About Us
Mission:
Create an Environmentally Sustainable Restaurant Industry
History and Vision
The Green Restaurant Association was founded in 1990. Since the beginning, the GRA has worked to provide convenient and cost-effective tools to help the restaurant industry reduce its harmful impact on the environment. The GRA founded the green restaurant movement and is one of the pioneering founders of the green business movement as well. With a humble beginning in San Diego almost two decades ago, the GRA set out to discover:
— What the full environmental impact of the restaurant industry was
— What were the stumbling blocks preventing restaurants from operating in a more environmentally sound manner?
— What tools did restaurants need in order for it to be cost-effective and convenient to make the right choices?
— What needed to happen to develop those tools and begin implementing them in restaurants?
Right away, the GRA developed its environmental guidelines, their Certification standards, and a system to make the process of change both efficient and rewarding for restaurant management and employees. These guidelines, standards and philosophies became the cornerstone of the organization, and with time have continued to grow.
Since then, the GRA has built the world’s largest database of environmental solutions for the restaurant industry; appeared in hundreds of media outlets; consulted some of the world’s largest companies; and currently helps restaurants in the United States and Canada. In 2006, the vision of bringing environmental sustainability front and center to the restaurant industry became a reality when the topic of environmental sustainability began to cover the pages of trade magazines and began to enter into the day to day conversations restaurateurs were having.
The conversations about sustainability have begun, but the work is far from over. The GRA now partners with some of the largest distributors, manufacturers, and restaurant corporations to implement these changes on a larger scale. Recognized by government, environmental organizations, business, and the media, the GRA is helping the restaurant industry translate the excitement over “green” into tangible environmental change that will truly make a positive impact on vital issues, such as climate change, air pollution, energy security, safe food, and more.
Humans put men on the moon; defeated tyranny during World War II; and created cures for devastating diseases. We can accomplish tremendous things when we put our mind and resources to the task. Environmental Sustainability is the issue of our time. It is the one issue that touches all humans. It is one that we can achieve together.
