Food Franchises Seeing Green in Going Green

"Anyone who is plugged into the restaurant industry these days knows that consumers are looking for restaurants to go green -- anything from the delivery cars to the linens in the restaurant to the way they source the food on the menu," says Blair Chancey, editor of QSR Magazine. "Restaurateurs ignoring that are simply shooting themselves in the foot."

Some restaurant chains such as Chipotle and Pizza Fusion are already going full-bore in the sustainability effort. The latter, a franchise system based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, has hybrid company cars, cooks with mostly organic ingredients and builds to green standards.

Most environmental efforts by fast-food franchises thus far, however, have been made during construction. It makes sense: Implementing sustainability measures to save energy or reduce water use or waste can save money in the long run, even if the initial construction costs more. Several chains, including McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and KFC/Taco Bell, have built LEED certified stores (a third-party green building certification) and/or "pilot" locations to test green building practices.

Franchisee Peter DiPasqua owns the first Subway "Eco-Store" in Kissimee, Florida, which was also the first Subway certified LEED in 2007. DiPasqua, who owns more than 90 Subway stores in Florida, opened a traditional store two miles away at the same time to test the eco concept. The green store cost 20 percent more to build, which included some equipment donated by vendors.

"We believe we can recover the increased costs through energy savings over time," says DiPasqua, who runs his company, DiPasqua Enterprises, with co-owner Jeffrey Ganssle, from Winter Park, Florida. "I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to learn how we could bring sustainability into new store construction."

The Eco-Store includes sensors that turn off the fluorescent lighting automatically on sunny days so natural lighting can be used through solar tubes. Another feature is automatic faucets in the restrooms, where the battery is continually recharged by the flow of water. High-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems were also installed. DiPasqua noted in an interview with QSR that one of the big differences he noticed during construction was the lack of a typical construction odor because of the low volatile organic compound paints and adhesives used in green building standards.

Do customers notice? DiPasqua says they do. "I anticipated that the staff would have a sense of pride working in the Eco Store [but] was overwhelmed by the customers' response," says DiPasqua, who notes they've seen a 20% savings in utility costs and is implementing some of the changes in his new stores. "We constantly get positive comments from customers, which surprises me, because very few of the elements are visible to the customers."