The best way of communicating a restaurant’s green efforts might be the Joe Friday approach: Just the facts, please.

So say even devoutly green operators, who say their enthusiasm in marketing sustainability programs doesn’t always play well to the public. Research shows consumers want to know about establishments’ initiatives to protect the environment. But they can be sensitive to overstatement or imprecision. 

Here are some experts’ tips for marketing restaurants’ environmental initiatives:

• Make your program part of the message, not the whole message. Instead of saying your operation is green, market the steps your restaurant is taking to be more responsible, advises Chris Moyer, project manager, the National Restaurant Association’s Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability initiative. “Being green is a process,” Moyer says.

• State your efforts simply and factually.  “Making a simple statement on your menu is fine,” says Robby Kukler, a partner in Atlanta’s five-restaurant Fifth Group, which started recycling about 17 years ago. “Be honest. You have to be careful not to overreach.” The idea is to inform, not to crow, he says.

• Train staff to ensure you and your front-line employees deliver the same message.  If you’re out there with a message, make sure you follow up with your staff, Moyer says. “Make sure they reinforce what you’re saying.” Kukler agrees: “You’re not going to be successful without them.”

• Err on the side of prudence. Although Fifth Group has eliminated virtually all of four restaurants’ landfill contributions through recycling and composting, the company always describes the operations as 95 percent waste-free. “There’s still a chance you’ll have to throw something away, so we don’t say 100 percent,” says Kukler. “We don’t want to be challenged.”