EP63: Becoming the first U.S. restaurant chain to carbon label their menus - Just Salad
Guest
Sandra Noonan
Role
Chief Sustainability Officer
Flagship Product
HQ
New York, New York
Background
Just Salad is a fast casual concept serving real food at an affordable price. A pioneer of "convenient sustainability," they’re home of the World's Largest Restaurant Reusable Program, saving over 75,000 pounds of plastic each year through its reusable bowl program. The company was founded in 2006 in New York City and now employs over 1,000 teammates across 40+ locations in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, as well as 4 locations in Dubai.
Pioneering the climate nutrition label
A few weeks ago, Just Salad unveiled its carbon footprint label displaying the greenhouse gas emissions associated with each menu item, becoming the first U.S. restaurant chain to do so. The brand’s online ordering platform orderjustsalad.com will also now calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of any build-your-own salad, giving consumers a real-time look at the environmental impact of their selections. For each item, Carbon Footprint information will be displayed under Nutrition Facts. In addition, the item’s carbon footprint will be compared to that of a quarter-pound beef patty to help guests put the numbers in context.
Episode Brief
Just Salad’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Sandra Noonan, returns to the hot seat to discuss:
Becoming the first U.S. restaurant chain to carbon label their menus
How carbon labelling works
Building out the “climatarian” menu
Different startups working on carbon accounting and tracking
COVID’s single-use multiplier and the future of reusables
De-risking startup opps with public RFPs
Credits
HOST
Peter Levin
PRODUCTION
Dan Mahoney
MUSIC
Eddie Knuckles