A few days ago, we introduced the restaurant BABETTE, a signatory of the OFR charter, resolutely committed to protecting the oceans. Restaurant owners can also be part of the solution to protect the ocean. They can join the community of ocean-friendly restaurants by adopting Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Restaurant charter.
Do you have a few minutes? Let us tell you more about this charter…
What is the Ocean Friendly Restaurant (OFR) charter?
This charter, made up of different criteria, encourages restaurants to adopt ocean-friendly practices in terms of waste management and sustainable cooking, while raising awareness amongst their customers.
By becoming an Ocean Friendly Restaurant, restaurants show their commitment to the protection of the environment and the ocean. They reduce their environmental impact while offering quality cuisine, using local and sustainable products, and educating their customers about the importance of protecting the ocean.
This charter is progressive and invites the restaurants to have an objective of continuous improvement of their practices, by accompanying them as much as possible thanks to webinars and quality content made available to them.
Although OFR is not a label, its ambition is to contribute to the improvement of the practices of the restaurant sector in the framework of its green transition.
For various reasons, whether economic, logistical or sometimes simply due to a lack of time or support, many restaurant owners, despite their desire to act, find it difficult to implement eco-responsible approaches within their establishments. Thus, the excessive use of plastic (for drinks or for the packaging of take-away meals), food waste or, among other things, the abundance of waste (paper napkins, food packaging, etc.) are all practices that the OFR charter intends to change.
There is an urgent need for change, as plastic pollution continues to increase worldwide, affecting the oceans and marine biodiversity more and more… A deplastification trajectory is the only alternative given the nature of the serious and irreversible damage.
———————————————————————————————-
Read also: Danone taken to court over its plastic use
———————————————————————————————-
4 reasons to join the Ocean Friendly Restaurants charter
1. Join a committed community
The charter allows to federate a real community, committed to the green transition of the restaurant sector. By joining, restaurant owners become part of a European-wide network and join a global movement in favor of an environmentally responsible approach.
2. Benefit from personalized support
Restaurant owners who have signed the charter are given advice and suggestions for alternatives to initiate change and identify the different stages of improvement. Expert advice and volunteers from the nearest Surfrider office will be available to them, allowing them to create a local dialogue.
3. Develop its visibility and legitimacy
Surfrider Foundation’s objective, through the different tools it has put in place, is also to develop the visibility of restaurants that have signed the OFR charter: these restaurants are presented on the website of the organization, on its social network accounts and join the list of restaurants available on the Mapstr application.
4. Benefit the planet and the Ocean
By changing their practices and raising awareness among their own customers, OFRs become positive activists who have a sustainable impact on the environment and the ocean through their professional activity!
A charter with accessible and easily achievable criteria
Preparing dishes based on local, seasonal and/or organic products, offering at least one vegetarian dish on the menu, avoiding the use of plastic bottles or paper napkins, favoring environmentally friendly cleaning products, etc. The criteria of the Ocean Friendly Restaurant charter are diverse and concern different practices of the restaurant sector while targeting a common objective: protecting the planet and the Ocean.
Each restaurant owner is free to implement the measures that seem to be the most adapted to his establishment but also the most feasible. Afterwards, they can benefit from the advice of the nearest Surfrider Foundation volunteer office, in order to identify and implement new ways of improvement.
Over 90 European restaurants have already joined the adventure with their Surfrider volunteer antenna and have thus brought the project to life. Are you ready to join them?
