As most of you probably remember from our last Sustainability class on Innovation, we each had to split up with different teams and present an innovative yet sustainable business model for several different industries.

Our team thought it would be awesome to have the restaurant partly powered by bikes who could be rode by the guests who arrived. These guests could essentially “Peddle down their food bill,” while their food was being prepared in hopes of savings costs at the end of their meal. Not only would it be a super interactive activity and probably attractive to a group of people wanting an “interesting,” night out, but it would also be a good business model for the restaurant, attracting a lot of business, and saving money on power.

On that note, as the presenter talked about the Prisons in Brazil doing a similar thing, where the inmates had to essentially “Peddle their way to a shorter sentence,” I thought that was brilliant. The inmates were riding their bike seriously long hours from 9-5 and with breaks for lunch and the bathroom. One inmate lost 20 days from his sentence, and lost 4 kilos in the process. I think other prisons should adopt this, as they are being productive with inmates and using them for the greater good of society rather then just letting them sit and rot away behind bars.

Doing more research on businesses who award guests for helping generate energy, I came across Copenhagen Hotel. This hotel paid their guests to embrace green energy, and essentially bike to help power their generators that powers the hotel. The guests link up their iphones and if they generate 10-watt hours of electricity then they are awarded a 36 dollar restaurant coupon to the hotel, and this usually only takes approximately 15 minutes. I think this is such a great idea, and really cool to see if actually implemented, perhaps my business idea IS VIABLE one day. 🙂

Do you think that our group’s idea is viable or do you see anything wrong with implementing it? Let me know!

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/brazilian-inmates-shorten-sentences-by-generating-power-1.1177631

http://inhabitat.com/copenhagen-hotel-pays-guests-to-generate-electricity-by-biking/

 

 

So after seeing several different instagram posts from Jessica Alba (Yes I follow her on IG, after all she’s only one my favourite actresses, and my number one style Icon– geeze), I finally decided to checkout what “The Honest Company,” was. After looking at their website and seeing their product offerings I was amazed that it was JESSICA who founded this company and social movement. The Honest Company is a sustainable lifestyle baby brand that offers moms baby and house cleaning products that are safe, non-toxic, plant-based and biodegradable available to purchase or through a monthly service.

They carry several different products for babies such as diapers, wipes, cleaning products, shower and bath products, toys, cradles— literally anything you can imagine your baby needing in that stage of life. The Honest Company lives, breathes and preaches their mantra of reducing our carbon footprint in the environment. The way their business operates is in a sustainable manner (with 100% renewable solar energy for example), only supplying products that are sustainable, natural and chemical-free from suppliers who abide by their code of conduct that addresses human rights, environment and documentation. To top it all off, they have created a social movement towards providing a safer and healthier environment for our babies to grow up to.

In several different press interviews, Jessica highlights that sustainability and eco-friendliness is just a side benefit to her product line, after all “Great first, Green Second.” In the interviews jessica makes CLEAR that her products work, they actually keep in the poop for your babies, or the dish soap actually cleans your dishes really well. The secondary attribute that they focus on is style and product design, they make sure they are fun, cute and parents are proud to show them off, and lastly affordable. This is exactly what we learned in class last week, that in order for consumers to purchase green products, they focus on performance first, when deciding on what products to use, and perhaps environmentally friendly after.

I know a common theme in our classes is, “yes this sounds great, but is not condemning MORE consumerism in society?” I would like to protest this argument, because when it comes down to baby’s this is a different story. The needs of baby’s are immediate, it doesn’t matter how much you want to avoid it but you MUST purchase diapers, and wipes, and toys and a crib. If you are going to do so, why not do it in the most sustainable way possible? It’s evident that babies cause a LOT of pollution (how many bajillion diapers are in the trash), and parents are going to be buying them either or– MIGHT has well support a sustainable company that offers bio-degradable diapers that are cute designs and work– rather then your average disposable diapers most buy. So essentially The Honest Company is offering an ALTERNATIVE solution to what already needs to be bought, in the best, most sustainable way possible.

I am all in for this company, and I really admire that such a famous figure such as Jessica Alba, is really trying to make a change, and use her power and influence to implicate positive change. I think that this company alone could be successful for it having trendy products, having a famous star endorses it, and having the products actually work, but having it be all for sustainable and all natural and save the environment– WHAT A PLUS!

What’s your thoughts on the company? I would love to hear what you guys think!

GREEN MONKEY OUT

x

Sources:

https://www.honest.com/about-us/press

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/7154/20140211/jessica-alba-a-green-latina-mom-on-a-mission-with-the-honest-company.htm

If you haven’t heard the new hype it town, it’s Sweetgreen salad-bar and fro-yo restaurant! This place is not only healthy, but extremely sustainable as they offer local organic home grown food to it’s consumers in 100% recyclable packages, and the entire store is designed with sustainable furniture and energy efficient LED lighting.

The founders Jonathan Neman, Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru  are on board to be opening their 11th restaurant soon. These young entrepreneurs graduated from Georgetown University and saw a clear void in the market for healthy fast food options. Not only did they fill this void, but did so and made it feel even more AWESOME to eat healthy and local again.

