Interview: Todd Taylor on Darden's 'Restaurants of the Future'

It's no secret that restaurants run on slim profit margins, and restaurants with tight budgets and minimal resources often put sustainability on the back burner. This often comes at a high cost to the environment – including unnecessary energy and water use, as well as exorbitant amounts of waste sent to local landfills.

Responding to these issues, Darden Restaurants, the Fortune 500 restaurant giant known for brands like Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze, has made a commitment to reduce the physical footprint and amount of resources used at its more than 1,500 restaurants across the country.

The restaurant chain has already begun constructing new restaurants using the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Whether a location is LEED certified or not, Darden's commitment is carried through to its restaurant design elements, which include LED lighting, low-flow sinks, water efficient landscaping, energy management systems and more. Darden also recently launched restaurant Sustainability Teams -- self-selected, passionate employees tasked with keeping the company steadfast in its conservation goals.

Darden has set out to utilize innovative technology in all corners of its restaurants, appropriately dubbed 'restaurants of the future.' Keeping an eye on the latest technology and the needs of its seven distinct restaurant chains -- which also include Seasons 52, the Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House -- Darden now utilizes sustainable technologies that were not available even a decade ago, such as water-efficient pasta cookers, recyclable carpet, automatic light dimmers and organic recycling processes, the company said.

I sat down with Todd Taylor, vice president of design for Darden Restaurants, to find out what these 'restaurants of the future' look like -- and how the company hopes to expand the concept moving forward.

TriplePundit: Can you speak to some of the sustainability considerations that you're taking into account when building new restaurants?

Todd Taylor: From a sustainability standpoint, obviously the biggest focus as Brandon [Tidwell] explained to you before is looking at the three major buckets, which are energy, water and waste. We focus on understanding how we can affect those things and meet the goals and objectives that Darden has established, 15x15 over Zero. That's a number one driving force. So, we kind of keep those buckets in mind as we look at it.

Several years ago we used the USGBC's guidelines for LEED certification as a model. Not that we said that we wanted to be LEED in every single building that we built, but it was more or less a guideline to help us look for opportunities that would allow us to become more sustainable in our approach to building new buildings.

So, if we look at materials used -- materials that would be recyclable or materials that would come from a local proximity. Looking at energy efficient equipment, as well as lighting, was important to us. Looking at water and how we would put that into place for both our heart of the house (or the kitchens) ... as well as irrigation on the outside.

We look at solar energy if we possibly can, but we are also looking at reclaiming heat. So, on large equipment, can I reclaim that heat and use that to offset some of the heat that I need in my water systems ... as well as domestic water?

3p: Sounds great. How many of your restaurants are currently using solar or heat recovery systems?

TT: We have heat recovery systems in 13 restaurants. Those restaurants have LEED certification, and that became a driving force. It's very expensive to do, but it was one of those things that we wanted to explore and see if it would help us in those areas.

From a solar energy standpoint, we're still exploring that, and it really only affects us in certain markets around the country. Putting solar energy in certain geographic regions doesn't have the turnaround or payback that would benefit us in the long run. So, we're continuing to look at alternate ways in which we can utilize some of the natural resources that are out there.

3p: So, you have 13 LEED certified restaurants right now?

TT: Yes, we do. And the key piece for us is that all of our restaurants are designed with the same principles. So, regardless if it's LEED certified or not, as I would build say 20, or 40 or 100 restaurants a year depending upon what we're trying to accomplish in our new restaurant growth program, all of those buildings are built under the same idea.

I may not go through the commissioning standpoint and actually certify those buildings, but what we're doing is building them upon those guidelines.

3p: Is LEED certification something Darden plans to continue to pursue in the future?

TT: When it's the right opportunity to certify, we will pursue it. Those criteria are based upon tax advantages; they're based upon expediting permitting.

There is an expense associated in terms of going through that commission portion of getting LEED certification, and we've talked to the USGBC about their larger volume program. The challenge is that there isn't a lot of return for a lot of different companies, restaurant companies and others, to pursue it. There have been some companies that are actually considering and have started working more closely with the USGBC to find some of those advantages. But our belief is that as long as we meet the criteria and we are working towards a sustainable manner to be good stewards in the environment, we want to make sure that we're doing the right things and we'll follow the same principles from a design standpoint.

3p: Moving over to retrofits, has Darden been able to successfully renovate some of its older restaurants to improve environmental performance and cut costs?

TT: Yes. The major brand that we've gone through the remodel programs with happens to be Longhorn, and now we're moving forward with a major remodel program for all of Darden.

Most of our renovation programs are really more for the front of the house rather than the kitchens -- or what we call the heart of the house -- particularly because the kitchen platforms are continually updated on an ongoing basis as new equipment becomes available. But the front of the house, which is really what the guests experience, is what we tend to spend the most time on going through renovations.

That includes all the materials that you touch and feel. So, we look at recyclable materials; we look at LED lighting and with that comes into a play a new dimming system; we look at energy management systems within those restaurants to better control and provide the level of lighting as well as mechanicals within the space on a more regular basis; we look at where those materials are being delivered from, so therefore we're trying to use local resources or trying to find ways in which we can find other companies that can help us to support those efforts.

3p: Is there a cost benefit to doing this?

TT: There's definitely a cost savings. Yes, it's the right thing to do. And Darden, just like any major corporation, is very concerned about the environment, and sustainability as a huge initiative. But most corporations like Darden also look at the bottom line, and you have to make sure that there is a financial reason as well.

So, I think it benefits us in some areas but also in others, and we certainly are looking for those opportunities where we can save on the usage and the cost structure across the board -- regardless of where we happen to build.

3p: So, you find that up-front costs associated with these sustainability investments are offset over time?

TT: Yes, there's always a return on the investment, and we want to make sure that we hit those items. We have a formula that works for us about when we employ things: Does it make sense? Is the return short enough term for us to benefit from it?

This means if I am typically going to renovate a building every five to seven years if that is a cycle, I certainly want to make sure that my return on the investment is a very short term compared to that, so I'm not just putting something in play that will not pay itself back within that time frame.

3p: Have you seen good results from these 'restaurants of the future' so far?

TT: It's hard to state from an across-the-board standpoint what we save and what we don't save, but as far as water usage we can talk about it in gallons. We save a tremendous amount of water with drip irrigation systems on the outside of our buildings. When we don't have dipper wells in our restaurants we save a tremendous amount of water within our cooking platforms. And we're talking about thousands of gallons of water per restaurant that comes into play, so those are all very very positive things.

When we look at energy efficient lighting, the amount of energy that you use and the longevity of those lamps, the savings is also pretty staggering in the sense that you can save several hundred dollars worth of electricity on your bills on a monthly basis. So, there are a lot of different things that are benefiting us as we go forward.

For more information on Darden's 'restaurants of the future,' check out the infographic below.

Image and infographic courtesy of Darden Restaurants

Based in Philadelphia, Mary Mazzoni is a senior editor at TriplePundit. She is also a freelance journalist who frequently writes about sustainability, corporate social responsibility and clean tech. Her work has appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Huffington Post, Sustainable Brands, Earth911 and the Daily Meal. You can follow her on Twitter @mary_mazzoni.