Restaurant franchises

Environmentally sensitive practices are becoming increasingly important for many businesses and restaurant franchising is no exception. The environment is a hot topic and the public is becoming more vocal about what they expect from retailers, manufacturers and service providers alike. Environmental issues which are foremost in the public’s mind, and which restaurant franchises must now take into account, include energy conservation, recycling and organic locally sourced food.

In Britain, a government sponsored “Green Achiever Scheme” has been created to enable companies to demonstrate their environmentally friendly credentials to suppliers, customers and other bodies interested in green business. In the United States, federal tax incentives and recycling programs have been set up to facilitate those companies wanting to improve their green credentials. The number of restaurant franchises opting into such schemes in both countries has been steadily growing, as business owners take note of the public’s demands when it comes to the environment.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the environmental impact of their personal choices and, when it comes to opting where to spend their cash, are increasingly influenced by ethical business practices. Restaurant franchises have started to realize how important green credentials are to customers and investors alike. Environmentally friendly practices are gradually being introduced into every aspect of the restaurant franchising businesses. These practices range from installing solar panels, reducing carbon emissions and using non-toxic cleaning products to eliminating non-recyclable packaging and reducing the amount of all packaging used, filtering cooking oil for reuse and sourcing local, fair trade or organic produce.

In the future, when you eat out at a restaurant franchise in the United States, you may find some unpalatable figures printed next to the mouth-watering descriptions – the fat, sodium, cholesterol and calorie content of every choice on the menu. Will you still fancy that burger and fries if you know that it is going to “cost” you 850 calories as well as over half of your daily fat or sodium allowance?

With obesity a major health concern in the United States, maybe Americans need the truth about what they eat at restaurant franchises. After all, shouldn’t restaurant food have the same labelling standards as the food we cook in our own homes? Nutritional information on packaged foods is required under law by the Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) and much in the same way, the new Labeling Education and Nutrition Act (LEAN) will create a national standard for the restaurant industry. Up until now, various states have enforced their own standards, which has created an inconsistent, patchy and confusing set of local laws. The LEAN Act will provide a national standard through the United States and will compel restaurant franchises and other eaterie chains with at least twenty locations to display the calorie count of its food items. Chains would also be required to give customers additional nutritional information, including fat, sodium and cholesterol content. It is, however, expected that there will be some exceptions. For example, many restaurant franchises have self-serve buffets and, in such cases, the nutritional information disclosed is likely to be based upon an “average” serving. The nutritional content of multi-serve items (such as pizzas intended for two or more persons) would be on a per-serving basis.