Ocean Friendly Restaurants
With the ambition of contributing to the green transition of the restaurant sector in Europe, the Ocean Friendly Restaurants charter supports restaurateurs in their eco-responsible initiatives.
Across Europe, OFR restaurateurs are enthusiastically and determinedly working alongside Surfrider volunteer branches.
Join them!
Helping the catering industry
make a successful green transition
We all have a role to play in reducing plastic pollution and combating global warming.
Today, more and more European citizens are taking responsibility and committing to an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Faced with the seriousness of the environmental crisis, we know that our consumption choices, production methods and cultural practices must change. For many people today, it is becoming difficult to follow their convictions and consume as they wish in public places, particularly in restaurants.
Indeed, today, the restaurant sector is only minimally committed to the green transition: loss in the food supply chain, waste, excessive use of plastic, etc.
Despite their willingness to take action, many restaurant owners find it difficult to implement eco-responsible measures in their establishments (lack of time, logistical or economic difficulties, etc.).
To help them, Surfrider has set up the Ocean Friendly Restaurants programme. This is an eco-responsible charter that supports restaurant owners in their efforts to be more environmentally friendly and helps them in their endeavours.
By adopting this charter, restaurant owners commit to complying with a number of criteria pre-established by Surfrider and become ‘Ocean Friendly Restaurants’!
Restaurants that have signed up to the charter are not only visible on the map on our website, but also on Mapstr. An application, social network and mapping service, it is the ultimate way to organise and save your favourite addresses.
Find all OFR addresses on the Surfrider Europe map on Mapstr.
1 project, 3 objectives
Surfrider Foundation Europe decided to adopt and adapt the Surfrider USA campaign ‘Ocean Friendly Restaurants’ with the aim of participating in the fight against pollution and the green transition of the restaurant sector in Europe.
This project will enable restaurateurs who are committed to an eco-responsible approach to make appropriate choices in the context of their business.
Ocean Friendly Restaurants offers European citizens who so wish the opportunity to choose restaurants that have an environmentally friendly approach.
Thus, overall, the restaurant sector will be led to reduce its environmental footprint following the adoption of targeted legislative measures.
Criteria
The charter proposes a list of nine mandatory criteria:
- No single-use containers or packaging for on-site catering (plastic, paper, cardboard, polystyrene),
- Dishes made mainly with local, seasonal and/or organic products whose origin is specified,
- No endangered species on the menu,
- No use of plastic bottles for on-site consumption,
- Recycling or waste sorting practices in place,
- Biowaste is sorted and recycled,
- Ashtrays and bins available outside the restaurant,
- Use of environmentally friendly cleaning products with a recognised eco-label,
- At least one balanced vegetarian dish is offered on the menu.
7 criteria to choose from among the following 22:
- No plastic bottles for takeaway drinks
- 🚰 Tap water is offered free of charge to customers
- 📤 Customers can have their food served in their own reusable containers and take home any food they have not eaten
- 🚯 Reduction of packaging in the supply chain
- 🥕 A vegan dish is offered on the menu
- 🥩 No red meat is offered on the menu
- 🪧 No paper communication is used by the restaurant
- 🧾 No paper towels for consumption on site
- 🚻 A sign encourages customers to only throw paper in the toilets
- 🚾 No disposable towels in the toilets for drying hand
- 📢 Organisation of a Surfrider event on site or near the restaurant (Aper’Ocean, Initiative Océane, etc.)
- 🎣 The fish on the menu comes from sustainable fisheries
- ❌ None of my kitchen equipment contains Teflon
- ♻️ Tableware and/or furniture were purchased second-hand (for the most part)
- 💡 A lighting control system has been installed in the toilets and staff areas (storage, cold room, etc.)
- ⚡️ An energy recovery system has been installed
- 💡 Water-saving devices are in place: flow regulators, etc.
- 🌎 Use or purchase of renewable energy
- 🔎 Awareness posters concerning water, energy, waste and the carbon impact of food transport are displayed (optimal use of cooking appliances: lids, multi-cooking ovens, etc.)
- ♻️ Initiatives to combat food waste are in place
- 🍼 No plastic containers are used to heat food
- 🍴 Use of an alternative to cling film in the kitchen
OFR MAP
What are the benefits of signing up
to the Ocean Friendly Restaurants charter?
Committed network
The charter will enable the creation of a community committed to the green transition of the catering sector.
By signing up to the charter, restaurateurs will be able to join a Europe-wide network and thus initiate a global movement in favour of an eco-responsible approach.
They will join a WhatsApp group and have access to private events.
Support
Restaurateurs will be able to benefit from suggestions for alternatives as well as expert advice (adaptation to the European context, etc.).
Restaurateurs who sign up to the OFR charter will have exclusive access to a map of local suppliers of alternatives throughout Europe.
This map is regularly updated by the head office, the OFR team of volunteers and the restaurateurs who have signed the charter.
Visibility
Finally, the Ocean Friendly Restaurants charter will bring greater visibility to participating restaurants (thanks to Surfrider cards, stickers and wooden plaques), as well as legitimacy, allowing them to promote their commitment to protecting the ocean.
