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Sustainability for Restaurants

Food Emissions Reporting and Menu Carbon Footprinting for Restaurant Groups

Large restaurant groups face a carbon reporting challenge that most sustainability tools weren't designed for. Your emissions don't sit primarily in your energy use or vehicle fleet—they sit in the ingredients your kitchens purchase, the menus your teams design, and the procurement decisions made daily across dozens or hundreds of sites.

Regulatory requirements are raising the stakes. Under CSRD, food procurement emissions are almost always material for restaurant groups. Organizations with SBTi commitments need structured Scope 3 data to demonstrate real progress. And increasingly, franchise networks, corporate catering clients, and investors want verified emissions data, not stated ambitions.

Klimato is purpose-built for food businesses. It maps your procurement data and recipes to ingredient-level emission factors automatically, giving your sustainability, procurement, and kitchen teams the data they need to report accurately and reduce emissions where it matters.

The Food Emissions Reporting Challenge for Restaurant Groups

Carbon reporting in food service is more complex than it looks from the outside. Three challenges come up consistently:

Food Procurement Drives the Vast Majority of Scope 3 Emissions

In most restaurant operations, purchased food and beverages account for the overwhelming share of total emissions. But procurement lists at multi-site restaurant groups are large, messy, and built for ordering rather than emissions measurement. A chain with 50 sites can easily have 10,000 or more active SKUs, with ingredient names that vary by supplier, market, or procurement system. Getting that data into a format suitable for emissions mapping requires significant effort without the right tools in place.

Menu and Recipe Data Exists in Siloed Systems

Most restaurant groups have recipe management tools, menu planning workflows, and procurement platforms that operate independently of each other. Calculating a carbon footprint for a dish means connecting those systems, and doing it with enough ingredient-level granularity that the result is accurate enough to act on, not just directionally interesting.

Reporting Obligations Are Converging Fast

CSRD requirements, SBTi target submissions, franchise sustainability reporting, and corporate catering client requests all need food emissions data. Each comes with slightly different data requirements. Restaurant groups that build a single rigorous emissions data foundation—rather than producing ad hoc estimates for each request—are significantly better positioned to meet all of them without duplicating work.

 

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What's Driving Food Emissions Reporting
Urgency for Restaurant Groups Right Now

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SBTi and Science-Based Targets

Restaurant groups with SBTi commitments need structured, traceable Scope 3 data to validate targets and demonstrate year-on-year progress. That means ingredient-level, activity-based emissions data—not spend-based approximations—with FLAG coverage for land use and agricultural impact.


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Franchise and Group-Level Sustainability Requirements

Restaurant groups that operate franchise networks or sit within larger hospitality groups often face sustainability requirements set at the group or franchisor level. Structured food emissions data gives individual brands and franchise operators the evidence base to show contribution to group-level targets.

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Corporate Client and Event Catering Requirements

Restaurant groups with corporate catering operations or venue hire income increasingly face requests for verified emissions data from their clients—particularly companies with their own CSRD or SBTi obligations. Verified food emissions data at the menu or event level is becoming a commercial prerequisite in this segment.

Klimato Carbon Accounting

Confidence Across
Scope 1, 2, and 3

For restaurant groups ready to build full corporate carbon reporting, Klimato Carbon Accounting delivers structured Scope 1–3 emissions disclosure aligned with CSRD, GHG Protocol, SBTi, GRI, and CDP. It takes your operational and procurement data and produces audit-ready reporting that works for leadership review, external verification, investor disclosure, and client submissions.

Explore carbon accounting
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Making the Case Internally

What Klimato Gives Every Stakeholder

Sustainability professionals at restaurant groups often face the same challenge: turning food emissions data into something that resonates with kitchen teams, procurement, finance, and leadership. Klimato produces outputs that work across all of those conversations.

