The highly-respected The Loco Group, which operates four popular restro bars in Singapore, claims to have offset 100% of its carbon emissions!
The restro bars – Super Loco Customs House, Super Loco Robertson Quay, Lucha Loco Duxton Hill and Chico Loco Amoy Street – are widely popular for their authentic-inspired contemporary Mexican food and quality tequila curations in the city of Singapore. The green project had these venues aggressively initiating sustainable practises to achieve carbon neutrality and reach their target goals.
The restaurant and bar operating group had made a pledge to contribute to a greener earth and for this, it introduced an Agave Appreciation Month campaign to donate a dollar for every special agave cocktail sold at its outlets. This resulted in One Tree Planted planting 843 trees in the Amazon. Back home, the group optimised its printing process to reduce their paper needs of around 30,000 paper sheets a year.
The operating group has also eliminated the use of Palm oil across its restaurants. It also ensures all the outlets have a minimum of 30% vegetarian menu which is either fully vegetarian or can be served as a vegetarian meal upon request. The kitchens go a step forward by ensuring the chicken sourced is free-roaming, organic-fed and non-GMO certified, and the fish is sustainably-sourced. The kitchens invest in locally-farmed Barramundi fish for this purpose.
Moreover, The Loco Group has banned plastic packaging all across its outlets, avoiding over 4,500 kg of plastic waste till date. Interestingly, the use of around 144,000 plastic straws has been avoided at the restro bars. Not only this but the operating group has reduced glass bottle waste as well. The outlets have substituted imported bottled mineral water with premium filtered tap water, avoiding 9,000 kgs of waste and 5 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
Even with so many initiatives and achievements to its credit, the operating group wants to continue working towards a more sustainable planet. It will continue to enforce greener practices in the future and encourage others to follow suit through F&B Sustainability Council, which has over ten members setting their own sustainability targets, sharing practices with others and lobbying for further support.
It’s inspiring to see great companies like The Loco Group make successful efforts into reducing their carbon footprint. I hope to see other corporations take charge and contribute to a sustainable future.
