By Jim Cavan

To many businesses, “going green” is a decision that can often mean changing one’s entire look, feel and approach. Whether it’s something as seemingly under-the-radar as stocking more locally-made products or an intentionally eye-catching wind turbine on the roof, such changes are often as noticeable as they are expensive.

But Kenny Young believes you can have your green cake and eat it too. That is, it’s possible to reduce a business’s environmental impact without compromising its cherished history.

“We’re not in a position to be reinventing the wheel here,” says Young, owner of downtown Durham’s Young Restaurant, a town staple for nearly 90 years. “If we didn’t have the steady influx of dedicated customers that we do, who are in tune with us becoming more sustainable, we’d be in trouble.”

It’s easy to appreciate Kenny Young’s unique situation: owner of a small, family-owned businesses in a relatively sparse downtown area that also happens to be surrounded by a large State University with no less than three massive dining halls. Having to compete for the 12,000 students and faculty – most of whom are by some measure “broke” and a good number of whom rely on meal plans for their daily sustenance – doesn’t exactly make it an equal playing field.

“A lot of these kids haven’t had summer jobs in three years because of the economy,” Young notes. “They don’t have a disposable income to speak of, so it’s becoming harder and harder for them to justify coming here. So we have to find ways to separate ourselves from the rest of the pack.”

More and more, that’s meant an increased emphasis on locally produced, grown and harvested food. Whether it’s basil and tomatoes from nearby Stout Oak Farm, Pineland Farms cheese and Grandiose Granola from Augusta, Maine, nitrate-free turkey and ham from Claremont, or Fair Trade-certified New Hampshire Coffee from just down the road – Young has in many ways thrived on bucking the economic trend, knowing his customers will care more about quality than saving a few cents on an omelet.

While Young admits to just getting started on road to more local choices, even his largest distributor – Manchester-based NorthCenter – can tout a green angle: all of the subsidiary’s trucks, stationed in nearby Dover, run on 100% biodiesel.

“So not only is our biggest distributor coming from five miles down the road, but the truck it’s being shipped in is as green as it gets,” says Young.

They might be shelling out significantly more for some of their product – according to Young upwards of 50 percent more in some instances – but they’re also coming up with clever ways to save, including freezing much of their overstocked tomatoes and basil throughout the winter, so as to have a readily-available supply of fresh pesto and salsas during the off season.

When discussing his newfound lust for local, Young is quick to point out the myriad other ways his restaurant has sought to go green. These include: replacing incandescent bulbs with high-efficiency compact fluorescents (CFLs), installing a new recycled wood floor, switching from Styrofoam containers and plastic straws to compostable, corn-based alternatives, and even using their kitchen appliances as a reliable heat source during the winter.

But just as impressive as what they are doing is what they aren’t doing – namely, producing landfill waste. In the last year and a half, Young’s has gone from nearly filling an entire 18-foot dumpster to requiring only two 96-gallon bins – no small task for a restaurant that does the kind of business they do.

In an effort to further bolster his restaurant’s growing green credentials, in 2009 Young’s became the first Durham business to join the Green Alliance, a sort of “green business union” that helps certify and promote sustainability-driven businesses throughout the area.

For Young, such efforts, while certainly costly, are necessary if businesses like his are going to push green alternatives to the forefront. “We’re excited to continue working down this road to become greener,” Young exclaims. “They’re just baby steps right now, but personally I think the more we continue down this path and the more we educate both consumers and other businesses, it’s going to compel other businesses to follow suit and eventually making these changes will be cheaper because of that.”

For the time being, Young is willing to pay a little more up front if it means his customer’s are getting what they want: the same, down-home cooking they’ve come to expect from the storied establishment, but with a new-found emphasis on a lighter environmental footprint and more locally sourced product.

The economy might not be where he wants it, but Young can rest assured that two things – his customers and his beliefs – remain a reliable constant. But one belief in particular has become so prominent that it’s now emblazoned on the side his coffee mug.
It reads: “Going green is just the right thing to do.”

It’s a mantra that the inheritor of the 89-year old eatery had to learn over time. “For me, it’s all about the learning curve,” says Young. “I’m 53, and I grew up in a time where we threw everything away without really thinking about it. So I like having the mug as a daily reminder.”