Innovation

The business innovation of Borealis is rooted in their business model. They believe that by supporting the local community, the local community will in turn support them. Also, their businesses model emphasizes everything being local and sustainable, in doing so they make sure that their products are local and sustainable products, green electricity, waste reduction, garbage oil and diverge their waste.

Borealis supports their community by the way their workers are treated. In the restaurant business there is a high turnaround and no benefits, however Borealis flipped this traditional restaurant business ideology by offering their workers more. They offer benefits to their full-time employees and full-time in most restaurants is considered 40 hours a week, however in Borealis full-time is considered to be 20 hours a week. By offering benefits to their employees they are not only creating a good working environment but also wanting them to stay long-term, which is not often seen or heard of in a typical restaurant. Also, Borealis takes all of its employees to field trips.

The purpose of these field trips is to show their staff that all the food is truly local and they display where it all comes from. This helps the employees understand that Borealis doesn’t only show that it is green from the outside, but it is also green on the inside. Lastly, Borealis has created a code of conduct for suppliers. The code of conduct ensures that the suppliers are giving all the products as requested and with the promise of it being local and sustainability; as promised by their suppliers. By creating a code of conduct they are holding themselves accountable and their suppliers.

Borealis has also done a lot in terms of ensuring they operate in an environmentally friendly manner, use products that are sustainable and locally produced as well as keeping a close eye on their waste. Borealis' home office is 100% Bullfrog powered, which supplies green renewable energy. The fryer oil is used by local farmers and turned into biodiesel. Also, Borealis places an importance in reducing, diverging and auditing their waste. The restaurant also gives local farmers the scarps left over, which is used by the farmers to feed their pigs and thus diverges waste.

Inspiration

Bob Desautels is the founder of Borealis and all its parent companies. When he opened his first restaurant called La Maison, he was inspired to do something different, and focused on supporting local and being local. Back in the 90’s the idea of sustainability was something that was heard of, but no action was really taken. The 90’s was a time for maximizing economic growth, and buying and supporting local was not a way to maximize profits, as supporting local can be much more costly. However, it was in Mr. Desautels best interest to support local breweries, and other businesses, and start a restaurant that was socially and environmentally responsible.

It makes sense that Borealis and its parent company are all about being socially and environmentally sustainable, as Mr. Desautels was one of the founding members of the Green Party of Canada, and also has a master’s degree in philosophy. Borealis reflects his green philosophy, and the importance of being a sustainable business. When talking to the manager of Boreals, Kristen, it was highly emphasized that being socially and environmentally sustainable was their top priority, and that profit came second. They do have a decreased profit margin compared to other restaurants within Guelph, because they have to be able to keep their prices at a level that is also competitive to other restaurants. Maximizing economic profit is not the priority for this business, it’s about being environmentally and socially responsible, and doing good business. They believe that they have the responsibility as a business to be aware of the impacts they have on society as a whole, whether it be environmentally or socially.

Overall impact

Borealis focuses on being local, their slogan is “obsessively local,” meaning that the majority of their food and drink comes from local farmers, local breweries and other local businesses within Ontario. A restaurant that sources the majority of their food and drink locally is being sustainable in the sense that they can be seen as reducing their carbon footprint. Buying local means that the transportation of food and or drink does not have as long as a journey, therefore reducing energy costs, and also the emissions of Greenhouse gases. Buying local is not only beneficial to the environment, but it’s also beneficial to society. Borealis is supporting local farmers and other businesses, which helps with livelihoods within society, and raises quality of life within the community. Not only are local businesses benefiting from the support of Borealis, but Borealis will be benefiting from them as well. Buying local is a positive feedback cycle, where Borealis is providing locals with business, providing them with an income in which they can use to dine at the restaurant, therefore supporting Borealis.

Borealis achieves the UN Global Goal of Affordable and Clean Energy because of the fact that their head office is all powered by Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog power is a Canadian green energy company that focuses on providing renewable energy to businesses and homes. Not only is Borealis focusing on reducing their carbon footprint by using renewable energy but they’re also supporting a local business, as the company, Bullfrog Power is based in Toronto Ontario.

Not only does Borealis ensure that the majority of their food is local, but they also ensure their meat, and fish are sustainably produced. All the fish they buy is Ocean Wise certified, meaning that the fish have been sustainable caught. Borealis goes to great measures to ensure that the meat and fish they buy is not only labeled as being either local or sustainable, but that the label is ethical in what they’re saying. Borealis confirms that the meat they are receiving isn’t just processed in Ontario, but that the meat is also coming from Ontario. This ensures that they are not committing any "Greenwashing sins."

Borealis is very keen on constantly finding ways to reduce the amount of food that their restaurant wastes. They are very conscious in maintaining an acceptable amount of waste, and try to reduce the amount of food waste per guest. Ensuring that they constantly reduce their food waste, helps to mitigate climate change. This ensures that food waste isn’t sitting in landfills releasing methane gas into the atmosphere, ultimately contributing to Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Business benefit

The innovation greatly benefits the business as it helps to differentiate them against their competitors, as they are now B Corp. Certified. They’ve worked hard for this certification and the innovation has helped them greatly. There are not many restaurants that carry the same effort, initiative and place an importance on the environment. Also, by doing so their innovation not only helps raise awareness about how one can be green as well, but Borealis can be seen as a role model for those businesses around it. The surrounding businesses are then encouraged to carry out a similar effort and engage in the community, environment and think and act in a sustainable manner in everything their business does.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation benefits the society and environment in several ways. Firstly, by sourcing local and sustainable products the business positively affects society, as the local community benefits by Borealis’ purchase of produce, meat and etc. Also, the products purchased are sustainable, which goes hand in hand with being green. Secondly, Borealis helps their employees by giving them benefits, which emphasizes the importance they place on creating a good livelihood for their employees. Lastly, their efforts in waste have a positive effect on the environment, as they make sure they are sustainable in using their products which in turn shows up in their results of waste of reduction.

Interview

Kristen Cavanagh, Manager