Friends of the Earth Melbourne today launches a national campaign to urge Grill’d to switch their business from polluting gas to all-electric cooking. The self-titled “healthy burger” chain makes much of their commitment to sustainability in their promotions – even stating that their staff see environmental impacts as being “a cause closest to their hearts” and claim that the burger chain is “Listening and taking action”.
Fossil methane gas is a major contributor to climate change and causes long term damage to the environment from exploration, production and use. Burning gas for cooking releases a chemical cocktail into kitchens including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and fine particulate matter, and is directly linked to a 12% increase in asthma risk.
“Grill’d aren’t walking their talk when it comes to sustainability or caring for their workers. Through cooking with gas Grill’d is directly polluting their workers lungs and accelerating their climate impact”, said No More Gas campaign coordinator Freja Leonard.
“We have tried for months to get Grill’d to come to the table to discuss the benefits to their business, their workers and the planet as a whole of switching their business from polluting gas to all-electric cooking as each cooking appliance comes up for replacement.”
"We expected that with the commencement of ESD reporting requirements under Commonwealth law at the start of the year this sort of initiative would be welcomed by a company that claims to be a sustainability leader. We have been disappointed."
In the past the Grill’d CEO Simon Crowe has been accused in the media of shortchanging his workforce with dodgy training schemes and maintaining poor health and safety standards. Last year his company reportedly sent in strikebreakers to bust up the first ever fast food workers strike in Australia, over unsafe workplace conditions and low pay. “We thought that Grill’d CEO Simon Crowe and his business might be ready to do the right thing by his workers and the planet but I guess we were wrong”, said Ms Leonard
This week Infrastructure Victoria released their 30 year plan, including flagging that the Victorian Government should consider retirement of mains gas in the coming decades. “The writing is on the wall – gas is on the way out and the sooner commercial kitchens switch to electric cooking the faster they will future proof their business, safeguard the health of their kitchen staff, reduce their climate impact and better manage their energy bills. It’s an obvious choice and we’re very disappointed that a company that promotes themselves as healthy and sustainable can’t make this simple and sensible commitment”, Ms Leonard said today.
“Grill’d burgers is cooking the climate. If Grill’d cares about their workers and planet as much as they say they will step up and demonstrate that they’re leaving behind polluting fossil gas.”
For more information read the pitch document sent by the No More Gas campaign to Grill'd.
Key Facts:
Friends of the Earth Melbourne is pressuring so-called "healthy" burger chain Grill'd to commit to get off gas
Despite claiming to be committed to sustainability, Grill'd keep using powerful climate and air polluting fossil gas in their stores
Switching off gas would improve air quality in Grill'd kitchens for their young workforce, save money on their energy bills and allow them to produce burgers faster and more efficiently
Grill'd is reported to have a history of poor workplace ethics and can now add low environmental standards to their unimpressive scorecard
Friends of the Earth Melbourne challenges fast food outlets operating in Victoria to state whether they use gas in their operations and when they plan to phase it out in line with ESD reporting requirements which took effect at the start of the year.
About us:
Friends of the Earth Melbourne is a social and environmental advocacy group operating since 1973. The No More Gas campaign has worked since 2021 to remove gas use from Victoria's energy economy.
Contact details:
Freja Leonard
0400 611 896
freja.leonard@foe.org.au
