By Angela Green: On Stop Food Waste Day Restaurant Associates’ emphasises commitment to net zero 2030.
Catering News is sponsored by Two Services
Restaurant Associates are tackling food waste with a pledge to halve waste, as part of their commitment to net zero by 2030.
Approximately 33 percent of all food produced globally is lost or wasted every single year – and just a quarter of the food wasted globally could be used to feed the 795 million undernourished people in the world.
Stop Food Waste Day – an initiative started in 2017 in the United States – is a global awareness day dedicated to reducing food waste. Stop Food Waste Day aims to educate, inspire, and ignite change –sharing practical, creative, and impactful ways to change behaviours and reduce food waste.
Any food business, and especially a premium hospitality brand, knows food will make up a large proportion of its carbon footprint. Some will seek to mitigate its impact – others will search for ways to actively reduce it. But only a handful will embrace circularity across every aspect of its operations to reduce emissions in a truly meaningful way.
Restaurant Associates became the first foodservice caterer, in 2021, to announce a net zero commitment by 2030, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Through Restaurant Associates’ partnership with food-waste platform, Olio, in 2023 the business has:
- Donated 61,134 items of food
- Provided 38,046 meals
- Fed 2,935 households
- Saved 12 million litres of water
- Planted 3,165 trees
- Avoided 68,916 Kgs CO2 emissions
In partnership with Waste Knot, Restaurant Associates have also saved over 50 tonnes of fruit and veg from going to landfill.
Through partnerships with sustainably-minded independents such as Rubies in the Rubble and Lake District Farmers, they are continuously working towards their 2023 net zero target – reducing waste through sustainable practices.
In November 2023, Restaurant Associates teamed up with Native – the restaurant venture from Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis – striving towards a zero-waste offer, sourcing produce locally and supporting regenerative agricultural practices. Last month also saw the opening of Toast Brewing’s circular micro-brewery at the Restaurant Associates’ site, Unity Place (Milton Keynes), using surplus bread from the on-site bakery in the beer making process.
In 2024, Restaurant Associates will continue their journey to net zero, aiming to reduce their carbon footprint by a further 55 per-cent.
Adam Thomason, Culinary Director says: “At Restaurant Associates, we ensure all team members undertake climate net zero training modules to enhance their understanding of operational changes and why they are needed. Our Chef Apprenticeship covers food waste reduction, zero waste cooking techniques, seasonality, and local, ethical sourcing. Through educating our team at the beginning, we are able to affect positive change at every turn.”
Luxey Dayanandan, Head of ESG, says: “We need to take responsibility for the environmental impact our industry has, and that’s what we’re doing by creating green champions and embedding a culture of circularity throughout the business. It is an exciting future for Restaurant Associates, and our partnerships with food waste heroes like Olio and FareShare are absolutely vital to our ongoing fight against food waste.”