Over the course of two years, FE&S has continually followed the Kitchen of the Future project led by the PG&E Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) in San Ramon, Calif., along with utility partners Southern California Edison and SoCalGas. The project started off by first identifying a diverse group of operators, from smaller, independent restaurants to larger-scale catering, healthcare and other institutions with outdated kitchens that could benefit from an investment in energy- and water-saving equipment.

Pre-consumer composting — the method of composting waste in the kitchen before it reaches the consumer — can be a great first step toward improved waste management. However, post-consumer composting — waste management after consumption — represents the next step toward reducing even more contributions to landfills.

The most recent update from the Food Service Technology Center’s Cookline Project finds faster returns on equipment investments.

With real estate growing tighter, more restaurants and foodservice operators are carving out space on their rooftops to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs — and even manage beehives.

The University of Colorado Boulder and the University of San Diego pledge allegiance to sustainability.

Start saving energy costs on one of the most energy-intensive appliances in commercial foodservice facilities: water heaters.

Today's kitchen efficiency efforts focus on maximizing workflow from dock to dining.

Case Study: A PG&E Cookline Project Update

Solutions being put into practice include donations, animalfeeding and technology.

From farmland to an epicenter for sustainable education, Chatham University’s year-old Eden Hall Campus in the North Hills of Pittsburgh serves as the LEED Platinum-certified, sustainable setting for the Falk School of Sustainability that continues to recruit the next generation of change-seekers and policy makers.

Ever wonder if there is some sort of certification out there to demonstrate proficiency in energy efficiency and sustainability knowledge?

After launching a multifaceted corporate responsibility initiative and new energy-saving steps four years ago, Arby’s saved more than $20 million and achieved its goal to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015. The sandwich chain has also achieved an 8.6 percent reduction in water consumption in its company-owned restaurants.

Last July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a series of new rules prohibiting certain refrigerants because of their high global warming potential (GWP). The announcements, however, started a flurry of rumors, worries and myths in the foodservice community because of the confusion about which refrigerants would be banned and how that might affect existing equipment and future selections.

Sometimes it seems there’s a plan for everything. A plan for the day. A plan for the weekend, when you might meet up with friends or go on a family outing. A plan for the kitchen, so you know what needs to go where. A plan for the project, with goals, actions and assessments.

The kitchen of the future has long been a topic of discussion for David Zabrowski of PG&E’s Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) and Don Fisher of Fisher Consulting. This modern day cookline, they say, would feature all energy- and water-saving appliances as well as optimal design, enhanced operator education and maintenance that could get us closer to the unthinkable in our industry: net zero energy.

For this special Green Tip article, FE&S caught up with five champions of sustainability to hear their thoughts on the state and future of green in the foodservice industry.

Panda Restaurant Group, operator of Panda Express, Hibachi-San Japanese Grill and Panda Inn, a modern Asian concept, has been on a steady path toward sustainability for the last decade.

Legendary Hospitality with a Softer Carbon Footprint

Want to know whether a piece of foodservice equipment can back up the manufacturer’s claims of being both energy efficient and high performance? Make one simple request: show me the data.

This month, FE&S examines two Northeastern hospitals with foodservice programs managed by Unidine Corp., which continues to take steps toward enhancing sustainability programs at these and other healthcare facilities.

It’s easy to take an ice machine for granted. The unit sits in the corner and turns water into ice. What really changes with these machines? Well, lots. Manufacturers continue to produce more sophisticated units that not only make more ice but also do it more efficiently than previous generations. To help give us a better idea of the frozen landscape that is ice machine efficiency, we caught up with Denis Livchak, energy research engineer at the Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) in San Ramon, Calif. Here Livchak sheds light on the top news and technologies in the continued greening of ice machines.

For Zak Dolezal, general manager and chef at Duke's Alehouse & Kitchen, an upscale yet casual gastropub in Crystal Lake, Ill., going green was as much a personal choice as a professional one.

Years after the first push for sustainability hit the foodservice and hospitality industry, operators are seeing a real return on their initial investments and some maturing philosophies about what it means to be green.

Who says charity and philanthropic work don't have anything to do with being green or sustainable? In fact, they have everything to do with this more conscious way of running a business.

Entrepreneur Mark Samuels of Nimbus Eco shares his thoughts on how restaurants and other commercial foodservice operators can serve their customers responsibly.

In theory, waste management seems like a pretty simple concept in the foodservice industry: make the most effective and efficient use of ingredients, labor and other resources to minimize what the operation tosses in the trash. What could be easier, right?

Sometimes it pays to invest in green. Take, for example, Reed College, which received a gold certificate in the City of Portland's Sustainability at Work program. Reed received the program's highest honor, in recognition of the college's energy-saving, waste-saving and local food-sourcing initiatives.

Purchasing energy-efficient equipment is a significant investment. Equipment maintenance along with operator training to avoid misuse and mistakes are two key steps operators must take to protect upfront costs and maximize return on investment.

Imagine being able to build a completely green restaurant from scratch with a decent budget and endless creative freedom. That's the dream executive chef Justin Johnson was presented with when the 90-bed Watertown Regional Medical Center in Watertown, Wis., decided to completely overhaul its 40-year-old cafeteria and kitchen.

The terms "C Corp" and "S Corp" tend to be pretty common in today's business discussions. Conversations about the B Corp, though, tend to be less common. B Corp certification is for businesses looking to demonstrate the bottom-line results of their environmental, social and financial sustainability efforts. Basically, achieving B Corp certification enables businesses to prove that they walk the talk when it comes to sustainability.