By Eli Patterson, Contributor
Issues about climate change, waste reduction, and sustainability have been put in the spotlight for people to think about. The restaurant industry has not been left behind in this regard, as the world slowly shifts to the adoption of green practices to save the planet.
Going green has two major benefits. First, it’ll save your business money in the long run with its efficiency and renewability and sustainability. Secondly, it provides your restaurant with a point of differential that you can leverage in your branding and marketing to guests.
If you are a restaurateur wondering how you can design your space so that it conforms modern recommended environmentally-friendly standards, this article is for you! Here are four tips to guide you.
Have Plants Inside Your Restaurant
Indoor plants not only enhance the ambiance of a place but also eliminate air pollutants. Some of the best air purifying plants that you should consider planting include snake plant, Pothos, Philodendron, Bird’s Nest fern, and ZZ plant.
But, how can you grow these plants indoors? You can use indoor grow tents to grow these plants in your restaurant for various reasons such as natural décor and better indoor air quality.
With an indoor grow tent, you do not have to worry about killing your plants because it will provide them with the necessary conditions to thrive. Often, these tents come with a reflective material that functions to enhance the exposure of plants to the light. The tents also contain some light within them to enhance plant growth. Lastly, they also make it easy for you to regulate humidity and temperature allowing your plants to survive even in the harshest climates. Given that plants also function to absorb surrounding noise, having them in your restaurant will create a perfect place for people to dine and have a conversation which is good for business.
Install an Environmentally-Friendly Water Heating System
A water heating system is a necessity for your restaurant to meet the set health and sanitation standards required for you to stay in business. In the absence of this system, it will be impossible for you to clean dishes, serve food to customers, and keep your doors open, etc.
For a while now, some restaurants have been making attempts to adopt practices that will help them conserve resources and operate sustainably. One such approach is the adoption of an environmentally-friendly water heater system.
Why should you opt for an eco-friendly water system? Apart from it conserving water, the efficiency of such a system will help reduce your water bills significantly. One of the best water systems that you can have installed is the tankless water heater. Apart from ensuring that you have a steady supply of hot water, it will also reduce your space footprint given that many kitchens in the restaurants are often small.
Redo Your Restaurant’s Lighting
Your restaurant lighting plays a huge role in defining the mood of your establishment. For example, low lighting aims to achieve a romantic and relaxed ambiance while bright lighting stirs up more stimulation in the room.
When thinking about what kind of mood you want to create in your restaurant, it is critical to adopt eco-friendly lighting. For instance, you could tear down some walls to create large statement windows that bring in natural lighting. You could also either adopt the use of LED, halogen incandescent, or CFL lighting for your pendants, chandeliers, wall, fan, or ceiling lights. The advantage of using such lights is that the materials used to make them are low-cost and recyclable. These lights are also durable and can go for up to a decade without replacement which solves the problem of overconsumption of the existing scarce resources on the planet.
Adopt Energy-Saving Practices
You can install a smart meter to keep tabs on your energy expenditure. While you have this device in your restaurant, there are energy-saving practices that you have to adopt. For example, you need to ensure that you keep your fridge doors closed when not in use and clean and defrost your fridges regularly. You also have to service your heating and cooling systems regularly so that you enhance their performance. Additionally, you should ensure that kitchen extraction hoods are switched off when not in use. These practices will help reduce your energy bill by a large margin enabling you to go green.
Conclusion
While it is good for you to become environmentally conscious, you also save a lot of money in the process. Some of the ideas that you need to adopt ASAP are having plants in your restaurant, installing an eco-friendly water heating system, reworking your lighting, and other energy-saving practices.
When you implement all these tips, you will have joined the going green movement!
