Max Burgers is a global player with 120 restaurants and around 5,400 employees, operating worldwide and achieving turnover of more than 200 million euros. The most profitable restaurant chain in Sweden outperformed both McDonald’s and Burger King.

Here is a snapshot of how Max Burgers drives changes to sustainability.

Sustainability Strategy

As the first quick-service restaurant chain in the world to adopt sustainability policies about climate change, Max Burgers pays it efforts in three different pillars:

• Social sustainability
• Ecological sustainability
• Core values

Sustainability Approach

The most outstanding approach of Max Burgers is the Climate-positive Burgers, which take action in three areas:

Measure 100% of the product emissions

Specific example: Max Burgers had the most comprehensive accounting of greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2017, it widened the scope of the analysis further to guests’ travel to and from restaurants, guests’ waste and its employees’ travel to and from work. Max Burgers calculates emissions according to ISO 14067 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which divides emissions into scope 1,2 and 3.

Reduce emissions

Specific example: In a concept of decoupling, Max Burgers wants to grow its business in a way that doesn’t increase its emissions at the same rate as its turnover. To achieve this, Max Burgers launched the Green Family of burgers since 2016 which is a critical part for its climate strategy. The green meals aim to persuade meat-lovers to switch from beef. In 2022, Max Burgers wants half of the meals it serves to be made of something other than beef (i.e. fish, chicken or 100% plant-based). This will help Max Burgers to reduce 30% of its emission in just seven years.

Capture at least 110% of its emission

Specific example: To achieve net carbon zero throughout the value chain, Max Burgers has invested in carbon offsetting through tree planting for many years. Since 2008, Max Burgers has financed the planting of 1.5 million trees in Africa, most of them in a project named Trees for Global Benefits in Uganda. This is equivalent to removing 180,000 petrol cars from the road for a year. Planting trees not only helps absorbing and storing carbon, but it also brings social benefits for those participating smallholders.