonprofit that helps food businesses become eco-friendly, has given 55 restaurants in the city green certification, up from just one in 2001. What's more, that figure represents nearly a quarter of the nation's certified restaurants.
“The conversation has shifted for many business owners from `Should I do this?' to `How can I do this?' “ says Michael Oshman, executive director of 18-year-old GRA.
Stephen Hanson's B.R. Guest restaurant empire made the leap last year. Most of his 15 restaurants here are certified, having invested in devices such as faucet aerators, which drastically reduce the flow of water in kitchen sinks.
Just last month, Tavern on the Green signed a two-year certification contract with the GRA. Under the agreement, the city's highest-grossing restaurant pledged to make four eco-friendly changes to its business over each of the next two years.
Tavern has an especially powerful reason for doing so: Its landlord, the city's Department of Parks & Recreation, is now seeking green concessionaires. The restaurant's lease expires next year, and other restaurateurs will be able to bid on the Tavern space as soon as the city issues a request for proposals, which is expected to happen within a few weeks.
Tavern's Central Park neighbor, The Boathouse, began taking green steps last November.
“The Parks Department has said this is something they want us to do,” says its operator, Dean Poll.
In the case of restaurateur Alberto Gonzalez, greenness is a personal quest. After developing an organic farm in his native Argentina, Mr. Gonzalez came to New York City to put some of his knowledge to work here. In January, he opened Gusto Grilled Organics, New York state's first restaurant certified as all-organic by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York.
“I want to bring organic products into the mainstream,” says Mr. Gonzalez, who spent his life savings to open the restaurant.
The food is only one facet of Gusto's green practices. Much of its power is wind-generated. The furniture and the floor of the Greenwich Village restaurant are made from timbers recycled from area barns, and all takeout containers are designed to biodegrade within 90 days.
Costly corrections
Although the National Restaurant Association reports that a third of U.S. eateries plan to spend more money on green initiatives this year, others are balking because of the potential costs. When Tavern began researching what it could do to reduce its waste, for instance, it faced one of the roadblocks that has discouraged other eateries: a consultant who would have charged $40,000 for his services. And that fee didn't include implementing any recommended changes.
“That wasn't a viable option,” says General Manager William Zambrotto.
Instead, Tavern opted for a $5,000 tailored plan from the Green Restaurant Association.
Even moves that save energy—and reduce power bills—can require a significant initial cash outlay for new windows or better insulation. In the long run, such investments will pay for themselves, says Mr. Oshman.
One exception is the money spent on organic food. Mr. Gonzalez's food costs equal 40% of his revenues, versus an industry average of about 25%. For example, Mr. Gonzalez pays $18 a pound for organic yeast, when he could pay just $4 a pound for the nonorganic variety.
But the extra cost appears to be worth it. “The restaurant is doing phenomenally,” reports Mr. Gonzalez. “We are turning tables three or four times a night.”
NATURAL CAUSES
A sampling from Gusto's menu of eco-friendly ingredients:
1 Decorations made from animals that died naturally
2 Eco-friendly concrete walls
3 Bamboo plants
4 Straws made from corn
5 Concrete counters
6 Handmade tablecloths that use fruit and flower dyes
by
Publicated in Crainsnewyork.com
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