Why do reusables win in San Francisco?

Reusable foodware from restaurants is far better for the planet than throw-away cups, plates, containers, and utensils that consume too many resources and produce way too much waste and litter. Bay Area food service operators are quickly learning that reusables can also offer significant savings over disposables while gaining customer loyalty and improving the dining experience. Take these real-world examples:

• When customers open up their food delivery apps to order from San Francisco restaurant La Méditeranée, they can select an option at checkout to have their meals delivered in reusable containers from Dispatch Goods. For many, the restaurant’s efforts towards sustainability keeps them coming back just as much as their famous kebabs.

• Diners at Palo Alto’s Tootsie’s at the Stanford Barn have learned to place used containers in special bins located at the campus restaurant instead of in the trash, where they are then picked up, washed and brought back by Dishcraft Robotics. What began as a pilot program has become standard operating procedure due to its massive success. 

• At J&J Hawaiian, owners worked with ReThink Disposable, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps restaurants integrate more reusables into their operations. With their guidance, a modest investment of $557 in reusable foodware led to an annual net savings of $20,517 – an impressive, but by no means rare, success story among its 250+ clients, who typically save between $3,000 and $22,000 annually.

In San Francisco and beyond, switching to reusables is now easier than ever. There are many resources and services available to food operators to help implement reuse. In this environmentally conscious locale, customers respond with high praise when restaurants start taking climate action and waste reduction seriously – and they spread the word. Now that we understand that reusables pose zero risk of COVID-19 transmission while offering many other benefits, it won’t be long before reusables are the standard in dining and take-out all over the Bay Area. 

Dishcraft and Dispatch Goods are just two of the many businesses using creative technology to address some longstanding challenges of the cost and feasibility of reusables. But perhaps the most important resource restaurants can take advantage of is ReThink Disposable. Their cost-free assistance helps restaurants transition to more reusables with expert guidance to navigate the process which, for many, can be daunting. They even have money to assist qualified businesses purchase reusable foodware.

Interested in learning more about why Reusables Win in San Francisco? Check out this resource page put together by our friends at Upstream. Here you will also find a recorded webinar featuring some of the restaurant operators, businesses, and services discussed in this article. If you are a Bay Area food service operator, fill in your information on the page to set up a free consultation with ReThink Disposable. If you have a favorite restaurant in the Bay Area you would like to encourage, send them a link to the resource page and let them know you’re interested in seeing them take on more sustainable practices. 

Reusables Win in SF is a project of Upstream and Golden Gate Restaurant Association, made possible with funding from San Francisco Department of the Environment.