Best of Green
Best Greening
on the Go
El Pollo Loco’s Electric
Delivery Vehicles
The biggest environmental threat we face is global warming from the burning of fossil fuels, and El Pollo Loco is doing its part to curb emissions. Earlier this year, the chain deployed two electric delivery vehicles to serve a test location in Los Angeles. The three-wheeled cars—Xebra models, purchased from Santa Rosa, California-based ZAP—produce 97 percent less emissions and save 700 gallons of gasoline per year over the gas-fueled variety. They’re also wrapped bumper-to-bumper in brand messaging and turn heads wherever they go.
Best Systemwide Savings
Subway Installs CFL Bulbs
It doesn’t take much to make a big difference when it comes to saving the environment—just ask the folks at Subway. In October, each of the 22,000 Subway restaurants nationwide replaced one incandescent light bulb with an energy-efficient compact-fluorescent light as part of ENERGY STAR’s “Change a Light, Change the World” campaign. As a result, the company will save nearly 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to almost 3 million pounds of greenhouse gases.
Best Tool for the Cause
Restaurant Technologies Inc.’s Green Calculator
Managing frying oil in a quick-service restaurant can produce a lot of waste. Restaurant Technologies Inc.’s new Green Calculator makes it possible for operators to gain a clear view of how much they are sending to landfills. Knowing is half the battle.
Best Energy Initiative
Taco Bell Implements Grill-to-Order
This year, Taco Bell ramped up the conversion of its nearly 6,000 restaurants to a grill-to-order cooking method that will save at least 300 million gallons of water per year and enough energy to power the Sears Tower for 18 months. As an added bonus, the initiative will allow for some exciting menu additions once all units have received the new equipment, sometime in 2009.
Best (Tree)roots Program
Kim & Scott’s Gourmet Pretzels Plants Trees
It started as a month-long Earth Day celebration: Kim & Scott’s promised to plant a tree through Trees for the Future for every online order customers placed last April. Feedback was so positive that the program is now a year-round affair, with a tree planted for every new online membership to its Pretzel Club. To date, more than 1,400 trees have taken root as a result of the initiative.