For Sustainability and ESG Teams

Audit-Ready Data You Can Stand Behind

  • Traceable methodology aligned with GHG Protocol and CSRD

  • Structured reports ready for external verification

  • Progress tracking against climate targets over time

  • Supported frameworks: CSRD/ESRS, GRI, SBTi, TCFD, CDP

For Procurement Teams

Hotspot Data That Makes Sourcing Decisions Specific

  • Category and ingredient-level emissions breakdown

  • Supplier comparison by emissions intensity

  • FLAG data covering land use and agricultural impact

  • Insights that connect procurement choices to carbon outcomes

For Leadership and Clients

Numbers That Hold Up Under Tender Scrutiny

  • Dashboard view of Scope 1, 2, and 3 progress

  • Exportable reports for board-level review

  • Verified data to support tender and client submissions

  • Evidence of progress, not just commitment

Klimato is Used & Trusted by

Trusted by Restaurant Groups Across Europe

Restaurant groups from individual brands to large multi-site operators use Klimato to build credible food emissions reporting, reduce procurement emissions where they matter most, and embed carbon data into the way menus are designed.

  • We highly recommend working with Klimato for any hotel that wants to distinguish itself through its commitment to the environment. Not only will you be contributing to a more sustainable future, you will also earn the trust and respect of your guests.

    Aurélien Vangerven

    F&B Manager at Hotel Indigo Brussels City

    Aurélien Vangerven

  • Clients are really impressed by our work with Klimato - especially for meetings and events - and in some cases, it helps us to win business deals. It also gives us a clear competitive advantage compared to other hotels in the city.

    Majorie Sundström

    Formerly Sales Manager at Courtyard by Marriott Stockholm

    Marjorie Sundstrom

  • The climate impact insights that Klimato provides are becoming more important by the day, and the food I can cook with their help will be dominant in the future. Sodexo as a large company can influence many people to eat better, and we must take these steps together to contribute to a better future.

    Oscar Jonasson

    Executive Chef at Restaurant Björken, Sodexo Cytiva

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  • I’m impressed by the user-friendliness of the app - it is very simple, clear, and precise. Composing new recipes is not too time-consuming, and monthly reporting is great to keep us updated on our progress.

    Petra Rörfors

    Formerly Director of Sales & Sustainability at Courtyard by Marriott

    Petra Rörfors

  • By working with Klimato and encouraging and educating clients to make conscious choices when they are with us, we’re bringing a huge new dynamic to the way we cater for events that can only have a bigger, positive impact for all.

    David Connell

    Director of Operations at Exclusive Collection

    David Connell, Director of Operations, Exclusive Collection

  • Since partnering with Klimato there's been a highly positive response from our guests, reflected in enhanced satisfaction scores. We have seen a notable increase in ratings on TrustYou and other booking platforms, showing that our guests value and appreciate our sustainability efforts.

    Mövenpick Hotel

    Jumeirah Beach

  • We're at the forefront of everything to do with sustainability. Our customers could easily buy food from shops in Helsingborg before boarding our ferries, so we (and our food) have to stand out.

    Alexander Gerencser

    Head of Food & Beverage at ForSea

    Alexander Gerencser, Head of Food & Beverage at ForSea

  • Using Klimato, we have reduced our emissions from the dishes we serve, and we are proud that all of our salads and wraps have a carbon footprint of less than 0.5kg CO2e.

    Ane Nordskar

    COO at LETT

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  • As a huge company with global scale, we need to lead the way with sustainability, because if we don't make changes, who will? So it's important to raise awareness about the climate, and it's also a business opportunity. The trend will go towards more vegetarian/flexitarian diets.

    Christian Hallemyr

    Head of Food Platform at Sodexo

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  • Carbon-labeling our menus is an important step on our sustainability journey and Klimato has been the perfect partner to help us get there.

    Richard Mackie

    General Manager - DoubleTree by Hilton London ExCel

    Richard Mackie, General Manager of DoubleTree by Hilton London ExCel

  • We work with Klimato to help us map the carbon footprint of all the dishes we produce. We've found this extremely useful in how we plan and put our dishes together. We would highly recommend Klimato to anyone looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

    Robert Smith

    Senior Head Chef at University of Bristol

    RobertSmith

  • We wanted to allow the staff and students to see the carbon impact of their food and also make an informed choice. Although food is such an individual choice, this shows that you can make a difference with it.

