The Sustainable Restaurant Association

Navigating the complexities of sustainability and biodiversity can be daunting for many in the hospitality sector. With the Biodiversity Net Gain Regulation – and a 155% rise in global ESG regulations over the past decade – there’s an urgent call for the industry to align with nature as biodiversity becomes a top priority. Yesterday, we hosted a valuable working group at The Walt Disney Company HQ in Hammersmith, bringing together key UK hospitality leaders to explore, discuss and learn from each other on how the industry can work to preserve biodiversity. Key topics included: 🌎 Enhancing Built Environments: Relevant BNG regulatory guidance and compliance, opportunities for building optimisation, land management, waste and pollutant reduction (including water) and enhancing green spaces are also crucial for social value and public health. 🌎 Operations and Menu Design: Strategies for boosting biodiversity, including commitments to standards (e.g., LEAF, SAI, Organic), biodiversity indicators/metrics and choosing heritage varieties, rare breeds and invasive species. 🌎 Engaging with Supply Chains and Beyond: Supporting regenerative growing methods and restoration projects in harmony with nature, as well as understanding opportunities for change within the value chain. A special thanks to Nature England, Clare Clark (PIEMA MSc) at CH&CO and Rob Bray at Wildfarmed for their insights into the full spectrum of issues and solutions. We’ll be developing a resource in the coming weeks to help you engage with these discussions and take actionable steps. Stay tuned! JKS Restaurants YO! Sushi Flat Iron Artfarm Ottolenghi Group The Restaurant Group Dishoom OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie The Jamie Oliver Group Wells and Co. GAUCHO Young's Pubs Hawksmoor

How does Fooditude demonstrate the power of community partnerships? Our very own Cristina Covello MBA, Head of Strategic Growth told us how in a talk with The Sustainable Restaurant Association a few months back. Highlighting special collabs with Highshore School, United St Saviour's Charity, Southwark Education Business Alliance and ELBA ✨. Read more about it in the article ⬇️ #contractcatering #CorporateCatering #sustainability #communitypartnerships

Why is celebrating provenance especially powerful for hotels? 🏨🌎 “Provenance is crucial for sustainable growth in the hotel industry,” says Marc Lores Panades, Vice President of F&B at Aethos Hotels. “By sourcing our ingredients locally, we embrace local culture and traditions and support our local network. Additionally, we reduce the carbon footprint of importing items, help to preserve local biodiversity and maintain the environmental balance.” Discover how focusing on provenance can be a particularly powerful part of the sustainability strategy for hotel brands and gain insights from businesses in our network ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/dmVRkzyJ Aethos Hotels Marc Lores Panades The Loren Hotel Tyler Naumann

The UK’s hospitality sector is one of the country’s heaviest users of water 🚿 🚰 🛀 . It also spends a LOT of 💷 💷 💷 on water. A typical mid-sized hotel pays around £174,000 annually for its water, and smaller pubs and restaurants around £5,400. Reducing your water use is not only good for the planet but also results in significant cost savings. If you're a hospitality business wanting to save water, here’s our round up of some must-read resources to help you take action today. It features some amazing insights from the clever people at The Sustainable Restaurant Association, World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance,  Sustainable Tourism Network, Water Plus and United Nations Water. And, of course, we also share our own take on how quickly spotting and fixing water leaks can be part of the solution too 😉 https://lnkd.in/dxHzYxwW #SavingWater #Sustainability #Hospitality #EndDumbWater

Welcome to The Sustainable Dish, your biweekly update from The Sustainable Restaurant Association.    We’re just back from a fantastic few days at our annual Team Meet-Up! While our head office is in London, The SRA is a global organisation, with team members based in places like Ireland, France and Hong Kong. We’ve embraced a modern, flexible approach to working, and remote work plays a big role in how we manage our day-today operations. That said, nothing builds relationships better than some proper face-to-face time, and we look forward to our full team getting together every summer! This week we spent some quality time together, working, learning, sharing ideas and – of course – eating some great food in the neighbourhoods around our London office.    Learn what else we’ve been up to in this email, from awarding the 2024 Sustainable Bar Award at Asia’s 50 Best Bars to celebrating some stellar new accreditations, including a UK university and a stunning restaurant in Turkey. We’re focusing on provenance as this month’s theme, so you’ll find some insights on what this means for restaurants and hotels, plus a guest blog from Love British Food explaining why this matters. Keep an eye on our social channels for more to come!     Have a great week,  – The SRA Team. 

