Ecology: 3 restaurant groups with outstanding initiatives

Malou asked Écotable, the company that helps restaurants go green, to tell us about several of its customers' success stories.

Why should you? While starting an eco-responsible approach may seem like a mountain to climb, a few simple reflexes can produce excellent results and divide the carbon footprint of a menu by 2.

We demonstrate this with three key measures recommended by Écotable*.

*On its platform "Impact par Écotable"platform, the company evaluates restaurant practices, using questionnaires and invoices. Based on this environmental and social audit, the company decides whether or not to award the Ecotable label, which is backed by precise specifications. specifications.

Malou's tip: meat has a carbon footprint up to 50 times higher than a vegetable ! Red meat, in particular, emits 60 kg of CO2-eq.⁵ That's 8 times more than pork, 10 times more than chicken and 13 times more than eggs. To offer an eco-responsible menu, look no further: replace meat !

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Respecting the seasons: PNY removes tomatoes from its winter burgers

French burger chain PNY, whose 8 Parisian restaurants carry the ecotable label, proves that it's possible to offer burgers - the very symbol of "junk food" - and still be eco-responsible. With homemade fries, extensively farmed meats and vegan and vegetarian alternatives, the group is implementing practices in favor of taste, quality and eco-responsibility. In 2021, following the analysis of its practices on"Impact by Ecotable", PNY has identified areas for improvement. In particular, respect for the seasons. The recipe for the group's best-selling "Golden" burger contained tomatoes in both summer and winter. The group estimates that it consumed 1,338 kg of tomatoes out of season in 2020. Seasonality plays a major role in a product's environmental impact.

"Écotable has enabled us to question some of our practices. For example, taking tomatoes out in winter pushed us to scrupulously respect product seasonality," explains Annabelle Guirauden.

Now with the 1 Ecotable label, the group is not shy about communicating this decision transparently with its customers. On its website, PNY explains what the Ecotable label entails, and looks back at its ecological commitments.

Marlette removes the best-selling avocado toast from its menu to reduce its carbon footprint

In 2020, Cafés Marlette made a decision that many restaurants dare not take: to remove avocado from their menu.

The brand, which serves its brunches at five Parisian addresses (bearing the 1 macaron Écotable label), has decided to stop serving "Avocado toast" for ecological reasons. Marlette estimates that the star dish of its coffee shops accounted for 60% of savory orders, representing a volume of 50 tons of avocados per year.

Marlette shares in a publication the reasons why cafés will no longer serve avocado. The news quickly had a snowball effect. Scarlette Joubert, Marlette's co-founder, explains that the publication turned into a buzz around Marlette, with 4,000 likes and almost 400 comments, and was relayed by media such as theHuffington Post, Bfm tv, Le Parisien, ELLE and others.

Two years on, Scarlette Joubert looks back on this decision and considers it a success story for Marlette!

"We've gained credibility with our loyal customers. People really appreciated this choice and this transparency. It's been very positive in terms of image. A majority of our customers were very happy that we were committed to the subject."

Ground Control bans disposable tableware and plans to reduce its annual waste production by 70%.

Ground Control, a cultural and festive venue set up in a former SNCF hangar in Paris, has also added its stone to the edifice. Since it opened, the food court's restaurants had been serving their dishes in disposable containers, generating 1,700 tonnes of waste a year.

Ground Control decided to switch to solid dishes, with the installation of a dishwasher and the collection of bio-waste. A major change in terms of logistics and materials, this measure aims to reduce the site's waste production by 70% in one year.

Zamir Syed, Operations Manager at Ground Control, led the project. He selected the most eco-friendly options, from cleaning products to the dishwashing machine itself, including crockery and cutlery.

Since March 2022, the site has been equipped with clearing stations where dishes can be deposited and waste sorted. Signage has been adapted, as has the work of the restaurants and runners. A shared dishwashing area washes 10,000 glasses, 1,500 plates and 3,000 place settings every day. A few weeks after this major measure, Zamir Syed is delighted. So are the customers, bartenders and restaurant owners, even if there are still some operational adjustments to be made.

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👉 Feel like doing the same? Here's more inspiration for sustainable (and doable!) measures:

• Following the example of Contraste, several gourmet restaurants with the Ecotable label have removedeel, an endangered fish species, from their menus.
• The menu of Djawa, an Indonesian restaurant chain supported by Ecotable, is now 40% vegetarian/vegan, which greatly reduces its carbon impact.
• Many restaurants have stopped sourcing egg products from hens raised in cages or batteries.
• Soon to become compulsory, restaurants such as Anona, chef Thibaut Spiwack's Paris restaurant, have already adopted biowaste recovery.

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