How to Start a More Sustainable Coffee Shop

How to Start a More Sustainable Coffee Shop

How To Make Your Coffee Shop Eco-Friendly

Affordable Steps to Operate a Sustainable Coffee Shop

Starting a sustainable coffee shop makes sense for your business, your community, and the environment.

It's no secret that coffee shops can generate a lot of trash – from paper cups, sleeves, lids, straws, stirrers, napkins, and another packaging.

It's been estimated that over 108 billion paper cups are used each year in the United States alone! Scientists have calculated that over 600 billion cups a year are produced and sold around the world.*

Therefore, any opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint cost-effectively can be a part of the more comprehensive solution to address climate change, excessive waste, and pollution.

Keep reading if you are looking to open a sustainable coffee shop or are interested in adapting your established coffee shop to a more sustainable operation.

How to Operate a More Sustainable Coffee Shop

Reduce Waste, Saving Money, and Help The Environment

You might decide to take small steps to be eco-friendly, or you may choose to jump all in with both feet. Whichever route you choose, we believe that even the most minor changes can make a big difference.

The following is a list of actions you can take:

1. Develop an environmentally conscious mindset

By developing an eco-friendly awareness that everything we do impacts our environment, we look at our actions differently and greener.

If you can draw greater awareness of your employees and customers alike, you will have tremendous success at creating an eco-friendly culture that extends beyond your coffee shop doors.

Developing a “greener” mindset will help you look for alternatives to save money, reduce waste, and be environmentally sustainable with your specific coffee business.

2. Always Look for Ways to Reduce Waste

Take a look at your entire coffee shop operation. Determine how you can reduce waste, say, by 20%, across the board.

Reducing waste is one of the most economically sound actions to take because it's relatively easy, and you can see the difference immediately.

You already know that waste sucks up your coffee shop profit margin while only serving to add to your local landfill.

Reducing waste starts with your wholesale shopping. How much you purchase and when will often determine how much you are wasting. Better inventory management will be an essential key to reducing your overall waste.

Take a look at what's left after each day, week, or month? If you need help with your inventory, start with having a sound POS system. A coffee shop POS system can provide you with data that tells you what items are selling and not. Your POS data can help you figure out the actual quantity of things you need to purchase instead of simply guessing.

Eco-Friendly Coffee Shop

3. Save Water at Every Possibility

Freshwater is a precious resource and, as you know, coffee shops use a fair amount of it.

In many places of the United States, you will find drought-like conditions, so some cities may already have ordinances to reduce water use. These may include a restriction to water lawns or plants.

If you have table service, consider offering water to those customers who only ask for it. Fix any leaky faucets or running toilets. You may install eco-friendly urinals too.

The replacement of old dishwashers can also reduce water used per wash, saving thousands of gallons of water per year. Additionally, newer eco-friendly washers can reduce your electricity usage.

4. Use Compostable Cups

It's common for paper cups to be lined with plastic or polyethylene. This plastic lining makes it easy for cups to hold water and retain heat. But plastic doesn't make it compostable or recycle. However, the paper industry has responded with more recycle-friendly and compostable friendly cups.

For example, manufacturers produce cups with corn plastic, which allows for composting or recycling in many more facilities. Considering that paper cups make up about 1% of all global waste, you can see why it's essential to reduce cups.

Further Reading: How to Start a Coffee Shop Successfully

How To Make Your Coffee Shop Eco-Friendly

5. Use Bio-Degradable Utensils

Plastic forks, spoons, and knives are often thrown out and fill up trash or wind up in streams, rivers, and oceans. In addition to polluting various habitats, these plastic utensils may break into smaller pieces and end up being digested by fish, birds, and other animals.

Offering biodegradable utensils – many of which are affordable – will be an excellent way to reduce waste and pollution.

6. Energy Efficiency Buildings

Your coffee shop design and remodel may include some significant renovations. These renovations may consist of new windows or the installation of new insulated ceilings and walls, etc. These renovations could improve energy efficiencies and save on gas and electrical outputs. The reduction of energy uses your utility bills a bit more manageable too.

