New LEED Certifications for Foodservice Design

With a growing interest in the foodservice community about LEED, the U.S. Green Building Council established the third version of the LEED for Retail guidelines in 2009. The foodservice portion was dramatically updated through the work of the Richard Young and Food Service Technology Center in California. Along with other foodservice professionals, they developed a "prescriptive path" to selecting commercial cooking equipment and fixtures to meet and/or exceed LEED certifications. FSTC created a chart for designers to follow that shows just how efficient certain equipment needs to be. For example, all Energy Star products meet these standards but there may be others as well. Even if your building is not trying to achieve LEED certification, which is very involved, operators can use this chart as guideline for a "green" restaurant.

Foodservice Equipment and Supplies Magazine featured a story about the new LEED for Retail in April. The full article can be found here.

Griddles and Convection Ovens Now Energy Star Approved

It's been several months since my last blog post, but I've noticed an increase in traffic lately so I thought I'd post again.

A couple months ago, the EPA approved griddles and convection ovens for Energy Star certification. Only AccuTemp, and just recently, Vulcan have approved griddles. Both manufacturers partner with Boston Showcase Company. Several manufacturers, including Vermont-based Blodgett and Vulcan have approved convection ovens.

Boston Showcase Company is an Energy Star Service and Products Provider and always steers customers toward the most energy efficient commercial cooking equipment.