Tag Archives: fast food

Subway Eco-Store Receives Silver LEED Certification

Subway Restaurants has been taking part in a lot of green initiatives lately – such as switching out thousands of incandescent bulbs for energy efficient ones. But the biggest thing they’re doing is building new restaurants according to the US Green Building Council Guidelines in an effort to receive LEED Certification.

Their first Eco Store in Kissimmee, Florida received a Silver Certification this week, by reducing its energy usage, water consumption, and waste production through more efficient equipment, and using more responsible practices. It’s estimated that the Subway Eco Store uses about 20% less energy than a standard Subway store would in a similar location. Look forward to two new Subway Eco Stores opening this week in North Carolina and Louisiana.

via Subway Eco-Store Receives Silver LEED Certification – Greener Ideal.

Where Fast Food mobile Apps fail, ECOFFEE mobile experience is set to win

A couple of days ago Appolicious published an interesting article about the increasing number of mobile Apps for fast food restaurants and their being mostly not useful. Many are the apps listed, from Taco Bell to McDonald’s.

All these chains offers accurate information on the internet but extremely bare bones restaurant locator apps. In McDonalds’ defense, at least their app offers information on getting a career with McD’s, along with some nutritional information.  Burger King’s lack of an app caught everybody by surprise because they have been so good with marketing their products through games via the Xbox 360 for years that you expected something that appealing on the apps side too.

Useful functionalities and entertainment are a must for nowadays apps, especially in a field – the one of Ho.Re.Ca – where interaction and service have always been a key factor to achieve a high customer satisfaction. Add that customers now are spoiled with information: they love to get informed about the brand and the goods they are going to purchase, about the environment where they are sitting, about the other customers comments and opinions about the “experience” they are going to go through.

We discussed this subject with our partners, a team of skilled UX designers, in order to create a useful, entertaining and carefully designed iPhone/iPad app for DESITA’s Retail and Ho.Re.Ca customers, delivering not only a great user experience but also the  sustainability and responsibility messages which are ECOFFEE’s own. Brainstorming led to the first draft of what is set to become the ECOFFEE mobile experience, the perfect blend among social marketing, in-store advertising and a great user experience to create a stronger bond among the brand, the consumer and the brand’ sustainability and responsibility strategies. Please inquire us directly for further information silvia@ecoffee.it

Social responsibility, food and Government: the responsibility deal

The responsibility deal signed by the UK governement, backed by 170 companies such as Tesco, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, Carlsberg and Mars and Diageo, is going to rise a lot of controversy for a long time.

A key pledge outlined in the deal is the development of a new sponsorship code on responsible drinking while McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC have agreed to place calories on their menus from September this year.

Other pledges include:
– Reducing salt in food so people eat 1g less per day by the end of 2012
– Removal of artificial trans-fats by the end of the year
– Rolling out Change4Life branding to 1,000 convenience stores

Achieving clear unit labelling on more than 80% of alcohol by 2013 is also pledged but this was a commitment made last year by drinks brands under work initiated by the last government.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘Public health is everyone’s responsibility and there is a role for all of us, working in partnership, to tackle these challenges.’ He claimed that regulation is ‘costly and is often only determined at an EU-wide level anyway’.

ISBA’s director of public affairs Ian Twinn also adds “It has also been inclusive – businesses have volunteered to reinforce public health through their product development and marketing and health pressure groups have pledged to contribute through their campaigning activities.

The responsibility deal seems a great step toward the introduction of a more socially responsible fast-food industry, but not all the companies do have the same advise. Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia and Strada are expected to follow Subway and PizzaExpress by not signing up to the government’s health initiative. Subway, which already provides calorie counts on in-store posters, said the scheme was unsuitable for its stores. It is conducting a trial intended to establish the most effective way of displaying the information.

Meanwhile, a PizzaExpress source argued that displaying calorie levels is not consumer-friendly and clutters its menus.

One factor that will no doubt deter businesses, particularly smaller inde-pendents, is the costs involved. London restaurant chain The Real Greek says that, on average, it costs about £100 to test and certify each dish.

Being one of the first to make a move has its risks, not least the fear of being criticized in the press for selling high-calorie-content food. On the other side, being part of a movement that gives consumers greater transparency can deliver positive press coverage.

Toby Southgate, managing director of branding agency The Brand Union, believes the risks are worth taking. ‘Those brands that adopt early could win out, provided they handle the move carefully,’ he says.

Southgate cites McDonald’s, which has made efforts to ‘re-educate’ its con-sumers about healthier eating, arguing that disclosing calories on its menu board could provide incentive to consumption. (Source: BrandRepublic)