Restaurant Franchising – Going Green

Environmentally sensitive practices are becoming increasingly important for many businesses and restaurant franchising is no exception. The environment is a hot topic and the public is becoming more vocal about what they expect from retailers, manufacturers and service providers alike. Environmental issues which are foremost in the public’s mind, and which restaurant franchises must now take into account, include energy conservation, recycling and organic locally sourced food.
In Britain, a government sponsored “Green Achiever Scheme” has been created to enable companies to demonstrate their environmentally friendly credentials to suppliers, customers and other bodies interested in green business. In the United States, federal tax incentives and recycling programs have been set up to facilitate those companies wanting to improve their green credentials. The number of restaurant franchises opting into such schemes in both countries has been steadily growing, as business owners take note of the public’s demands when it comes to the environment. Read more
Small Business Energy – Going Green and Saving

photo credit: thingermejig
If you own a small business, you know that profits depend upon two things: income and expenses. Energy costs can be a significant expense and many business owners are taking a new approach to energy to both lower their costs and move to a more sustainable green approach. With the right information you can improve your company’s financial performance by reducing energy costs and energy waste while protecting the earth’s environment.
Businesses need energy. Whether you are a tenant or you own your building, you typically need lighting; heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC); power for office equipment; and other services to stay in business. How can you create an energy plan? Here are some ideas.
Contact your utility company. Read more
17 Ways to Make Your Small Business More Earth Friendly
Whether or not you believe global warming could be the end of civilization, there are other compelling reasons to take action to be environmentally friendly in your business. Respect for the planet and life all around you is the most basic of those reasons, but here are three others: it will reduce your costs, increase your efficiency, and add to your USP (unique selling position).
By following the familiar reduce, reuse, and recycle mantra you can save financially, which will allow you to invest more into growing your business or free up family finances.
You can increase your efficiency and get more organized by making small “green” changes such as printing less. Read more
Going Green is Not Just for Big Business – You Can Grow Eco-Profits, Too!
The world of big business is making daily headlines by “going green” after discovering that what’s good for the planet is also proving good for business.
IBM recently announced “Project Big Green,” a $1 billion initiative to reduce energy consumption by offering new lines of energy-efficient IT products.
Wal-Mart is adding solar power to more than 20 stores.
PepsiCo is buying renewable energy certificates to offset its carbon footprint. Even major banks and energy firms are being asked by shareholders to prove that they, too, are going green. Read more
10 Ways to Make Your Events Greener

photo credit: Flyinace2000
1. Create an environmental impact statement. If you want to host a green meeting, you’ll need to get buy in from all your stakeholders. The best way to do that is to create an environmental impact statement. Don’t worry. We’re not suggesting a long legal document. In fact, we suggest creating a short description with a couple bullet points to highlight the areas that are important to you. For example, you may say that your organization is committed to reducing solid waste and conserving energy at the event. Share this information with other stakeholders at your event.
2. Use paperless technology to manage your event. In the past, organizing an event meant folders full of paper and piles of lists. Not anymore. Web-based registration and attendee management solutions are making it easier to manage any type of event online in a paperless environment. Take registrations online, send automatic emails to follow up and share reports digitally through a web link. Not only do these practices reduce your environmental impact, but they also reduce your workload and expense. Read more
Green For Business – Tips For Turning Green

photo credit: Torley
With more and more people becoming concerned about the environment, it’s not surprising to see more businesses recycling products and purchasing new things that have been made from recycled materials. Being green for your business helps the entire world and it shows that you and your company are conscientious citizens. Here you will find some tips on how to turn your business green and even start a green products business of your own.
Tip #1: Make your green business fit your skills.Green cosmetics and cleaning supplies are very common in the eco-friendly world. But what if your particular niche is computers? Read more
The Green Collar Job

photo credit: Lee Jordan
Environmental & Economic Benefits
A new color class of jobs that could cross all lines, including the unemployment line, is here. It’s called “green-collar jobs,” and could save our environment and economy. This blossoming sector includes technicians in the renewable energy and energy-efficiency industries, in which there are already 8.75 million U.S. jobs.
The term “Green Collar Jobs” was first coined by Alan Durning in his 1999 book, Green Collar Jobs. His book examines the move from economic dependence on logging timber to “green-collar” jobs such as sustainable forestry, ecosystem restoration and tourism in the post logging rural towns of the Pacific Northwest.
Urban Studies Professor Raquel Pinderhughes, of San Francisco State University, first defined green collar jobs in 2006 as “manual-labor jobs in businesses (or other enterprises) whose products and services directly improve environmental quality. Read more
Green Collar Jobs in Today’s Economy

photo credit: woodleywonderworks
The market for Green Collar Jobs is growing despite the credit crunch and financial turmoil that is hitting markets around the globe. Green Collar jobs are usually found in areas of sustainable engineering, renewable energy and social responsibility. The skyrocketing prices of oil, concerns about global warming and just general uncertainty about our resources all have contributed to a boom in green collar jobs. Below are some of the hottest areas for green jobs in today’s marketplace.
* Travel and Tourism – While tourism is the world’s largest sector, ecotourism is growing at a rate of three times the regular tourism industry and there is an increasing need for workers knowledgeable in this area
* Urban Planning – With society becoming increasingly more and more urbanized, the need is great for planners to assist local governments with ecofriendly planning and design solutions. Read more
Marketing Your Morality – Business Sustainability and the Green Revolution

photo credit: laurenatclemson
Increasingly, a business’ success is determined not only by the products it creates and the efficiency of its productive apparatus, but by the symbols it can attach itself to and the community in which it is a part. Principal in this new wave of business marketing is the emergence of ‘Green Politics’ and the environmental revolution. The ‘Green Revolution’ started in the 1960s alongside the sexual revolution and the emergence of
the Civil Rights Movement with the publication of Rachel Caron’s Silent Spring, a book which would eventually become required reading for any environmentalist. Since then, the ‘Green Revolution’ has splintered and has turned into several unique and often competing factions. There are of course, still the extremists who tie themselves to redwood trees to prevent the destruction of a forest, but in recent years, a moderate line of environmentalist thought has come to prominence among Hollywood stars and media elites and has seeped into the playbook of modern entrepreneurs. To say it simply: Green sells. The sooner that a business is able to get in on this revolution the quicker they will see returns on profits and growth in general. Additionally, ‘Going Green’ has the added benefit of being metaphorical glue among workers and is an excellent way to improve employee morale. Read more