    Sarah Cawthorne

    Environment Officer for Catering at University of Nottingham

    Sarah Cawthorne, Environment Officer for Catering, University of Nottingham

  • Our sustainability work has really taken off with the help of Klimato! Thanks to their calculation tool we have raised the awareness of our climate impact together with our restaurant guests. It's great!

    Jonathan Petersen

    Chef & Founder at Crème Filmhuset

    Jonathan Petersen

  • By displaying the carbon footprint on our menus we affirm our commitment to sustainability and are able to inform our customers about the carbon impact of their meal. With Klimato, we can effectively share carbon reports with our clients to see trends and provide data to ensure we are moving in the right direction.

    Aidan Walker

    IFS Operations Director, ISS Ireland

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For Restaurants

Maximizing Menu Profitability Through Climate-Smart Choices

With growing consumer demand for eco-conscious dining and increased regulatory pressure, businesses must adapt to stay ahead.

This guide will equip you with practical, data-driven strategies to optimize your menu, boost sales, and align profitability with sustainability.

Where Should We Send Your Guide?
Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ About Sustainability for Restaurant Groups

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What does carbon reporting look like for restaurant groups?

Carbon reporting for restaurant groups means measuring and disclosing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions across operations. For most restaurant chains, by far the largest category is Scope 3 Category 1—purchased food and beverages. Klimato focuses on this category, mapping your procurement and recipe data to ingredient-level emission factors to produce accurate, audit-ready Scope 3 data. For a full explanation of how the three scopes apply to food businesses, see our Scope 1, 2, and 3 guide →

Is Scope 3 reporting mandatory for restaurant groups under CSRD?

Yes, for companies in CSRD scope. CSRD requires disclosure of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions under ESRS E1. For restaurant groups, food and beverage procurement will almost always be material under the double materiality assessment—meaning it must be reported, not excluded. Large restaurant groups operating in the EU are already in scope or approaching their first reporting year. Full CSRD requirements for food businesses →

 

How does carbon footprinting for menus work?

Carbon footprinting for menus means calculating the emissions impact of individual dishes and recipes at ingredient level. Klimato maps each ingredient to food-specific emission factors—accounting for production method, sourcing region, and land use impact—to produce an accurate carbon footprint for every item on a menu. This makes it possible to identify high-impact dishes, compare sourcing alternatives, and connect day-to-day kitchen decisions to corporate sustainability targets.

 

What is Klimato Food Emissions and how does it work for restaurant groups?

Klimato Food Emissions takes your existing food and beverage purchasing data—via file upload or direct integration with procurement and recipe management platforms—and automatically maps every SKU to a food-specific emission factor from Klimato's database of over 20,000 factors. The output is ingredient-level Scope 3 Category 1 data, including FLAG emissions, delivered back into your existing systems. An optional procurement report provides structured emissions analysis ready for sustainability teams, auditors, and corporate clients.

 

Can Klimato handle data across multiple brands or franchise networks?

Yes. Klimato is built for the multi-site and multi-brand complexity of large restaurant operations. Procurement and recipe data can be consolidated across locations, giving sustainability teams a single view of food emissions performance and the ability to compare emissions across sites, brands, or franchise units.

What is the difference between Klimato Food Emissions and Klimato Carbon Accounting?
Klimato Food Emissions delivers clarity on your food and beverage procurement emissions specifically—ingredient-level, activity-based data including FLAG, with the option to generate a Scope 3 Category 1 procurement report. Klimato Carbon Accounting delivers full Scope 1, 2, and 3 corporate reporting, covering your entire emissions footprint and aligned with CSRD, GHG Protocol, SBTi, and GRI. For most restaurant groups, Klimato Food Emissions is the primary starting point, with Klimato Carbon Accounting providing the full corporate reporting layer. The two products are designed to work together.
How long does implementation take?
Most restaurant groups are up and running within a few weeks. Month one covers data import—sharing procurement data via file upload or connecting your recipe management or procurement platform. Months one to two cover SKU mapping and emissions setup. Once complete, data is available immediately and updates with each new import. Klimato's team supports every step, from data collection through to first report delivery.
GET STARTED

Ready to Build Credible Food Emissions Reporting for Your Restaurant Group?

Purpose-built for food service procurement complexity. CSRD-ready. Trusted by leading restaurant groups.