The InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts Brand is the Nation’s First Certified Green Restaurant® Hotel Chain
Boston, MA (PRWEB) September 24, 2013 -- The InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts brand is proud to be the first hotel chain to have all of its IHG® corporate-managed restaurants in the United States and Canada become Certified Green Restaurants®. In September 2011, the InterContinental Boston hotel’s Miel Brasserie Provençale was the first of the hotel chain’s restaurants to receive the certification. Based on the hotel’s positive feedback about the certification process, the InterContinental brand made the decision to require all of its internally managed restaurants to meet the rigorous environmental certification standards of the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), and this week the hotel chain achieved this exciting goal.
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is part of the IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) family of brands, and IHG is committed to being a responsible business. The company is focused on making a positive difference by creating more sustainable hotels and communities where it operates. The InterContinental brand’s effort to gain certification came out of support for the IHG Green Engage® program, which is an online sustainability platform that is used by more than 2,500 IHG-branded hotels worldwide, and allows properties to chart their progress toward energy, waste and water efficiency. Collectively, 26 Certified Green Restaurants at InterContinental properties implemented 1,180 environmental steps, earning them 3,341 GreenPoints™ in the Green Restaurant Association’s environmental categories of energy, water, waste, food, packaging, chemicals, and building materials.
"We are proud to be the first hotel company in the world to have all of our managed restaurants under one brand meeting the 2 and 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant standard," said Jean-Pierre Etcheberrigaray, vice president, Food and Beverage, the Americas, IHG. "In 2011, we set out to achieve this goal, and we are thrilled to have exceeded it."
Notable Green Accomplishments from the InterContinental brand’s Certified Green Restaurants:
• Todd English’s Ça Va Brasserie, a Near-Zero Waste™ Restaurant at the InterContinental New York Times Square, diverts 95 percent of its waste from landfills through recycling and composting.
• Recognized as a Michelin-star restaurant since 2010, the InterContinental San Francisco hotel’s Luce restaurant reached the 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant level with more than 180 Green Points, including 100 percent renewal energy credits and superefficient spray valves using less than 1 gallon per minute.
• InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta hotel’s Southern Art and Bourbon Bar, owned by Art Smith, the former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, earned more than half of its 137 GreenPoints by taking 49 environmental steps to conserve energy and eliminate waste.
• Michael Jordan’s Chicago Steakhouse, a 2 Star Certified Green Restaurant at the InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, earned 4 GreenPoints in the GRA’s environmental category of chemical and pollution reduction by providing electric vehicle charging stations for their green-minded diners.
"The Certified Green Restaurant accomplishment of the InterContinental brand is a wonderful example of IHG’s commitment to environmental sustainability," said Paul Snyder, vice president, Corporate Responsibility – environmental sustainability and Public Affairs, IHG. "We are excited to see these hotels using our program, IHG Green Engage, to work with the Green Restaurant Association in making our brand the first hotel chain to have all of its corporate-managed foodservice facilities become Certified Green Restaurants. The IHG-managed InterContinental Hotels & Resorts have set a great precedent, and we are proud of their accomplishments."
All of the InterContinental hotels’ 26 Certified Green Restaurants have met the GRA's certification standards by earning at least 100 GreenPoints™ in the categories of food, water, waste, energy, chemicals, and disposables. Additionally, each Certified Green Restaurant has eliminated use of polystyrene foam, (aka StyroFoam™), and has implemented a full-scale recycling program.
