How Our OYSTER BAR Owners Bring Sustainability to Their FRANCHISE Locations
Still, it matters in today’s world where fresh ingredients are getting harder to source at a reasonable price, even for bar and grill franchises that sell in high volumes. Here’s how our franchise owners can help bring sustainability to the community at their locations. After all, all it takes is one person to take a leap of faith, and others will follow.
Is sustainability really a problem for the restaurant industry?
We don’t pass the buck at Shuckin’ Shack and never will. It’s just part of our collective DNA. We take the lead and set a course where others haven’t, including how we choose to source menu items and restaurant supplies.
If you think about it, an average restaurant’s single-use items like styrofoam containers are the least environmentally friendly way to serve to-go food. Customers just throw the whole container away, which eventually makes it to a landfill where it rests for 500 hundred years or so before breaking down. The smallest restaurant can go through more styrofoam containers than they realize and not give it a second thought.
The issue is that sustainability is everyone’s problem because without clean oceans, free of trash and harmful byproducts, fish and seafood wouldn’t taste the same. Please don’t assume that guests won’t be able to tell when you try to serve them less-than-great seafood. The health of the fish counts, and if fish don’t grow to full size or develop with defects, you can’t serve it to people with a straight face.
Shucking’ Shack’s Commitment to genuine sustainability
We don’t just pay lip service to sustainability at Shuckin’ Shack. We care! And really, that’s the bottom line of what sets us apart because many seafood franchises don’t take it seriously at all. It’s almost like they assume that the sustainability movement is a fad that will pass in time, so ultimately, they won’t have to change the way they operate, not a thing. They may claim that they serve wild-caught, high-quality seafood, but you can tell by the taste if you pay close attention.
Thankfully, we’ve improved our supply chain to the point where we can offer guests fair prices and not sacrifice quality in the process. Not only that, but if you open up a new Shuckin’ Shack, you might be the only business in town that’s doing anything about sustainability. It’s a benefit we don’t talk about very much because we walk the walk first. Any business can say they care about the environment. Still, until they can source menu items without skyrocketing costs, it’s all lip service, shouting into a gale and hoping someone listens.
James Beard Foundation Smart Catch List
We’re proud that we’re officially on the James Beard Foundation Smart Catch List. It’s a non-profit organization making huge waves in the sustainability movement. You have to start somewhere regarding sustainability, so we went all-in with the James Beard Foundation, and it’s been a boon for our franchise owners. A bar franchise available for sale usually doesn’t come with this kind of perk, but ours does.
Certified ocean-friendly establishments
We didn’t stop at the James Beard Foundation. We took things a few steps further and collaborated with the Surf Rider Foundation and the Plastic Ocean Project at 10 franchise locations. But guess what? Every location will be certified by the end of 2022. You can count on it because we follow through when we say we care about sustainability in the restaurant business.
Shellfish Growers Climate Coalition
So far, we’ve mentioned our partnership with three different organizations, but we still didn’t stop there. We absolutely could have called it a day, but we wouldn’t be fulfilling our promise if we did that. Shellfish is a cornerstone menu item at Shuckin’ Shack, and it’s how we started a while back before we started offering a bar franchise for sale. It wouldn’t be right for us to claim we care about the environment but overlook something as vital as shellfish. However, we still took things to the next level.
Wild American Shrimp
We only serve Wild American Shrimp at our bar and grill locations, and not every restaurant can say the same thing. All of our shrimp gets the thumbs up as certified, caught by American fisherman in American waters. It’s our nod to the “made in America” movement sweeping the country. Restaurant guests want to know that they’re dining somewhere special, somewhere unique, and sustainable sourcing fits right into that need.
Ultimately, running a bar franchise is no easy task, but with sustainability at the forefront, our restaurant is leading the pack when others are falling behind. Moving forward, we plan to maintain sustainability and contribute to a clean environment wherever we can.
Contact us to learn more about how you can bring a new sustainable business to your community.