The Center for EcoTechnology: Helping Restaurants Save Money and Reduce Waste

As a restaurant owner, does it keep you up at nights thinking about inflation and rising food costs? I know when I owned restaurants it used to make me cringe every time I walked through the kitchen and saw perfectly good food in the trash, so I can only imagine what it must be like these days.

If you are like so many restaurant owners I talked to, you would like to put in place systems to reduce and divert waste, but with the many other tasks and challenges you face on a daily basis, just don’t have the time or wherewithal to start.

Well, I have good news for you. What if I could tell you that there is an organization who's focused on helping you save money and be more sustainable too? Best of all, the service is grant-funded, so it is available at no cost to you.

The Center for EcoTechnology, CET, is an organization that will help you take the necessary steps to improving your bottom line and environmental performance Their mission is to provide support for your business no matter how big or how small. For small businesses they can help with food waste solutions. If you are a big business that needs to abide by the Food, Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law in New York that was put into place in 2022, they can help you with that too.

CET gives free assistance to restaurants, grocery stores colleges, universities, and food relief organizations among others. The program is funded by New York State Department Environmental Conservation, DEC, but you’ll work with a CET specialist to identify potential opportunities and put in system that will save money and make your business run more efficiently.

It’s simple to get started, you can call the NY Food Waste Assistance Hotline at (866) 306 - 0911 or email them at RethinkFoodWasteNY@cetonline.org. You can also contact them through their NY Page on their webiste. Depending on your individual situation, you will be connected to either resources immediately or one of the specialists will schedule an on-site visit.

Curious about how CET can work and help with your restaurant? Click here to watch success stories of businesses who work with CET and see the difference and don’t miss their free webinar, “Wasted Food Opportunities for Your Business” in March.

CET has programs throughout the country, including New Jersey, and Connecticut. Call them today. It will help you sleep better tonight.

Highlight Your Restaurant: CET is currently looking for restaurants to highlight on the webinar who have implemented their own best practice when it comes to upcycling, rescuing, or composting their wasted food. If that sounds like you, email me janet@HudsonValleyEATS.com for more information.