Miss Cordelia's is Going for the Fork

Miss Cordelia's, Harbortown's neighborhood grocery and deli, is Memphis' second restaurant to work towards Project Green Fork certification. (Tsunami was the first.)

Project Green Fork is a non-profit, collaborative community initiative that assists Memphis restaurant owners in reducing waste, lowering overhead and decreasing their environmental impact thereby creating a more environmentally sustainable restaurant industry. A major part of this process is completing an MLGW audit and taking necessary steps to reduce energy and water consumption.

I tagged along as one of our commercial reps, Al Sanders, conducted the audit (which is free for all residential and commercial customers) and discussed his findings with Project Green Fork's Executive Director, Margot McNeeley. For a restaurant/grocery store, the number one energy savings is going to come from the heating and air conditioning units. So, the first thing Al did was check the thermostats to see where they were set. For a home, we recommend 78 in the summer, 68 in the winter. These settings might not be optimal for a grocery store, so Al suggested 74 or 76 rather than the current 72. (For each degree higher, they will save 6%.)


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Next, we looked at the lighting. Miss Cordelia's was using some, but not all, fluorescent bulbs. Al noted where lower wattage bulbs could be used and he suggested turning lights off at night--including all of the cooler lights. Other areas we investigated were the windows and exterior doors, the plumbing, the water heater, the return air vents, etc.

Margot will compile a report and send it to Al for confirmation, then she will in turn go over it with the manager of Miss Cordelia's. Margot also plans to assist Miss Cordelia's in setting up a recycling and composting system among other things.

I hope more restaurants follow Miss Cordelia's (and Tsunami's) lead!