Green Restaurant Association Announces the Green Restaurant Award Winners
If all restaurants in the world followed the lead of the following Green Restaurant Award winners, the planet would be more sustainable and stable. Restaurants consume one third of all electricity in the retail sector. Dining out accounts for over half of our food budget. With issues of climate change, ocean pollution, and sustainable food at the forefront of this year’s headlines, we take this opportunity to highlight the restaurants that are true role models on how to operate sustainably.
“The restaurant has an enormous impact on our environment. We applaud all the sustainability accomplishments that Certified Green Restaurants® have implemented, and we are excited to celebrate some exceptional restaurants that are truly going the extra mile,” says Michael Oshman, CEO and founder of the Green Restaurant Association.
Greenest University Restaurant
Lair Marketplace at Loyola Marymount University is a 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant®. It was the first and only higher education cafeteria to reach over 400 GreenPoints™. They offset 100 percent of their annual energy use with Renewable Energy Credits that support wind power production, 100 percent of their lights are LEDs, 70 percent of their coffee and tea offerings are USDA Certified Organic, and much more.
Greenest Restaurant
MUSE Kitchen is a 4 Star Certified Green Restaurant® in Calabasas, California and has earned 561.19 GreenPoints™, the most GreenPoints™ of any Certified Green Restaurant®. Located within MUSE School, a K-12 private school, MUSE Kitchen serves 100 percent vegan food and has on-site solar panels that offset 80 percent of their annual energy usage. Aside from those extraordinary steps, they are also near-zero waste, purchase organic food products, use reusable and recycled products, and much more.
Green Leader
Stephen Moir is a culinary instructor at MCVTS Perth Amboy Technical School. Their culinary kitchen is a 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant®. He included his high school students in the certification process, administers quizzes on restaurant sustainability, and teaches them to cook with local and sustainable ingredients. By incorporating his students into the certification process and beyond, he is educating the next generation about important environmental issues in their future career.
See the complete award winners list by clicking here.