The 26 Certified Green Restaurants in InterContinental properties are:
• Azure Restaurant & Bar in Toronto, ON
• Bar 888 in San Francisco, CA
• Barclay Bar & Grill in New York, NY
• Bourbon Bar in Atlanta, GA
• Brasserie Osco in Montreal, QC
• C2 Cultural Cuisine in Cleveland, OH
• Ca Va Brasserie in New York, NY
• Cafe du Parc in Washington DC
• Lobby Lounge in Los Angeles, CA
• Luce Restaurant in San Francisco, CA
• Michael Jordan's Chicago Steakhouse in Chicago, IL
• Miel Brasserie in Boston, MA
• North Coast Cafe in Cleveland, OH
• Park Grill in Los Angeles, CA
• Proof Vodka Bar in Toronto, ON
• Q de Cheval in Addison, TX
• Eno Wine Bar in Chicago, IL
• Signatures Restaurant in Toronto, ON
• Southern Art in Atlanta, GA
• Stephen F's Austin Bar & Terrace in Austin, TX
• Rumba in Boston, MA
• Table 45 in Cleveland, OH
• Top of the Mark in San Francisco, CA
• Toro Toro in Miami, FL
• Round Robin and Scotch Bar in Washington, D.C
• The Continental in Chicago, IL
Diners can visit http://www.DineGreen.com to locate InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Certified Green Restaurants and find transparent environmental details on the specific steps that each IHG restaurant has taken to become more environmentally sustainable.
"With 26 Certified Green Restaurants in 13 cities, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts have demonstrated that hotel restaurants really can divert 95 percent of their waste from landfills, conserve energy and water, and use more sustainable food," said Michael Oshman, CEO and Founder of the Green Restaurant Association. "InterContinental Hotels are truly pioneering the hospitality industry by prioritizing sustainable dining on such a large scale, and we are thrilled with the hotel group’s outstanding green accomplishments."
For details on the GRA’s Certification Standards, visit: http://dinegreen.com/restaurants/standards.asp.
About the Green Restaurant Association
The Green Restaurant Association is a national non-profit organization that provides the only official Certified Green Restaurants mark in the country. For 23 years, the GRA has pioneered the Green Restaurant movement and has been the leading voice within the industry encouraging restaurants to listen to consumer demand and green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards. With their turnkey certification system, the GRA has made it easy for thousands of restaurants to become more environmentally sustainable in a profitable manner. The GRA is endorsed by scores of national environmental organizations such as NRDC, and esteemed trade organizations including the New York State Restaurant Association, Orange County Restaurant Association and America Public Garden Association. The GRA is also an Energy Star partner. In 2010, CitySearch announced the GRA as their official Green Restaurant listing partner. The GRA has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News, NPR and in The New York Times and The Washington Post. For more information, visit http://www.dinegreen.com.
About InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
The InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand has 170 hotels located in more than 60 countries with local insight that comes from over 60 years of experience. As a brand, we believe that superior, understated service and outstanding facilities are important, but what makes us truly different is the genuine interest we show in our guests. Our desire is to help guests make the most of their time. We connect our well-traveled guests to what’s special about a destination, by sharing our knowledge, so they enjoy authentic experiences that will enrich their lives and broaden their outlook. For more information, visit http://www.ihg.com/intercontinental, https://twitter.com/InterConHotels or http://www.facebook.com/intercontinental.
About IHG Green Engage:
Environmental sustainability has been core to the company’s business strategy since 2009, when IHG pioneered IHG Green Engage. The program is designed to reduce the impact of its hotels and offices, helping hotel owners measure, manage and report their hotel energy, water and wasted consumption, while creating a plan for future improvements. Solutions include things such as energy efficient LEDs and lighting occupancy sensors; improving insulation and boiler efficiency; setting thermostats; and improving the efficiency of hot water usage by insulating water tanks, etc. For more information on our Corporate Responsibility programs, such as IHG Green Engage, please view our CR Report at http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=718#ref_cr, or visit our IHG Planet CR Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/IHGCorporateResponsibility.
Notes to Editors:
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organization with a broad portfolio of nine hotel brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels, Candlewood Suites® Hotels, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts.
IHG manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty program with over 74 million members worldwide. The program was relaunched in July 2013, offering enhanced benefits for members including free internet for Elites across all hotels, globally.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,600 hotels and 678,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.
Visit http://www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and http://www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: http://www.ihg.com/media, http://www.twitter.com/ihg, http://www.facebook.com/ihg or http://www.youtube.com/ihgplc.
Michael Oshman, The Green Restaurant Association, http://www.dinegreen.com, +1 (617) 737-4425, [email protected]
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