Food chain delivers 'Carbon Karma'

The restaurant chain Otarian hopes to entice customers into reducing their environmental impact with a carrot, rather than a stick. Its strategy? Encourage patrons to earn “Carbon Karma” credits rather than worry about the carbon footprint of their meals.

Otarian, which recently opened its first “fast-casual” restaurant in London (and another in New York City), takes a variety of steps to keep the carbon footprints of its menu items as low as possible. First of all, there’s no meat, as livestock production is a large source of greenhouse gases. Second, it aims to get seasonal ingredients from local sources when possible. And, third, it has a “no air freight” policy for supplies that must come from more distant locales like Israel or California.

The result, hopes Otarian founder Radhika Oswal, are dishes that by default are associated with fewer carbon dioxide emissions when they arrive at your table. By then comparing each dish to a similar, meat-based or less sustainable alternative — a vegetable biryani compared to a lamb biryani, for example — Otarian calculates how much carbon you’ve avoided. Customers keep track of those savings via their “Carbon Karma” cards.

Earn 100 Carbon Karma credits, and you get a free item off the menu.

While it’s no Chez Panisse in terms of sustainable food sourcing, Otarian is no McDonald’s either. It composts or recycles 98 per cent of its restaurant waste — even though it’s paying a 100 per cent premium to do so — features furnishings made from sustainable or recycled materials, and gets its electricity from renewable sources. All combined, such efforts lend weight to Otarian’s claim to be the “first-ever low-carbon restaurant chain.”