Some SF restaurants to introduce climate change surcharge

Some California restaurants may now start adding a surcharge to your bill that claims to help fight climate change. Some California restaurants may now start adding a surcharge to your bill that claims to help fight climate change. Photo: Flashpop/Getty Images Photo: Flashpop/Getty Images Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Some SF restaurants to introduce climate change surcharge 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

Starting this month, you might find a new surcharge tacked onto the bottom of your restaurant bill. However, it's only a 1 percent charge, and it's technically optional. If you choose to opt in, it purports to make your meal more climate-friendly: The charge will fund a new program called Restore California, which is managed by the nonprofit Zero Foodprint.

Restore California provides funding for farmers to build healthy soil, and more specifically funds "carbon farming projects such as compost application, cover crop planting, tree planting and improved grazing management," according to a press release. Zero Foodprint estimates that if a mere 1 percent of restaurants in California add the 1 percent surcharge, in a $97 billion restaurant industry, the program would generate nearly $10 million in the program's first year.

Restore California comes from Chef Anthony Myint and his partner Karen Leibowitz, co-founders of the restaurants Mission Chinese Food, Commonwealth, and the Perennial, according to Mother Jones. The Perennial, which had a mission to become a zero-footprint restaurant, closed early in 2019 after three years in business.

Every restaurant in California is invited to participate in Restore California, but so far, the list skews mostly upscale: Chez Panisse, Benu and Atelier Crenn, for example.

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The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is one of the first to implement the new surcharge, adding it to all of its San Francisco Restaurant Week (Jan. 22-31) businesses' menus. This means a $40 prix fixe will bump up to a total cost of $40.40.

Meanwhile, some diners are already pushing back against the charge. The owner of Mission restaurant Great Gold told Mother Jones that after many diners commented negatively on it, the restaurant decided to drop the fee and raise prices by 1 percent instead, with the intention of sending that 1 percent to Restore California each month.

Madeline Wells is an SFGATE associate digital reporter. Email: madeline.wells@sfgate.com | Twitter: @madwells22