Certified Green Restaurants
Look for this little logo on your favorite restaurants!
Ever wonder if your favorite restaurants are sustainable? Me too. Turns out, restaurants can opt into a certification system created by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) to show the world how green they are. In this post, I'll tell you all about the GRA and Certified Green restaurants.
What are the Green Restaurant Association and Certified Green Restaurants?
The GRA is a non-profit organization based in the United States that has been operating since 1990. The organization certifies restaurants as sustainable based on the sustainability of the restaurant's energy, water, waste, chemicals, food sources and packaging. The certification is based on a point system, with restaurants that earn at least 80 points on the criteria being considered certified “Green Restaurants.”
How does the point system work?
To determine how many points a restaurant earns, the GRA has created a checklist that includes specific ways restaurants can be sustainable. For each checklist item that the restaurant has incorporated in their business, they earn a certain number of points. For example, if a restaurant uses low-flow prep sinks it earns up to 4.25 points, and if it has at least 1 vegetarian option on the menu it earns 1 point.
Depending on how many points a restaurant earns, it can carry one of five sustainability labels: Level 1 Green Certified, 2 Stars, 3 Stars, 4 Stars or SustainaBuild Badge Certified. For all levels of certification, the restaurant needs to continually increase their points, by at least 5 points every 3 years, to continue carrying the certification. This is great because it forces restaurants to not only earn one certification but to continue building on that certification to become even more sustainable.
The entire checklist and point system are on the GRA's website. Even better, you can view each restaurants' checklist to see which areas are their most sustainable and which could use some work. This is really useful if particular areas of sustainability matter a lot to you because you can find and support restaurants that share those same sustainability values.
What else do Certified Green Restaurants need to do?
In addition to needing 80 points on the checklist, Certified Green restaurants need to have full-scale recycling, fulfill an education requirement and be styrofoam free. These are all great requirements that can give restaurants a strong foundation of sustainability.
The GRA website does not specify whether or not restaurants need to pay to be Certified Green. As discussed in my pros and cons of eco-labeling post, if restaurants need to pay for this certification, this could put smaller restaurants at a disadvantage. If not, this certification system could allow restaurants to show how sustainable they are without the payment barrier that usually accompanies certifications.
How can I find Certified Green Restaurants?
The GRA has a list on their website of every certified Green Restaurant (just click “Find Restaurants”), and the restaurants are searchable by location and certification level. Currently, the GRA has certified just over 600 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada so be on the lookout for Green Restaurants near you!