Sustainable Restaurant Association Launches Rating System
Sustainability has become a major priority for chefs and restaurateurs during the past decade. One association wants to reward the most innovative restaurants.
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A Michelin star won’t be the only thing restaurants around the world covet if one U.K.-based restaurant association has anything to say about it.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association (opens in a new tab), an organization based in the U.K., has debuted a global sustainability rating system, available to any restaurant in the world.
“This is the birth of an international common language of restaurant sustainability,” said Raymond Blanc, president of the SRA, in a statement (opens in a new tab). “The world’s best chefs have a duty to operate responsibly, and I would urge all my chef colleagues around the world to take the test.”
The association’s goal is to “create an international standard for sustainability in the professional food community.” The rating system—available in the United Kingdom since 2009—is based on an online questionnaire to gauge a restaurant’s commitment to SRA’s three tenets of sustainability: society, environment, and sourcing. Restaurants that score 50–59 percent receive one star, 60–69 percent are awarded two stars, and 70 percent and above receive three stars.
Tokyo’s Narisawa was presented with the inaugural Sustainable Restaurant of the Year award (opens in a new tab), sponsored by Zacapa at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants event in April, based on ratings from SRA’s global system.
Several NGOs and associations have given support to the SRA, including Compassion in World Farming, Marine Stewardship Council, and the Waste Action Resources Program.
(F1online/Thinkstock)
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