GREEN RESTAURANT CERTIFICATION 4.0 STANDARDS

The GRA has been certifying restaurants for the past two decades. Green Restaurant^® 4.0 provides a comprehensive and user-friendly method of rewarding existing restaurants & foodservice operations, new builds, and events with points in each of the GRA’s Seven Environmental Categories. Click below to see the points in each category... or click here for pdf of all the points:

1. Water Efficiency
2. Waste Reduction and Recycling
3. Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials
4. Sustainable Food
5. Energy
6. Disposables
7. Chemical and Pollution Reduction

Three Types of Certification:

• Restaurants
• Sustainabuild™
• Events

 

Restaurants

Certified Green Restaurants^® must fulfill the following:

• Accumulate a total of 100 Points
• Meet Minimum Points in each Category
• Have a full-scale recycling program
• Be Free of Polystyrene Foam (aka Styrofoam)
• Yearly Education

	2 Stars	3 Stars	4 Stars
Water Efficiency	10 points	10 points	10 points
Waste Reduction & Recycling	10 points	10 points	10 points
Sustainable Furnishings and Bldg Materials	0	0	0
Sustainable Food	10 points	10 points	10 points
Energy	10 points	10 points	10 points
Disposables	10 points	10 points	10 points
Chemical & Pollution Reduction	10 points	10 points	10 points
Points that can be received from any category	40 points	115 points	410 points
REQUIRED MINIMUM	100 Points	175 Points	470 Points

Continual Change:

As the market changes and provides more plentiful and better environmental solutions, it is important that, over the years, restaurants continue to make improvements. So, part of Green Restaurant^® 4.0 is the element of continual improvement.

To reach certification, a restaurant must meet a minimum of 100 points. By end of year 2, each Certified Green Restaurant^® must meet 110 points. Each year thereafter, it must meet the standard of ten points higher. Starting in year 9, it must meet the standard of 5 points higher.

Under the Green Restaurant^® 4.0 standards, restaurants
will have the ability to reach one of three levels of Certified Green Restaurants^®: