The kitchen and dining room are one of the biggest users of energy on school campuses. Becoming more environmentally sustainable is a primary goal of many independent school communities, including the German School New York in White Plains. The school has partnered with their foodservice provider, Flik Independent School Dining (Flik), to achieve Certification by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) so they can reduce the environmental impact of their foodservice operations on campus and the local community.
“Collaborating with schools to achieve Green Restaurant Certification makes sense on so many levels,” says Ray Mulligan, President of Flik Independent School Dining. “We believe it is our responsibility to be a contributing member of the school communities we serve, and ten years ago we began implementing environmental initiatives as part of this belief. The certification process provides a defined structure for school communities to reduce their carbon footprint and energy fees, and we are proud to help them do it.”
Founded in 1990 with the goal of helping the restaurant industry to reduce its environmental impact by providing tools to encourage sustainability, the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) is a national non-profit organization that offers a rigorous Certification program requiring foodservice operators to meet minimum criteria in seven environmental categories, including water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy, disposables, and chemical and pollution reduction. Meeting these criteria on the school campus requires collaboration between the administration and its foodservice provider.
"The GRA has been Certifying restaurants for two decades,” says Michael Oshman, Founder and CEO of the Green Restaurant Association. “Partnering with Flik has allowed us to make significant progress in working with school communities. The more schools that know about the GRA's Certification program, the more that will take similar steps to reduce the environmental impact of their foodservice operations.”
