Green

Establishing An Eco-Friendly Food Business: What You Need To Think About

Turning your love of food into a successful business is an exciting adventure. For those who want to help the planet, it’s also a minefield of choices.

From how to use more sustainable food packaging, through to how to improve logistics and reduce food miles, there’s a lot to think about.

While this might sound like a lot of hard work, it will be worth it in the end. Sustainability and the environment are key issues for many consumers, and they are now voting with their wallets and calling on businesses to be more eco-friendly.

As such, any successful food business, even an established one, needs to think about how it can reduce its impact on the environment.

For new businesses, thinking about sustainability from the outset will save you time and effort in the long run. It will also give you a unique edge over your competitors and allow you to target niche markets, such as consumers who will only buy from eco-friendly companies. 

Whether you’re thinking about setting up a café or offering homemade treats for delivery, it’s vital that you make your new food business sustainable. 

Here are some of the ways that you can reduce your food company’s impact on the earth without compromising on quality. 

Work Out How To Reduce Food Miles 

Food miles, or the distance that products travel before they are consumed, play a major role in the environmental impact of food businesses. For example, if you make a baked product that uses several different types of fruit, all of which travel from Asia to the UK, and then travel across the country to be packaged, then the food miles for the end product will number in the hundreds of thousands. That means that logistics companies will have used hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel to transport them. To reduce your product’s food miles, you could try using locally grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables. You could even consider growing some of your ingredients on your premises to really set your food business apart from the rest. 

Check Out Eco-Friendly Packaging Options 

Food packaging is important, as you need to make sure that your delicious products are kept fresh and easy for buyers to transport and store. However, traditional plastic packaging that is not sustainably sourced can have a negative impact on the environment. So, when you’re exploring packaging options for your new environmentally-friendly food business, you may want to consider the sustainable packaging solutions from kpfilms.com. This world-leading recycled plastic packaging manufacturer provides the very best protection for your food products without harming the planet. These solutions will keep your food perfectly fresh and tasty while also being kind to the earth. 

Offer More Plant-Based Options 

Plant-based, also known as vegan, diets are increasingly popular among environmentalists and animal lovers alike. Research shows that plant-based diets are better for the environment and the people who eat them, so you should consider offering more plant-based options when you start a food business. Animal products, including dairy items, require a lot of land to produce, and this space could be put to better use growing more plants or grains that could feed more people. Plant-based food is often also less processed, and it’s easy to offer seasonal dishes to vegan customers, so there are many ways that this diet can be beneficial to the environment. Modern vegans enjoy a wide variety of dishes; gone are the days when the vegan option was undressed lettuce! Today there are many different recipes you can choose from, including vegan mousse made from chickpea water. That means that you can craft delicious plant-based treats that your customers will love and that further reduce your impact on the environment. 

Clay Miller
the authorClay Miller
I am the creator/writer of Ways2GoGreen.com and Ways2GoGreenBlog.com. I'm an advocate for oceans, beaches, state parks. I enjoy all things outdoors (e.g. running, golf, gardening, hiking, etc.) I am a graduate of the University of Kentucky (Go Wildcats!!). I'm also a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was born and raised in the beautiful state of Kentucky.