Consumers are getting increasingly concerned about the sustainability of where and what they eat, and brands are taking action. From Starbuck’s commitment to give more to the environment than they take (resource positivity), to McDonald’s progressive goals for their packaging  - consumers do not want their meals to cost the world.

Chains have responsibility for resource positivity. With scale comes the potential for large amounts of damage to social, environmental and economic pillars of sustainability. Positive, sustainable change can be hard to make, but the effects can be huge — both to the environment and to your bottom line when customers vote with their feet (or forks!).

With consumers’ decisions becoming increasingly influenced by brands’ sustainability practices, many chains are looking to smaller, agile players for inspiration.

In this article, we look at three of our favourite independent sustainable restaurants and consider how enterprises could take inspiration.

Douglas McMaster

Douglas McMaster won the Good Food Guide’s 2020 Sustainability Champion Award for his Silo Restaurant. Douglas’s restaurant is designed from ‘back-to-front’ — concentrating on back-of-house practices first to generate zero waste.

As described on the website, the production of waste has been eliminated by simply choosing to trade directly with farmers, using re-usable delivery vessels and choosing local ingredients that themselves generated no waste. The compost machine set inside Silo turns restaurant scraps and trimmings directly into a compost used to produce more food – closing the loop.

Of course, there is no single-use plastic in sight and all screens are powered by solar.

Douglas has also pioneered further methods to further reduce food waste, such as boiling veg scraps into sauces, and extremely accurate ingredient and portion tracking to ensure each preparation of each serving produces no waste.

Angela’s — Margate, Kent

As described in the Good Food Guide, Angela’s ‘impeccable sourcing, minimised waste and pared-back cooking has proved a triumph’. The kitchen team works with the local community to reduce the amount of waste they produce that might otherwise end up in landfill. Partnering with the Windmill Community Gardens in Margate, they use their own composting machine to turn food waste into compost to produce more raw and organic ingredients to use in the restaurant.

They have a philosophy of considering the planet first with all of their decisions, working directly with growers, fishers and suppliers who understand how to make the most of their produce, and at the same time minimise their impact on our environment.

The Gallivant, Rye

Local sourcing is what makes this restaurant sustainable and special. All produce is sourced from the very local area.

‘“Seafood straight from the shore, produce from the surrounding countryside...”

Considering their responsibility towards their staff, The Gallivant eliminated tipping and instead introduced a £9 minimum wage.

The Gallivant was praised by the SRA when awarded the top accolade of 3 stars for their commitment to staff training and management, as owner Harry Cragoe asserts “Alongside our customers, our staff are our single most valuable asset.”

Implementation in Your Chain

Taking inspiration from Douglas McMaster, restaurant processes could be designed from back-of-house to the front to promote less waste. Technology tools such as Orderly can assist with this — closely managing inventory and influencing responsibility in managers and teams via scorecards.

Where waste does occur, composting and re-use of ingredients can help, also. Chains should choose composting schemes close to the localities of their individual restaurants to reduce food-miles. Waste that is still fit for consumption can help the local community with schemes such as Fareshare and the Trussell Trust.

Order management technology solutions can also be utilised to work with multiple suppliers — ensuring chains individual restaurant can order items from local suppliers and producers where possible.