The boys do a good job, living, breathing and preaching their mantra of living green and also giving back to their community. In fact, one part of their business model is to be an active citizen in their communities, so there are several live bands who play in their restaurants, local cool merchandise to purchase, or other events that Sweetgreen partners with in the communities in which they reside. The live music in their business model, as now become an annual music festival called Sweetlife Festival featuring very popular DJ artists who come out to play.

What I really like about this story and brand, is how much they levered social media marketing and branched from not only being a restaurant food chain but into becoming a lifestyle brand with a zest for life. The more I read on the company, the more I come to notice that their business model is not just a restaurant to eat, but a place to connect with people through good food, music and other good causes.

In fact, the boys do such a good job of building their brand over social media that they have approx 12,000 twitter followers, 11,000 instagram followers, and 20,000 like on facebook. They have recently even tapped into a trend via it’s consumers who take pictures of their dinner plates and hashtag #foodporn. Rather than hashtagging foodporn, Sweetgreen has started #saladporn as a way to make consumers crave salad.

As you can expect, these gems are not only now loaded (they recently had $22 million invested into their company in Dec for further expansion) but they also were on Forbes 30 under 30 list, for being top new-coming entrepreneurs, having over $25 million in revenue annually, and with that expecting to increase by 50%.

Moral of the story, and what ties back to the video we watched in class, it is possible to do good for the environment and community, and personally benefit as well. Best touch of it all is their zesty touch of social media marketing, and really leveraging consumer trends to keep them differentiated.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/from-salad-shop-to-music-festival-sweetgreen-branches-out/2013/06/14/234aaeb4-cd2d-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html

http://sweetgreen.com/our-story/

http://mashable.com/2013/11/14/sweetgreen/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kat-haselkorn/5-local-startups-position_b_4541463.html

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/03/salad-days/

As most of you have probably heard, there is a some what healthy and sustainable fast-food chain in town called…. CHIPOTLE!  They market themselves as an organic fast food chain that purchases grass and free run beef, and only use fresh local produce when they can. They are a healthy alternative to other fast food industry giants, and they place a large emphasize on choosing wholesome ingredients and encouraging consumers to make informed choices on what they are eating and how it affects the food system.

Let’s talk about what they are doing right:

1. Awareness is a huge issue, and Chipotle is tackling this issue head on by it’s video campaigns showing the impacts we are making on our environment by choosing the foods we are eating.

Here is a video of one of their marketing campaigns, they received a lot of positive press  and had over 1.9 million views!

Chipotle’s Scarecrow Commercial

2. They are making a positive influence on the industry. With being #18th largest fast food player in the US market, they probably have a large impact on its suppliers. So by supporting local farmers, and responsibly raised beef, chicken and pork they perhaps are encouraging more suppliers to change their ways of operating and farming.

3. They keep driving home the message through lots of campaigning, through some very popular youtube commercials which have gone viral and they have even released a video campaign called “Farmed and Dangerous,” a comic series that satirically explores the world of industrial agriculture in America. This is something that Chipotle does extremely well in– informing while entertaining if you can call it that.

However, despite Chipotle’s best efforts in making a change, there has been a lot of critics depicting their marketing tactics. Is it really to change the agriculture industry? Is it to hop on the sustainability trend , or encourage consumers to (again the main topic we talk about in all our classes)– TO CONSUME more. Are they really casually suggesting their product as a substitute, or rather wanting consumers to start consuming their product, who would have not thought to before.

There was also a time when the responsible beef supply was low, and in order to keep up to demand , 20% of the company’s beef came from producers that typically use GMO-based feed, antibiotics, growth hormones, feedlots, and all the other unsavoury aspects of industrial animal agriculture— ALL ASPECTS that Chipotle claims to rise above and condemns as loudly as anyone else on others who participate in it.

Chipotle is another industry giant- who’s main concern is PROFITS. And since they are such a big company with over 1.85 billion in sales  in North America, you need to remember that their main goal is to increase profit, whether it be to decrease costs or cut another area of their company.

Their spokesperson Danielle Winslow claims that ” [Chipotle’s]  first priority is to accommodate our customers”—AKA do whatever it takes to supply all ingredients at full capacity all the time, so essentially they will use organic produce when it best suits them and their business needs.

Sure they are spreading awareness about the problems in the food system, but doing so with a smile on their face, and with pockets nice and full. I doubt they would continue their activities if it detracted away from sales.

To conclude, Chipotle Food Chains make somewhat of an effort to increase awareness about this issue, make a change in the products they offer to consumers more sustainable and environmentally better options than competitors, but as long as it profits them in the long term.

A for effort chipotle, A for effort. And A for seeming like you care, A for bringing up the issue. B for sacrificing your integrity to keep up sales, B for encouraging people to consumer your product when it is not needed.

Pros cons to everything, What do you guys think??

Sources:

http://www.psmag.com/environment/chipotle-mexican-grill-fast-food-beef-sustainable-agriculture-67867/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2014/01/28/chipotle-satirizes-industrial-agriculture-in-farmed-and-dangerous/

http://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/top-50-sorted-average-sales-unit