The Guaranteed Green program enables diners in Chicago to identify and support restaurants that have achieved a markedly high level of environmental responsibility.
The Guaranteed Green program is available to any licensed foodservice establishment that is seeking to become certified as such by being evaluated against a number of comprehensive environmental standards for restaurants.
In order to earn Guaranteed Green certification, a restaurant must achieve significant standards in the areas of sustainable food purchasing, cleaning products, disposables, and furnishings, as well as in their management of energy, water, and waste.
Once a restaurant has achieved certification from an accredited third-party certification agency, a “Guaranteed Green” emblem may be used to promote their business.
Guaranteed Green locations are represented in print media, made available at both major Chicago airports, hotel concierges city-wide, and on multiple websites, such as Chicago’s official city tourism site. In addition, Chicago Magazine and Edible Chicago include the “Guaranteed Green” sprouting fork as part of their restaurant listings.
In order to help member restaurants attain third-party certification and Guaranteed Green status, the Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition will assign an individual to assist them in the process. This consultation period lasts approximately three months and ends with the restaurant’s successful certification. This service is offered free of cost. For a current list of all restaurants that have become “Guaranteed Green” click here.
Certification may be attained by going through the Green Restaurant Association (www.dinegreen.com) or Green Seal (www.greenseal.org), two independent, national non-profits that have created comprehensive environmental standards for restaurants.
To put your restaurant on the path to becoming “Guaranteed Green,” or to learn more, information on each certification, and a side-by-side comparison, are provided below.
Green Seal
The above information, and much more, can be accessed at Green Seal’s GS-46 resource page.
Green Restaurant Association
Comparison Information
DISCLAIMER: The GCRC endorses both the GRA 4.0 certification standards and the Green Seal GS-46 Certifiction Standard as effective means to certify that a restaurant has made significant, quantifiable steps to make its operations more environmentally friendly, and it does NOT favor or endorse one program over the other. A restaurant that achieves either certification will be recognized as “Guaranteed Green.”
“Guaranteed Green” logo design by John Beske Communications.
