QSR July 2022

ESG

20 percent by 2029, compared against a 2018 baseline. “Last year we reduced it by 21 percent on the company side, and one franchised unit reduced their water usage by 31 percent, and they operate in Florida, which is a critical area,” Esposito continues. “There is no silver bullet solution, but after monitoring and measuring, certain solutions will make sense in different areas. One of the tools we’ve implemented at sev eral of our company restaurants is metering technologies, so we can identify how water is being used and compare it to water usage in similar locations. In other cases, we’re using landscap ing monitors and sensors that identify when it’s raining so the restaurants don’t turn sprinklers on when the ground is wet.” GROWTH CHALLENGES SUSTAINABILITY Incremental, common sense adjustments can add up to sus tainability success, but in growth-oriented business models, the organization’s success can further complicate progress toward environmental initiatives. In 2020, Chipotle set a goal to reduce its overall waste 5 percent by 2025. In 2021, due to the company’s rapid growth, overall waste actually increased by 7.5 percent. However, Chipotle did implement significant steps toward waste reduction and the company recorded some relevant mile stones. In 2021, Chipotle diverted 2.6 million cubic yards of waste through recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy. Specifi cally, the company composted 107,900 cubic yards of waste in 2021 and turned 68,490 cubic yards of waste into energy. The company also achieved a 50 percent landfill diversion rate. Wendy’s is also making strides toward its goal of sourcing 100 percent sustainably packaged costumer-facing products by 2026, having taken its overall customer-facing packaging

Shake Shack, which has 369 restaurants across 32 states and 15 countries, launched a test last year of compostable, plastic-free, and carbon-negative straws. The pilot test, which was conducted in select markets, indicated that a single Shake Shack restau rant reduced carbon emissions by 4,146 metric tons in a single month simply by using the carbon-negative straws, which were sourced from Restore Foodware. In a similar initiative implemented in fourth quarter 2021, Shake Shack reduced its cardboard usage by more than 1,000 pounds weekly by increasing its burger case pack by 4.5 pounds per case. The company has also begun testing solar panels in five locations, is using LED/motion-sensor lights and energy efficient equipment in many stores, and is evaluating adding EV charging stations in the future. There is no single action or answer to positively impact the climate, as Esposito notes, “It’s a combination of different things. One of the things Wendy’s has done is renovate our restaurants to use more energy-efficient equipment, HVAC systems, lighting (most have converted to LED in the parking lot), and building materials. We use a double-sided grill for most of our restau rants, and we’re actually rolling out a new model that is more energy efficient. We’ve also converted to a ware wash machine at several hundred restaurants and these are more energy effi cient as well as more water efficient.” Looking to the future, Wendy’s plan for new construction as well as remodels includes EV stations in the schematic. Although there are only a few EV stations currently in place at Wendy’s stores, it is something that can be incorporated as the use of hybrid and electronic vehicles rises. The move to corporate responsibility has translated directly into corporate accountability. At both Wendy’s and Chipo tle, executive compensation is now tied to the achievement of ESG (environmental, social, and gover nance) goals.

At Chipotle, Schalow notes, “The 2022 annual incentive bonus for our officers can be positively or negatively impacted by up to 15 percent based on the company’s achieve ment of our ESG goals.” And at Wendy’s, Esposito says: “This year, for the first time, 10 percent of the annual incentive compensation for our executive population, which is vice president and above, will be tied to the achievement of ESG goals.” Key to achieving the goals is employee engagement, and that is an area that she has been most pleased with at Wendy’s: “This is a team sport, it is not something that one person or one department can impact, I’ve

BRANDS LIKE SHAKE SHACK ARE CONNECTING THE DOTS BETWEEN CLIMATE EFFORTS AND CONSUMER DEMANDS.

from 42 percent sustainable in 2019 to 48 percent in 2021. Most notably, the sourcing of cups and lids improved from 6 percent sustainable materials to 19 percent sustainable in 2021, and the category of straws, cutlery, napkins, and liners improved from 69 percent sustainable materials to 73 percent. Even restaurant operations with hundreds of stores instead of thousands can have a substantial impact. New York-based

been pleased at how much energy there is within our organiza tion for focusing on these initiatives, whether food, or footprint, or people-related. If anything, we have more ideas than we can implement in terms of how to move forward. so that’s really encouraging.” q Connie Gentry is a regular contributor to Food News Media and the former editor of FSR magazine. She is based in North Carolina.

SHAKE SHACK

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JULY 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com