It’s quite well-known that America’s leading food franchises are trying to ‘green up’ their business, but it’s fascinating to see other franchises seize the reins of this eco-revolution.
News comes from Japan via the New York Times that 7-11 have launched a number of experimental stores which utilize a number of revolutionary green technologies. The stores are based in Kyoto, one of the most progressive cities in the world for technology and green industries. 7-11’s may have a reputation for harsh fluorescent lamps and will replace them with LED lamps in the about 100 eco-friendly stores will be opened in Kyoto and beyond in the next month or so.
Also to come are solar panels for stores and electric vehicle chargers inside the stores. 7-11 say that it is there hope to one day to turn all of their stores ‘green’. A scientist told the paper that this will be the equivalent of keeping 600 cars off the road. Interestingly it was a franchisee who helped open the negotiations to bring the first green outlet to Kyoto.
But Hiroshige Ozasa, the franchisee, said that when he was negotiating the opening of a new Kyoto branch a little more than a year ago and 7-Eleven told him it wanted to use the city as a base for the eco-konbini rollout, he was not dissuaded. “Nowadays, people in Japan are really concerned about the environment,” Mr. Ozasa said, “so I felt proud to have my store chosen to be the first one in Kyoto.”
7-11 is the global leader in convenience store franchise market and we hope to the rest of the industry follow their example.