Jungle River

Offering "Carbon Credits" to Offset Energy Used to

Prepare Food

APRIL 14, 2013

Project Motivation

Carbon credits are cheaper than one might expect. Offsetting the amount of carbon emitted for a round-trip flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles costs $12, about 3% of the ticket price. Carbon credits fund projects that enhance the community, benefit the environment, and promote sustainability. At this time, Zaxby’s does not involve themselves with any known sustainable practices. There aren’t many nationally

affiliated companies in the Athens area who advertise being environmentally aware of their impact. The chosen Zaxby’s chain, located at 2100 Barnett Shoals Rd, could become a green leader in the community. Hopefully, Athenians could become better educated on their carbon footprint and how their actions affect the health of their environment.

W h a t a r e

" C a r b o n

C r e d i t s " ?

For this sustainability proposal,

carbon credits refer to money

collected to put towards projects

that help to reduce Zaxby’s

carbon footprint. Each customer

will have the opportunity to

purchase a carbon credit ($0.10

per credit) to offset the carbon

produced making their own

meal. The credits collected will

be put towards a carbon-

reducing project in the local

area.

APRIL 14, 2013 JUNGLE RIVER

Project Description

Implementing a Zaxby's carbon credit system would be uniquely beneficial, simple, and cheap. At the end of each transaction, cashiers would ask the customer if they would like to donate a dime towards Zaxby's Clean Air Project. The donation will go towards offsetting the carbon footprint produced by their meal and fund a project of sustainability. This initiative has been designed in accordance to a leverage point identified in our report: restaurant-customer interaction.

Community education and involvement are the keystone to this program. By adding this question to the end of every transaction, the program has the potential to reach a large audience. By using vocabulary like carbon footprint and carbon credits in each

question, the audience will be exposed to these concepts. Maybe they have never heard the term carbon footprint. Maybe they are fairly familiar with the concept. Either way they will be reminded of it with each order, hopefully teaching them to consider the carbon implications of their actions.

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STAKEHOLDERS AND

THEIR ROLE

Zaxby’s Franchise Employees

Zaxby’s Franchise

Customers

Athens’ Organizations who

take part in Creditz projects

The community becomes involved

by choosing to make a small

donation while purchasing their

meal. This donation will be

invested back into the

community. It will fund projects

such as planting trees, cleaning

local water supply, or creating a

park. The community will be

about to see the impact of their

donations, facilitating more

education.

Zaxby's would first need to

develop a project worth

funding. Perhaps they ask the

community what environmental

improvements they would like to

see in their town. Next, they

would need to train the employees

by briefing them on the new

program and the project that it

will be funding. Zaxby's will also

need to teach employees about

carbon footprints and carbon

credits in order to prepare them

for potential questions a curious

customer could ask. Lastly,

Zaxby's would need to develop a

carbon credit system allowing

cashiers to add the carbon credit

to an order with ease, while

keeping count of total credits

purchased.

Sample Project Poster

$xx

Raised of $XX

Go

al

Possible Projects

Buy seeds that can be distributed to people in the

community

Pledge to plant X# of trees in Athens

Create more/better bike lanes and sidewalks

Fund recycling projects

Educate the community on how to be more

sustainable at home

Build a park

The possibilities are truly endless.

P r o j e c t e d O u t c o m e s a n d P o s s i b l e R i s k s

APRIL 14, 2013

Resources would be expended designing a project, training employees, and developing the system; resulting in

an overall low capital investment. This program has been designed as a marketing tool for the Zaxby’s

organization. After working with the community - raising funds while also creating awareness for the environment

- and completing a project, Zaxby’s could document the entire process and use it for promotion. Imagine the

effect of an advertising campaign centered around the idea of “eating at Zaxby’s helps the environment”. Zaxby’s

will gain a larger customer base and will profit from customers who more frequently eat at the restaurant because

it is an environmentally minded fast-food option.

The benefits outweigh the risks. This program would generate great publicity, improve the environment, and

enhance community prosperity through education. The product of Zaxby’s is not altered at all. One risk could be

that customers become irritated at the additional question at the end of each transaction. Or that no one

participates in the program. Both risks should be monitored throughout the implementation of this initiative.

No other restaurant in the fast-food industry has a program similar to this proposal making it unique only to

Zaxby’s. The Zaxby’s carbon credit system aims to curb the American culture of excessive consumption with little

to no concern of its effects on the Commons (via Tragedy of the Commons). This initiative will create public

awareness and discussion, produce tangible results visible to the public, and generate invaluable positive publicity

- ultimately incorporating a green culture into Zaxby’s business plan.

Future Prospects

The members of Jungle River suggest implementing this program

at a single restaurant in Athens. This will keep initial costs low

and provide a simple environment to monitor its progress. The

initiative has been designed so that scaling it to other restaurants

in the chain can be done with ease. Any others chains interested

need only to add the carbon credit system to their cash registers

and to train their employees in the same manner that the Barnett

Shoals franchise will train their employees.

The franchises may choose to join forces and strive to raise

funds for the same project, or they could choose different

projects. There are endless possibilities to help the local

environment.

The carbon credit system could also be applied to franchises

outside of Athens with ease and increase more of the U.S’s

population’s knowledge about their carbon footprints.

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