Let’s Rethink the Restaurant Space
Photo by Teng Yuhong on Unsplash
Is a zero-waste future possible?
That’s a pretty big question. But it is on the minds of those who are looking to predict the future in food. It's about a “cradle-to-cradle philosophy and the evolving vision of the Sharing economy.”
Zero waste means not just recycling, it also means not letting anything “accrue,” in the first place.
But, here’s the deal.
We all need to start somewhere and there is an opportunity for restaurant owners to lean into the ‘sustainable consumption of tomorrow,’ trend by embracing new visions for how to use space.
One clever way that restaurant owners are doing this is by repurposing old shipping containers!
These colorful containers spend about twenty-five years of their life on the sea as vessels for all the other things that we’re shipping and buying. But now architects are able to breathe new life into them when their shipping careers end.
Why might a restaurant owner consider this?
1. To embrace a Sustainable Future: While a zero-waste future may be a more distant dream, not accruing more new things and repurposing old things is a worthwhile near-term aim. When the restaurant facility is a recycled building, it sends a clear message to customers that sustainability is a core value. Some research even indicates that consumers will pay more for sustainable packaging. If the restaurant building itself is up-cycled, this sends a clear message about this from the start. And leaders might align that messaging from the first impression of the building all the way throughout the customer's experience by considering sustainably packaged goods too. A Restaurant Dive article suggests that millennials and baby boomers especially care about sustainability and will pay more for it. The article cites an Asia Pulp & Paper 2018 trend report which indicates that 35% of survey respondents say “they would pay up to 10% more,” for food sold in “sustainable materials.” And a McKinsey report indicates that “across all end-use segments, 60 to 70 percent of consumers said they would pay more for sustainable packaging” with “fifty-two percent of consumers [saying] they would buy more products with sustainable packaging if those products didn’t cost more than conventionally packaged ones.” Consider what consumers would think about the “restaurant packaging” if it was an upcycled shipping container!
2. To improve the bottom-line: A second reason to embrace building in a shipping container may be the most obvious. Rather than afford a monthly rent check for a rental or leased space, it may be possible to reduce that overhead and rather buy (and own) a used, but workable space. Of course this means doing the research. In housing, for example, some consumers have found that shipping container homes can be even more affordable. Even so, it is always important to crunch the numbers as there are many factors that play into the overall cost and whether it will be more affordable in the long run such as “location, size, design and interior finishes.”
If it turns out to be the way to go it opens the door to opportunities to rethink everything about use of space. Might a shipping container kitchen space and al fresco dining be an option? The Food People blog suggests that Al Fresco dining may be a trend to lean into, especially considering how people feel about being indoors for health reasons these days. Eating outside offers people a new way of gathering -- (assuming things like the weather can be mitigated for.) And so it's a double-bonus. An opportunity to save and to promote a new -- socially distanced -- out of doors -- dining experience.
3. To add more to the brand and to build something beautiful: Shipping containers can simply liven up a space. Remember that upcycling is a hot trend these days. A recent article in Forbes noted that last year 93% of global consumers are expecting more from brands, and this could be a way to add more! Another article pointed out that using things like shipping containers can help to differentiate a space when “food halls are a dime a dozen.” In this case a “food and entertainment hub,” was built in “Miami’s art Wynwood neighborhood,” using “six yellow, pink and lavender shipping containers [] to sell bao and gyros while 16 more form(ed) a 75-foot-tall central Tower Bar painted in the same colors by the Spanish artist Antonyo Marest.”
So, all in all thinking creatively about how to use space can only benefit restaurant owners as they embrace new futures. New futures are only possible when leaders choose to embrace new ways of thinking and doing things.
While things like a zero-waste future may seem to be a distant possibility now, embracing sustainability trends and reusing and repurposing materials, like shipping containers, is a great place to start.
Can’t you imagine in the future going to an upcycled shipping container restaurant where you pick your own produce before you walk in the door (remember our article about vertical farming?) and then hand it over to be prepared by the chef? Why not?
And especially when it might mean a benefit to the bottom line for restaurant owners and to the beauty and sustainability of our collective space, for all of us.
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Shannon Mullen O’Keefe and Mark A. Irwin contributed to this article.
