Sustainable Catering a Game Changer

Businesses that fail to embrace sustainability in their catering will get left behind as they miss out on a competitive edge and struggle to attract quality staff, an audience of facilities managers and hospitality professionals heard yesterday.

At the breakfast event hosted at CBRE and organised by Vacherin and the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), Food Sustainability for FMs: Act, Collaborate, Communicate, the four panellists outlined the financial, environmental and societal imperatives for putting sustainability at the heart of catering operations.

Neelum Mohammad, CBRE's Associate Director, Sustainable Engineering, said: "We see sustainability and the circular economy as a game changer. Major organisations are paying it more attention and those that are engaged now will have a competitive edge. Those that don't will be left behind and will find it increasingly hard to attract the workforce they want."

Food and nourishment is central to productivity, she added, and a recent survey of CBRE employees in the US found that more than 80% thought that nutritious, healthy, sustainable food made them more productive.

Anthony Kingsley, Sustainability and CSR Lead at Vacherin, echoed Neelum's point, saying that while the environmental impact of food was hugely important, employers and caterers should also be thinking about the health and wellbeing of their workforce. "We have the ability to make a positive impact, working in collaboration with our suppliers and clients who share our values. Our customers don't want to feel guilty about their food and it's the responsibility of FMs to take care of sustainability back of house."

Future proofing menus, by reducing their environmental impact, and making them healthier, was the way forward, Anthony added. He said: "The focus should be on more fruit and veg - as it's healthier, cheaper and is better for the environment."

Ensuring that customers are getting the food offering they want is one sure way of reducing food waste, said Richard Swannell, Director of Sustainable Food Systems at WRAP. "Food waste costs hospitality £2.5 billion a year. That means you're throwing away your money and your client's money. But there are huge potential savings if you measure food waste, understand the causes and then plan to tackle it."

Reducing by 15% the amount of food prepared for events was one way an SRA Member caterer had tackled food waste and saved money. Anthony Kingsley, who was presented with Vacherin's Three Star Food Made Good rating at the event, said the company had built a positive working relationship with charity partners like City Harvest who collect surplus food.

Historically, the hospitality sector had been slow to respond to the sustainability agenda, said Mark Linehan, Managing Director of the SRA. But he said that forward thinking operators like Vacherin are now showing the industry what is possible and meeting the needs of an increasingly demanding consumer.

"Recent research conducted for the SRA by Harden's shows that these issues play a part in the dining decisions of more than 90% of consumers. The time for sitting back and doing nothing has gone. You simply can't afford not to get involved in sustainability."

Visit www.thesra.org for more information.