We, at The Cheesecake Factory, strive to achieve excellence in everything we do. For us, the notion of excellence means more than serving delicious food and providing an unparalleled dining experience. We understand that to be truly excellent we must contribute to the wellbeing of our staff, local communities and the rich environment we all share. We are committed to doing what is right, conducting ourselves with integrity and ensuring that our actions follow the highest ethical and professional standards.
We embrace sustainability with these values in mind. For us, the term “sustainability” informs how we operate in relation not only to the environment but also to the food we serve, the staff members we employ, and the communities in which we are located. Becoming a sustainable company requires an open mind and a lot of hard work and patience. No company is 100% there yet! Every day, and at every level of our business, we continue to find ways to reduce our impact on the planet. We ask tough questions about how and where we can improve. These conversations force us to challenge the status quo—to innovate sustainably and look for ways to reduce our impact.
We continue to examine all aspects of our business in an effort to identify, create, and implement meaningful and sustained change. Currently, our sustainability efforts are focused on our Company-owned restaurants, offices, and bakeries in the USA. As we expand globally, we intend to engage with our international licensees to both encourage sustainable practices appropriate for the environment in which they operate and to learn from their successes.
Raising the Sustainability Bar
We focus on reducing our consumption of resources such as energy and water through innovative efficiency programs and building design.
We believe sustainability is a team sport. It is our vision that together through partnerships and engagement with the communities where we operate we can create positive change.
We recognize the responsibility we have to manage our impact. We have focused our efforts on reducing waste from our operations, and are actively working to implement source reduction programs and to increase the diversion of packaging and food waste away from landfills.
OUR RESTAURANTS
We are always looking for ways to improve the design and function of our restaurants and offices and to reduce our use of natural resources like energy and water. We are currently exploring green building techniques and materials in our LEED Platinum certified training center in Calabasas, CA and in our nine LEED certified or LEED developed restaurants across the country, as well as testing several energy reduction projects.
We have installed solar thermal systems in seven of our restaurants, which help us to reduce the energy needed to heat water by 6-7% each year. To date we estimate these solar thermal systems have saved approximately 380,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
We operate 2 restaurants that are LEED certified and 7 additional restaurants that, though not submitted for LEED certification, were developed with the same sustainability features as our certified restaurants.
In 2016 we received LEED Platinum certification for our corporate training center in Calabasas, CA. Through the inclusion of solar photovoltaic panels, we are able to generate enough energy for our LEED Platinum training center and for our IT backup support systems, as well as increase our backup capabilities tenfold without drawing additional energy from the grid.
Following an assessment of the light bulbs we use in all of our restaurants, we completed a re-lamp in each restaurant by installing low wattage bulbs. This change has reduced our kilowatt usage by 2% to 3% each year based on a standard 10,000 square foot restaurant.
We continue to evaluate and install new lighting technologies, and are targeting a switch from 32 watt lights to new efficient 12 watt LED lights for certain areas of our restaurant. This switch is estimated to further reduce our kilowatt usage by another 2% each year.
We are installing energy efficient HVAC models in all of our new restaurants and as replacement units in our older restaurants. We select HVAC units with the highest possible Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) rating.
We retrofitted approximately 80 of our restaurants with an innovative demand ventilation system, which automatically adjusts the exhaust and make up air fan speed by measuring the temperature, steam, and smoke in the hood, and starting in 2016, we have been installing this system in all new restaurants. Each new fan installed will reduce the amount of energy used compared to standard fans by as high as 60%, helping us reduce our energy use by as much as 63,000 kilowatts per location.
While technology and equipment are huge assets for reducing energy we also realize the importance of our own behaviors and habits. We are working to further reduce our energy use through a number of additional efforts, such as better managing our equipment turn on and turn off schedules. Collectively, these efforts are estimated to help us reduce our energy consumption by about 10% year on year.
OUR FOOTPRINT
Waste is a big part of our overall footprint and a key area of focus for us. Managing and eliminating waste can be a challenge for an operation such as ours, where we are making dishes from scratch using fresh ingredients every day in each restaurant. Nonetheless we continue to improve waste diversion across our restaurants. In 2018 we were able to divert approximately 22% of our waste stream away from landfills. Additionally, we have undertaken several new initiatives in 2018 and 2019 to further reduce waste and are continuing to see strong results from several past initiatives.