7. Buy Equipment Rated for Energy Efficiency

Relying on older appliances might seem cost-efficient, but in reality, your older appliances may use more electricity and water. If you are an established coffee shop, you may consider replacing your aging appliances. If you are a new coffee shop, consider buying energy star ratings.

How To Make Your Coffee Shop Eco-Friendly

8. Build Sustainability Into Your Menu

Buy locally sourced ingredients that are organic – grown without pesticides. Locally sourced ingredients mean that you support local farmers, growers, bakers, and other vendors. This not only reduces carbon emissions but supports the local economy. In addition, sustainable ingredients mean that energy and less pollution are created along the supply chain.

9. Offer Trash, Recycling, and Compost Bins

A simple way to improve your coffee shop sustainability is to separate your recycling from your trash and compost. Use trash, compost, and recycling station so your customers can place their items in the appropriate waste bin. In addition, many cities have recycling and composting programs that your business can participate in.

Compost your spent coffee grounds too! Used coffee grounds are great for particular gardens and suitable for composting.

10. Order Sustainably Grown Coffee

Order sustainably grown coffee from your wholesale coffee supplier. Your support of organically grown coffee that isn't sprayed with pesticides can collectively benefit the coffee industry and the environment.

11. Use Environmentally-Friendly Cleaning Products

Keeping our coffee shop clean and sanitized is vital to maintaining the health and well-being of customers. So you might consider ordering environmentally friendly cleaners and sanitizers that don't contain phosphates or other harsh chemicals that would find their way back to streams, marshland, or our water table.

How To Make Your Coffee Shop Eco-Friendly

12. Encourage Milk Alternatives

Using milk is a big part of serving coffee at a coffee shop. Every latte or cappuccino contains milk – or a milk alternative. Milk alternatives have exploded onto the scene over the last several years. Ten years ago, you would maybe find someone offering soy milk if you were lucky. Today, it's common to have four or five different milk alternatives.

Many customers love having the alternatives to milk for health and allergy reasons, while others love the taste. In addition, some of these milk alternatives can be produced sustainably.

How To Make Your Coffee Shop Eco-Friendly

Your Coffee Shop Can Be a Part of the Solution

Actionable steps to take to have a more sustainable coffee shop:

1. Develop an environmentally conscious mindset
2. Always Look for Ways to Reduce Waste
3. Save Water at Every Possibility
4. Use Compostable Cups
5. Use Bio-Degradable Utensils
6. Energy Efficiency Buildings
7. Buy Equipment Rated for Energy Efficiency
8. Build Sustainability Into Your Menu
9. Offer Trash, Recycling, and Compost Bins
10. Order Sustainably Grown Coffee
11. Use Environmentally-Friendly Cleaning Products
12. Encourage Milk Alternatives

Additional Questions:

Is being environment-friendly more expensive?

Being environmentally sustainable as well as cost-effective are not exclusive of one another. As more and more businesses work to be sustainable and offer sustainable products, being environmentally friendly becomes more affordable.

Because of the scale of certain products and services, some costs may often be higher than non-environmentally friendly alternatives, but you would pass along a portion of those costs to your customers.

Should I absorb the cost of being environmentally friendly?

It depends. However, customers will need to help carry the additional costs of being environmentally sustainable. While the cost increases might be nominal, they can add up over time. Therefore, it makes sense for coffee shop business owners to pass along the costs to their customers. My recommendation is that you consider building the sustainability costs into your price points.

Aside from helping the environment, are there any other benefits to having an environmentally-friendly coffee shop?

Doing our part in reducing our environmental footprint is always the primary benefit. However, being a “green” business means supporting the development, production, and use of environmentally friendly products, which reduce their costs over time. Additionally, as being an environmentally friendly business, you can use that as a marketing benefit. Many customers feel better and enjoy their patronage a little more when they know they support a green company.

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Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, Coffee Shop Startups is dedicated to providing you with the most relevant information on how to start a coffee shop business successfully. Over the last 11 years, we've helped thousands of aspiring coffee business owners worldwide. We harness the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of many successful coffee shop owners to help you increase your chances of success and profits. We support business owners who want to start a coffee business by providing them with valuable information on starting their coffee business successfully.