When you cook and enjoy a meal at home, it reflects your values and the choices you make every day. You know where the food came from and how it was grown. You can compost your food scraps and store your leftovers in your energy-efficient fridge in reusable containers. But what about when you go out to eat? How can you make sure the restaurants you support are making the right choices for the environment and our community?

Consider asking your favorite restaurants the following questions, and offer them encouragement, suggestions, and resources to help them learn and do more!

1. Do they source local and sustainable food?
Sourcing food from local farms means fewer food miles from farm to table, requiring less fuel, less refrigeration, and fewer carbon emissions. Sustainable agriculture uses less energy than industrial agriculture that relies on energy intensive processes and chemical inputs. Sustainable agriculture builds soil, preserves our rivers and lakes and provides safe habitat for pollinators, birds, wildlife, and people

2. Do they have their sights set on Zero Waste?
Through recycling and composting, restaurants can reduce their waste 90% or more, making our air and water healthier and safer by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants. Many restaurants are taking additional steps towards zero waste, offering to-go packaging that consumer can recycle or compost at home where available, and purchasing fewer plastic items and less disposable plastic in their kitchens.

3. How are they working to conserve energy?
There are many no-cost or low-cost actions that restaurants can take to save energy. For example, for as little as $30, a low-flow pre-rinse valve for dishwashing can result in approximately 65% savings in energy to heat the water used for rinsing dishes.

4. Do they serve tap water?
Many restaurants in the Twin Cities area serve tap water instead of bottled water out of a commitment to reduce waste and a belief that water is a common resource, not a commodity. Every year, according to Tap Minneapolis, producing bottled water requires enough crude oil to fuel a million American cars for a year, and results in two and a half millions tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

5. What else is important to you?
Does the restaurant offer bicycle parking? Or source fair trade products? Do they pay a living wage and offer health insurance to employees? Do they make efforts to reduce harmful chemicals in their kitchens and cleaning products?

There are many ways for restaurants to make a difference - make sure you let them know you appreciate it when they do!