Free Research Paper On Habitat Café And Sustainability

Habitat Café and Sustainability
On campus we have Habitat Café which serves up coffee and light snacks. As a university that is committed to sustainability and the environment, there are many things that Habitat Café could implement that would benefit the environment. Some of the changes could also increase their profits and reduce expenses. This is important because many business are hesitant to make changes unless it will affect their profit positively.
There are dozens of ways the Habitat Café could save money and become more sustainable. Star Chefs website offers a “30 Ways and Days” challenge to make a restaurant more sustainable. To save electricity, the staff should be sure to shut down computers and POS systems at closing time. All lights should be converted to compact fluorescent bulbs. Regular maintenance of equipment like checking and changing the seals on coolers and calibrating ovens also saves money and energy. When equipment needs to be replace, look for models now being developed that are more energy efficient. Oil from the deep fryer should not be thrown away, instead it should be recycled so that it can be transformed into biofuel.
All disposable food service items should be produced from recycled goods. Ingredients for the recipes they use should be procured from local farmers and producers where available which cuts down on transportation and add local flair to the menu. Switching cleaning products from the traditional bleach and other astringents to environmentally friendly products.
According to the Sustainable Restaurant Association, one of the strong trends this year will be customers choosing eco-friendly establishment. If Habitat Café were to implement policies to become more sustainable they could market themselves thus attracting more customers. By being
located on campus, they would also receive a lot of word of mouth endorsements as well. By reducing expenses through energy management will also help improve their bottom line.

References

“30 Ways and Days to a More Sustainable Restaurant”. Star Chefs.com Sep 2008 Retrieved from:
http://www.starchefs.com/features/trends/30_sustainability_tips/index.shtml
sradmin. “Top Foodie Trends for 2015”. Sustainable Restaurant Association 8 Jan 2015
Retrieved from: http://www.thesra.org/top-foodie-trends-for-2015/