Our restaurants work to prevent food waste on a daily basis through efficient inventory management and food preparation techniques, and detailed information tracking of unused food and ingredients. Using this information, we have been able to identify ways to reduce our food waste, increase recycling, improve the amount of food waste we capture for organics collection via composting or digester programs, and increase donations of usable food across our restaurants.
We have implemented an organic diversion program in over 65 of our restaurants. This program was primarily driven by input from our highly engaged staff members, and includes sorting food in our prep kitchens, bakery and bar, as well as bus tubs, so as to be diverted from the waste stream. This past year our staff diverted 40 percent more organic waste than in 2017, keeping thousands of tons of organic waste out of landfill.
We continue to expand our recycling programs, and last year we diverted over 6,753 tons of recyclable materials away from landfills.
In 2017 we launched a new pizza box. The new “GreenBox,” is an eco-friendly pizza box made with 80% recycled material. The top of the box breaks down into plates, and the bottom transforms into a storage unit for leftovers –eliminating the need for wasteful materials like plastic wrap, aluminum foil and disposable plates.
Also, in 2018 we launched our redesigned to-go food containers to enhance the guest experience by better maintaining the temperature and quality of our food, while also reducing the overall environmental impact. Made of recycled plastic bottles, the containers are engineered to use fewer raw materials without sacrificing sturdiness or tensile strength, and are themselves completely recyclable.
We mandate the use of 100% recycled material, including 20% post-consumer content, in our paper dinner napkins. In addition, our paper napkins are made by a new, state-of-the-art machine that produces napkins twice as fast while using half the amount of energy.
We also participate in the Harvest Program, a national program through which our restaurants donated more than 445,000 pounds of surplus food to local and regional feeding agencies for distribution to soup kitchens and homeless shelters in 2018. Since inception of the program in 2008, our restaurants have donated more than 4.7 million pounds of food, the equivalent of 4.7 million meals.
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
As a part of our commitment to sustainability and recognizing our leadership position in the restaurant industry, we partner with a number of organizations and companies in order to work collaboratively on sustainability and bring solutions to scale within our industry. Some of our key partnerships include:
World Animal Protection (WAP) is a leading animal welfare non-profit that works to protect animals around the globe. We have partnered with them to help implement our animal welfare policy, including developing strategies, resources, and guides to help us better engage with our supply chain.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – Seafood Watch Program (SFW) is the leading program helping businesses and consumers choose seafood that’s fished or farmed in ways that support a healthy ocean. We are working closely with SFW to better understand the impacts of our seafood sourcing and to transition our seafood to “best choices” and “good alternatives”, as well as eco-certifications recommended by SFW.
Liberty Shared works to prevent human trafficking through legal advocacy, technological interventions, and strategic collaborations with non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) and corporations in Asia. We are working with Liberty Shared to help advance our social justice and sustainability efforts. Additionally, we were glad to support the work of both Liberty Shared and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch in developing a new Seafood Slavery Risk Tool. The Seafood Slavery Risk Tool was created to give businesses in the seafood, foodservice and financial industries credible information about the risks of forced labor, human trafficking, and hazardous child labor in the at sea portion of seafood supply chains.
Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) is a part of the National Restaurant Association and its Converse Green program. We are working with a number of other organizations and other restaurant companies in partnership with FWRA to better understand ways we can reduce and divert food waste from our operations.
As a “Mission Partner” to Feeding America®, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization, we donated more than $4.6 million to this organization since 2008 and continue to work with this important organization on an ongoing basis. For example, each year, we dedicate a portion of our proceeds from one of our featured cheesecakes to Feeding America. Additionally, each September, staff members across the country support “Hunger Action Month,” Feeding America’s month-long campaign to bring awareness to and help fight domestic hunger, by donating peanut butter to local food banks. In 2018, our generous staff members donated more than 267,000 pounds of peanut butter to the cause.
Local Giving: Our restaurants participate in a Gift Card Donation Program, providing gift cards to local schools and charities for fundraisers and auctions. Since formalizing our Gift Card Donation Program in 2007, we have donated more than $8.3 million in gift cards to our local communities.
Collaboration: Thinking beyond the actions of our own company, we are partnering with a number of other companies, NGOs, and many fellow restaurateurs to pursue sustainability solutions that we, alone, could not accomplish. We are always looking for partners who are interested in working with us to build a more sustainable future.