C limate change represents an existential threat to the restaurant industry, especial- ly to independent restaurants. That’s not hyperbole, said Dan Jacobs, co-owner of Milwau- kee’s EsterEv and DanDan. “If things aren’t changed, we are going to see the end of independent restaurants,” Jacobs said. “Inde- pendent restaurants are the fabric of our communities.” Rising temperatures, unpre- dictable and destructive weather events, wildfires, a looming water crisis and more have the potential to disrupt nearly every aspect of a restaurant’s operations. In recent weeks, restaurants were wiped out by Hurricanes He- lene and Milton in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Ten- nessee. That’s a headline-making impact of climate change. But climate change is leaving its mark on virtually every aspect of the restaurant industry: • Earlier this year, Phoenix recorded 113 consecutive days over 100 degrees, putting a damper on outdoor dining and driving up energy costs to keep restaurants cool • A Thai chef in Los Angeles reports that the soil is too warm to grow cilantro root, an essential ingredient in curry paste, forcing her to substitute ingredients and compromise on flavor • High temperatures require refrigerator compressors to work overtime, leading to more equipment breakdowns • An inconsistent supply chain can lead to elevated prices which, in turn, can drive diners away • Employees may need to miss work to deal with a home hit by flooding or children out of school due to soaring temperatures “There’s a very clear and direct link between climate change and the economic health of restau- rants,” said Anne McBride, vice
president of programs at the James Beard Foundation (JBF). For the next five days, Restau- rant Business will look at the ways the industry is being shaped by the changing climate, and how some operators and advocates are fight- ing to stem the losses. We’ll ex- amine the promise of regenerative farming, how some are combating food waste, innovative ways restau- rants are saving energy, the impact of soaring insurance rates and more. “There’s a real urgency,” Mc- Bride added. “And when you see things like what happened in North Carolina, for example, in Asheville, seeing that kind of destruction, seeing the number of closures … [Or] the number of restaurants that have closed in places like Colora- do. When there’s less snow, people don’t come skiing. And you already have a very short season … So, that’s happening across the country. These extreme weather events are impacting restaurants.” BOTH VICTIMS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND CAUSES OF IT For restaurants, in particular, cli- mate change is especially complex. And that’s because restaurants are both a victim of natural disasters,
rising temperatures and water scar- city and they’re also a cause of it. “Chefs and restaurants are, let’s say, charismatic victims of climate change,” said Barton Seaver, an award-winning chef who is now a sustainable seafood educator and advocate. “There’s the flipside of this which is where how are driv- ers of climate change? And not in a finger-wagging, sort of traditional environmental vantage point which is ‘bad human, bad.’ Restaurants are participants, willing or not, in a system that has been built for ef- ficiency and lower cost rather than actual, measured and considered outcomes … How do we both gauge and come to grips with our role in creating the system, as well as use our levers as drivers of change to make it what we want?” Entrepreneurs like to open restaurants and other business- es in areas with rapid population growth. In the U.S., that means the South and West, places like Flor- ida, Phoenix, Houston and Dal- las-Fort Worth. But those are also the areas at greatest risk for climate change-fueled weather disasters, according to a recent analysis by The New York Times. And that growth can strain infrastructure
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JANUARY 2025 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
ILLUSTRATION BY DIMITRI MORSON/MIDJOURNEY
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