By Jeffrey Clark

This article was originally published in the January/February 2020 issue of The New Brewer, the journal of the Brewers Association.

A brewpub business has two distinct parts: brewery operations and the restaurant. While the two segments feed off each other, there are significantly different sustainability drivers behind each part.

Restaurants are complicated businesses that—in the process of providing customers great dining experiences—generate waste and use significant energy and water. Through the back door comes daily, weekly, or semiweekly food shipments and out goes food waste, cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, and more. Restaurants use energy to cook, cool, and store food; vent cooking vapors out of the kitchen; illuminate interiors, signs, and parking lots; and keep guests and staff comfortable.

They use water to cook and wash food, hands, dishes, counters, and floors. Water is used in restrooms and for landscaping as well.

The restaurant presents plenty of opportunities for implementing sustainable practices, but where should you begin? Start with the low-hanging fruit, the quick and easy steps that go a long way toward saving resources and money. Here are five ways to get started.

1. Fix leaks

It sounds obvious, but everyone gets busy and little leaks from sinks or dishwasher water lines often get ignored. I’ve personally seen a sink leak that, if left unfixed, could have wasted 80,000 gallons of water a year. If you have a leak, count the number of drips in a minute, then use an online water leak calculator to find out how much water is being wasted. Multiply that figure by your current water rate to understand how much that annoying leak is costing you—then fix it!

2. Swap out pre-rinse spray valves

Another easy water-saving step is ditching your old, cracked sprayers for high-efficiency models. An Energy Star-certified spray valve can cost around $75, but your utility or water provider might offer rebates on high-efficiency replacements or even provide the pre-rinse units for free. Replacing inefficient sprayers can save hundreds of dollars a year.

3. Clean refrigerator condenser coils

Ever notice the face of your refrigerator coil is all fuzzy with dust? That coating is costing you money. Dirty coils impede airflow, making the refrigeration compressor work harder to keep your food cold. Overworking wears it out faster, leading to a service call. Purchase a refrigerator coil brush and, using short brush strokes (not too hard; you don’t want to bend the coil fins), clean off any buildup on your condenser coils at least once a quarter. Consider putting reach-ins on sliders or casters to be able to slide the unit in and out for easy coil cleaning.

4. Create start-up, shut-down schedules

Part of many chefs’ opening routines is to start their prep work by turning on every piece of cooking equipment, even though service doesn’t start for hours. Salamanders, broilers, ranges, fryers, and hoods don’t need to be on full blast from the get-go.

Most equipment takes about 20 minutes to heat up to cook-ready condition. Shari’s Café and Pies implemented a schedule in all 25 of its restaurants and saved $4,145 a year per location. Arby’s saved $1,300 per restaurant with an on/off equipment startup schedule. Remember to include schedules for frontof- house lights. Tom Dargen, VP of brewing operations at CraftWorks, said his company uses a computer system to automatically control HVAC settings, much like a Nest thermostat, that lowers the heat and AC at close, then brings it back up during normal business hours.

5. Reduce food waste

In the U.S., about 40 percent of our food ends up in the landfill, according to the USDA.1 Each year, consumers, businesses, and farmers spend approximately $218 billion to grow, process, transport, and dispose of food that is never eaten, according to ReFED. Reducing food waste in a restaurant or brewpub is a complex problem that requires human behavior change, available infrastructure, and an internal champion to succeed. Visit RestaurantKitchen.org for advice gleaned from real-world food waste reduction pilot projects, training videos, and other resources to help cut food waste. Leah Cheston, co-owner of Right Proper Brewing Company, suggests asking FOH staff to identify certain menu items that often go unfinished and adjusting the portion size for that dish or sauce. Also, make sure everything gets used in the kitchen—prepare salmon mousse from leftover salmon or bread pudding with bread that’s about to turn stale.

Running all aspects of your brewpub’s brewery and restaurant with sustainability in mind is good for your patrons, your staff, your community, and your bottom line. Taking that responsibility is hard work, but the rewards make it well worth the effort. Be sure to share your sustainability efforts with guests—it’s a great way to make sure they become repeat customers, fans of your establishment, and ambassadors of your brands.

Jeffrey Clark is sustainability and nutrition manager at the National Restaurant Association. Contact him for questions or to share your sustainability story.