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The InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts Brand is the Nation's First Certified Green Restaurant® Hotel Chain

By: InterContinental Hotels Group |  1,023 Shares     103 Reads

All IHG®-Managed InterContinental Restaurants in the U.S. and Canada Meet the Rigorous Environmental Standards of the Green Restaurant Association

September 24, 2013 // Franchising.com // Boston – 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 of 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 GreenPoints, 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:

Restaurant Name
Location

Azure Restaurant & Bar
Toronto, ON

Bar 888
San Francisco, CA

Barclay Bar & Grill
New York, NY

Bourbon Bar
Atlanta, GA

Brasserie Osco
Montreal, QC

C2 Cultural Cuisine
Cleveland, OH

Ca Va Brasserie
New York, NY

Cafe du Parc
Washington DC

Lobby Lounge
Los Angeles, CA

Luce Restaurant
San Francisco, CA

Michael Jordan's Chicago Steakhouse
Chicago, IL

Miel Brasserie
Boston, MA

North Coast Cafe
Cleveland, OH

Park Grill
Los Angeles, CA

Proof Vodka Bar
Toronto, ON

Q de Cheval
Addison, TX

Eno Wine Bar
Chicago, IL

Signatures Restaurant
Toronto, ON

Southern Art
Atlanta, GA

Stephen F's Austin Bar & Terrace
Austin, TX

Rumba
Boston, MA

Table 45
Cleveland, OH

Top of the Mark
San Francisco, CA

Toro Toro
Miami, FL

Round Robin and Scotch Bar
Washington, D.C

The Continental
Chicago, IL

Diners can visit 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 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.

About IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)

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 www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

SOURCE IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)

Media Contacts:

Kristal McKanders
InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
kristal.mckanders@ihg.com
(770) 604-2082

Michael Oshman
Green Restaurant Association
media@dinegreen.com
(617) 737-4425

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