🌍 Hospitality industry! Ready to tackle your Scope 3 emissions (the ones occurring outside your business, throughout the supply chain)? The conversation around these emissions is reaching a critical point. More businesses are recognising that while Scope 3 emissions are vital to address, they also pose significant challenges in tracking, measuring and reducing them. With increasing pressure to meet net zero targets and adapt to evolving climate regulations, addressing your Scope 3 impact is essential.That’s why we've partnered with Agrasta Ltd and Sustained to create a comprehensive new guide! It offers solid support for your business, helping you understand where to start and how to progress on your Scope 3 journey. Learn why these emissions are crucial, how to measure them effectively, and uncover the benefits - including potential cost savings. 👉 Download your FREE guide now: https://lnkd.in/ezkgFTDE

We’re delighted to announce that FURA in Singapore is the winner of Asia’s The World's 50 Best Bars Sustainable Bar Award 2024! Here’s why our sustainability experts selected FURA: 🍸 When selecting ingredients, FURA always considers total carbon emissions and food miles and ensures that farming methods do not contribute to land degradation, as well as incorporating future-proof ingredients like cell-cultured milk, seaweed, insects, jellyfish and bean-free coffee. 🍸 Beyond their menus, FURA engages with the community by hosting gardening and composting sessions, supporting freelance bartenders with R&D space and offering farm tours with plant-based cooking classes. 🍸 Through their 'Ugly Delicious' menu section, FURA transforms unsellable fruits and vegetables into funky wines and non-alcoholic drinks. 🍸 FURA embraces a circular approach by avoiding cling film, creating papier mâché product cards from used receipts and crafting coasters from recycled oyster shells. They collaborate with studio GIN&G to repurpose glass bottles into plates and ceramic glazes. Congratulations to Christina Rasmussen, Sasha Wijidessa and the entire team at FURA – a well-deserved win! https://lnkd.in/gW7x6hSX

Big congratulations to the University of Plymouth for achieving three stars in The Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Food Made Good Standard. Since first taking the Standard in 2014, they’ve consistently impressed us with high scores. Feeding people daily is a big responsibility, so it’s great to see universities providing healthy, nutritious options. At the University of Plymouth, menus show the carbon impact of each dish, helping people make informed choices. Through their motto – “local, sustainable, fresh” – and their work with the Sound Fish Project Plymouth, they promote sustainable local species. Notably, 75% of their suppliers are from Southwest England, and over 50% of their dishes are vegetarian or vegan. The Reservoir Café is a Vegetarian Society accredited outlet, and leftover food is used to make soups and stocks, minimising waste. Their efforts to support the community are also exemplary. The pay-it-forward scheme helps those in need, 'Quiet Time' sessions provide a peaceful dining environment, and 'Friend Stops' foster connections to combat loneliness. Well done for keeping up the momentum and making sustainability a part of ongoing operations! https://lnkd.in/dguPPrnY UCSP Ltd

Knowing the people behind our food is a huge part of understanding its true story. Demand visibility with every ingredient you source to ensure they meet your sustainability standards. Without traceability, you can’t evaluate or manage the social and environmental risks in your supply chain, nor can you take action to improve your impact. Agricultural systems and food production make an enormous contribution to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, soil and water degradation and deforestation. Use the transparency in your supply chain to ensure that you are supporting agricultural practices that work to restore nature rather than degrading it further. Check out our top tips to get started 👇 https://lnkd.in/dnEKxkyg

Provenance is key to authenticity and value, be it food, art or fashion. In the UK’s agricultural and fishing industries, heritage, culture and social history are of the utmost importance. To truly understand our food, we must know how it's produced and the stories of the farmers and fishers behind it. It's about more than just food—it's about the people and their journey. Discover why provenance matters in our guest blog by Love British Food Ambassador Jenny Jefferies. https://lnkd.in/d_satjwX