Ocean friendly restaurants: the eco-friendly charter for restaurant owners
A charter offering restaurants an easy way to show their commitment to making sustainable choices for our Ocean.
130 participating restaurants
Ocean Friendly Restaurants are located in 7 European countries: France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, and Bulgaria. All over Europe, OFR restaurant owners are mobilized with enthusiasm and determination alongside Surfrider Europe’s volunteer offices. Join them!
130
Help the food service industry towards a green transition
To reduce plastic pollution and reverse the trend of climate change, we all have a role to play.
Consumers are waking up to the power of their choices and adopting more sustainable lifestyles. Changes in behavior are easily done at home, but how can we stay true to our values when we’re dining out? In the food service industry, business models can be improved to reduce food waste, stop excessive use of plastic, and support local, organic producers. Ocean Friendly Restaurants is a program to assist restaurants owners in an eco-responsible transition within their daily offerings, operations and environmental outlook.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
By adapting the original program launched by Surfrider US for a more European context in respect to Member states specificities, Surfrider Europe engages itself in the sustainable transition of the food service industry and calls for the pursuit of this global effort towards Ocean protection.
Objectives:
Establish an inclusive program criteria that is accessible, inviting, and allows a variety of restaurant models to make sustainable changes that are appropriate for their unique business.
Give citizens more transparency into the food service industry and the opportunity to choose restaurants that support their eco-responsible values.
Reduce the environmental impact of the food service industry by following the adoption of targeted legislative measures.
What is Ocean Friendly Restaurants ?
Ocean Friendly Restaurants is a program that defines an eco-responsible set of guidelines to which any European restaurant owner can subscribe. The aim of the program is to help and guide restaurant owners towards an ecological transition and make it easy for them to reduce their impact!
“A program to increase awareness, drive behavioral change, and improve sustainability within Europe’s food service industry. “
GUIDELINES
8 mandatory criteria
1.
No expanded polystyrene or single-use plastics use
5.
Recycling practices & waste sorting
2.
Most dishes are made with local, seasonal or organic products
6.
Ashtrays or trash cans available outside the restaurant
3.
No endangered species on the menu
7.
Eco-friendly cleaning products
4.
No use of plastic bottles for beverages onsite
8.
At least one vegetarian option on the menu
Other criteria
- No use of plastic bottle for beverages, including take away
- Free tap/fountain water at the consumers disposal
- The client’s reusable container can be used for taking away or remaining food
- Practices to reduce the packaging of the foo for what concerns provider’s chain
- Vegan option in the menu
- No more paper communication (flyers, posters, etc.)
- Energy-save systems (electricity, water, etc.)
- No single-use napkins
- Put sign in toilets to invite people to throw only paper in the toilets
- No single-use towels in the toilets
- Organize a Surfrider action or event close to or in the restaurant (organize an Ocean Initiative, hosting an “Apér’Océan” of the local Surfrider group etc.)
- No seasoning in individual packages when consuming onsite
- Possibility of composting food onsite
- Fishes proposed at the menu comes from sustainable fishing
Subscribing to Ocean Friendly Restaurants, what’s the benefit?
COMMUNITY
Adhering to the Ocean Friendly Restaurant guidelines connects businesses to a larger community committed to the food service industry green transition. The restaurant owner will be part of an extensive global network and thus contribute to the ecofriendly movement. They will have access to private events and online communities.
SUPPORT
Restaurant owners will be given advice and suggestions on how to initiate the change and make it sustainable in the long term. Participants will benefit from support by their local Surfrider volunteer chapter as well as expert advice on how to adapt to the European context.
COMMUNICATION
As a certified Ocean Friendly Restaurant, the business’s commitment to Ocean protection is made visible and legitimate. Grow your business by reaching new customers that can trust that they are supporting a business that prioritizes the same eco-friendly values they do.
Access to our map of European alternative suppliers
Restaurants part of the OFR community benefit from a unique access to a map of local alternative suppliers throughout Europe.
The map is regularly updated by Surfrider staff, the volunteers and the restaurateurs who have signed the charter.
Finding alternative suppliers enables restaurateurs to save time while minimizing their environmental impact through more sustainable choices.
Gain visibility with the Mapstr application
Ocean Friendly Restaurants are not only visible on the map available on this page, but also on Mapstr. Application, social network and mapping service, it’s the ultimate way to organize and save your favorite addresses. And we love it even more when they’re responsible and committed spots.
Find all OFR addresses on Surfrider Europe’s map on Mapstr.
How to subscribe to the program?
Restaurant owners, volunteers, clients, do you wish to take part in the program?
We invite you to contact your closest Surfrider Europe Chapter.
Other questions ? Want to become one of our partners ? Contact us at
“We got involved in the OFR campaign because we want to be part of the solution. Because we’re convinced that we all have a role to play in the green food transition and that things can still change, if everyone does their part and gets into action!”
Les Récoltants, Bordeaux
“We started Painbar with a number of ecological and social values in mind, shared with the Surfrider charter.
So it seemed obvious to us to commit to them.”
Painbar, Nantes
“Mariposas is based in Marseille, one kilometer away from the sea,
so we are naturally concerned about protecting our coastal and maritime environment.
We want to act positively for our customers and for the planet through our food.”
Mariposas, Marseille
“We recongnize ourselves in the charter values.
We think that it’s by supporting each other and creating an action community that we can make things change.”
Végétal Yogurt, Cap Breton
“We love Surfrider and when we learned you had a charter for restaurants, we thought it was for us!
The charter enabled us to find areas of improvement.”
Au nouveau monde, Bordeaux
“From the creation and manufacturing of the beers to the bar and direct service to consumers, we do our best to think holistically, placing environmental impact at the heart of our reflections.”
Brasserie de Provence Aquae Maltae, Aix en Provence
“We want to give back to the ocean and contribute to a more sustainable food sector.”
Bula op het Strand, Ouddorp, NL
Partnership
