Sustainability has become a major aspect of businesses. As the sustainability trend continues to rise, more and more businesses are adopting environmentally-friendly measures to keep up with this trend. Many restaurants are also hopping on the sustainability bandwagon in hopes of attracting new customers. In order for restaurants to validate their sustainability claims, many restaurants seek out certifications that recognize businesses for being sustainable. Although this provides some guidance to consumers, both existing and potential, some confusion from the public exists as for which certification is considered the best. The key differences of these certifications will be discussed below in order to determine which certification is considered most credible in regards to the “sustainability” label.
Many certifications claim to verify whether a restaurant is sustainable. Some of the more recognized certifications include: the Green Restaurant Certificate,[1] the Green Seal Certified label, and the Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership certification to name a few.[2] In addition to restaurant-specific certifications, there is also the Benefit Corporation certification, better known as B-Corp. B-Corp certifications are geared toward any business, but some restaurants have chosen to seek out this certification in order to gain credibility for their sustainability claims. The Green Restaurant Certificate is commonly used for restaurant certificates and the B-Corp certificate is commonly used for business certificates; therefore, the two will be compared and contrasted below to determine which one is better for restaurants to seek with regards to sustainability.
_____
[1] Dine Green, Green Restaurant Certification Standards
[2] Bob Krummert, Doing the Right Thing on Sustainability? Prove It
Tags: B-Corp, B-Lab, Green Restaurant Certification, Green Seal, sustainable restaurants