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Ed Whitehead, director of corporate and reputation for Fleet Street, reports back from the networking organisation’s recent Sustainability – Leading the Way in Hospitality and Foodservice event...
100 Liverpool Street, near Shoreditch in east London, played host recently to another sold out Arena event. It provided an engaging and informative day, exploring how businesses and individuals are making a difference to environmental, social and governance in foodservice and hospitality and its supply chain. It also looked at how the industry is implementing change and leading the way in sustainable ways of operating to build a better world.
With the pressures of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis being on everyone’s minds, consumers are re-evaluating the way they spend their money and are more aware than ever of the impact the brands they use have on the world around them. This timely event certainly provided plenty of food for thought for everybody in attendance.
On arrival at Revolve Brasserie, guests were able to network while enjoying refreshments, provided by Délifrance, Nestlé Professional and Britvic Soft Drinks, before heading to the adjacent Storey Club where they were welcomed by Andrew Fishwick, chair of Adamo Hospitality. He created the Revolve restaurant as part of a joint venture with British Land, for whom 100 Liverpool Street marks its first net-zero building – the perfect host for this event.
Fishwick’s introductory address set the tone for an event focused not just on knowing what better looks like, but on continuing to raise the bar. He urged businesses to aim not just for sustainability, but regeneration, to make sure they give back to their people, and to strive to inspire behaviourial change from their consumers.
A panel of experts
Following this welcome, it was time for the panel discussion, superbly hosted by Bob Gordon, director of Zero Carbon Forum. It featured senior leaders and sector experts, Mike Hanson, director of sustainable business for Westbury Street Holdings; Shereen Ritchie, former UK managing director of Leon; Will Beckett, founder and chief executive officer of Hawksmoor; Pete Statham, head of sustainability and government relations for Sysco GB; Dr Laura Kirwan, sustainability lead for Nutritics; and Philip Rayner, owner of Glebe Farm Foods.
The panel begun by talking about their sustainability journeys, with Hanson explaining how it has gone from an add-on to his operational role to his full-time job. Rayner discussed his scientific background, which eventually led him back to his family farm, while Beckett shared his initial vision for Hawksmoor to “do business the right way”.
Engaging your teams
A key theme running throughout the discussion was the heightened importance of purpose for team members. Ritchie described looking after people and giving back as “a superpower”, adding that she believes that teams in businesses where she has worked, predominantly under 30, really care. Beckett seconded this, joking that while “nobody has ever asked me for a ribeye with purpose, it’s very important to our people”, while Hanson referenced research which found that some people would accept significantly lower salaries to work for a company that they believe in.
Statham talked about the work that Brakes has been doing with its customers to help chef teams understand how their menu planning can reduce carbon footprints. Kirwan shared similar insights from Nutritics’ involvement with the Climate Smart Chef project, an EU initiative to involve European chefs as promoters of low emission, nutritious and affordable diets. She explained how, by using Nutritics’ new environmental impact scoring system Foodprint, chefs were able to better understand how they can create dishes with a lower carbon footprint, water usage or food waste score, and have a lower overall environmental impact.
Hanson advocated the need to engage everybody, and stressed the importance of improving carbon literacy among your team to drive behaviour change there. His view is that sustainability professionals need to “get out of the echo chamber and talk to people who don’t get it”. Individual actions like switching off a light or turning down the thermostat can have massive overall impacts, so it’s important not to lose sight of what might initially seem to be basic information sharing and education.
With food inflation and energy bills impacting operators’ margins and consumers’ disposable income, you could be forgiven for worrying that this may hamper progress. However, responses from the panel were largely positive. Hanson pointed out that the last financial crash actually led to an increase in sustainability-focused initiatives. He explained that new reporting requirements, coupled with the incentives being offered by lenders for businesses meeting certain environmental criteria, meant that sustainability was ‘pushing against an open door’ in the boardroom.
This was a view shared by Statham, who added that dual pressures from Sysco’s customers and investors meant that the increased focus on sustainability was filtering throughout the entire business.
Beckett advocated rearticulating the relationship between sustainability and money. “Forget the cost, think about how it can be profitable,” was his advice. He explained that it’s not just about making an ethical case, but about identifying how it can help you grow faster and potentially secure more investment too.
Playing devil’s advocate, Ritchie posited that sustainability shouldn’t be a competitive advantage. She argued that all businesses want to have a positive impact, but for some, investing in initiatives may not have as immediate an impact as increasing pay. She also highlighted the importance of education, pointing to a time when she removed all palm oil from the supply chain at Leon, only to later learn that the more positive environmental step would have been to source sustainable palm oil.
This led the panel naturally to the next topic, around how the sector can get good, credible data that allows us to make good decisions and move in the same direction.
For Kirwan, the answer is clear: if you’re going to make commitments and report against those commitments, you first need a benchmark. And that needs to be based in science and evidence, something that’s peer-reviewed and stands up to audit. It is much easier, after all, to defend a decision that’s based on facts.
Both Hanson and Statham, who partner with Nutritics to understand their environmental impact, were in agreement. With data, said the former, you can understand your hotspots and target your efforts, rather than taking a scattergun approach or choosing an area of focus because of a certain narrative.
What does the future hold?
The panel then discussed the future of sustainability, before providing their final words of advice to the audience. Kirwan warned that more mandatory reporting is coming, in addition to minimum standards that are set to be introduced relating to food waste. Statham agreed, saying that regulation will push up standards across the board, and also envisaged a near future where all Brakes’ delivery trucks run on renewable fuels.
The way we engage with suppliers will also change, said Hanson. He explained that, with greater data and better awareness of the environmental impact of food, will come more supplier engagement and better collaboration. Rayner echoed this, urging operators to work with their suppliers to make sure products meet their sustainability objectives.
To close, Kirwan and Hanson both advocated learning more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as they provide an ideal framework to understand where a business is now and where they can go. Statham advised anybody feeling overwhelmed to try and be selective and prioritise a few areas of focus. Ritchie urged businesses to do as much as they realistically can, saying: “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good.”
But for anybody looking for just one key takeaway from the panel, Beckett provided a crystal clear insight into Hawksmoor’s enlightened approach to responsibility, saying: "You can do it early and get credit, or do it late and get none. But either way, you’re going to do it.”
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