Low carbon is on the menu at launch of Otarian restaurant

The first global restaurant chain to carbon footprint every menu item to international standards has opened its doors in London. Vegetarian restaurant Otarian opened two locations this month (August) in Shaftesbury Avenue and Wardour Street following the opening of two restaurants in New York earlier this year. The carbon footprints of each menu item were measured by carbon reduction company Sustain and they appear alongside the footprint of a comparable meat dish. Working with food sustainability consultancy Eat England, Sustain carried out comprehensive ‘cradle to grave’ carbon footprinting, which calculates greenhouse gas emissions from each stage of the products’ lifecycles. This includes sourcing the raw materials for each ingredient, manufacturing, packing, transporting, cooking and disposal of the product. The calculations were performed according to PAS 2050 – the UK Government’s widely accepted carbon footprint specification. Jean-Yves Cherruault, environmental accounting manager at Sustain, said: “It’s a privilege to be involved in such a pioneering project and, judging from the success of the New York restaurants, the footprint is really helping customers get a better understanding of the environmental impact of each dish. It will be interesting to monitor how this impacts customers’ choices in the coming months.”

Price of bread to soar in global wheat shortage!

A quarter of the world's total wheat exports will be withdrawn from the market after Russia suffers from its worst drought in over a century. The move instigated by Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, could cause the price of bread to soar globally.

Though the British foodservice industry buys little wheat directly from Russia, most loaves contain a large proportion of imported flour. According to the Daily Telegraph, Premier Foods commented that the price of a loaf could possibly rise by as much as 10p.

Intelligent move to benchmark sustainability in foodservice

In a far reaching move, the publishers of Foodservice Footprint assembled a number of senior foodservice industry executives to discuss the groundbreaking environmental research and benchmarking programme, Footprint Intelligence. Having piloted the Beta version with Brakes, the roundtable discussion was held at Pret A Manger’s Victoria offices before the Footprint Forum general meeting on Thursday May 27th and involved representatives from Pret A Manger, Sodexo, Reynolds, Brakes and Llanllyr Source Water.

“For years the industry has been crying out for its current environmental impact to be measured,” Charles Miers, Managing Director of Foodservice Footprint commented. “With Footprint Intelligence the industry can work together towards improving standards year on year ”

Footprint Intelligence is working inclusively with the foodservice industry to benchmark the supply chain from farm and factory to fork. Nick Fenwicke-Clennell CEO of Footprint Media Group concluded: “Suppliers will be able to monitor their own improvements and our team will be able to guide them through the data capture process. The industry is diverse and so we will be working closely with businesses to analyse the impact by sector with the aim of improving environmental performance across all sectors of the foodservice industry.”

“This is not about accreditation but about industry benchmarking”, said Miers. “As the project develops, suppliers will be able to assess their performance against a sector mean and will be able to focus resources on those areas needing attention. The net result we hope will be a steady improvement to the industry’s environmental credentials”, he said.

For further information about Footprint Intelligence please contact james@foodservicefootprint.com

ARAMARK AIMS HIGH WITH BITC

ARAMARK, the award-winning managed food service company, achieves Bronze for the second year-running in the Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index 2009.

Designed to benchmark responsible business practice, the report is used by industry leading companies at the forefront of corporate responsibility to lead change. The CR Index supports companies to improve their social and environmental performance through a targeted and systematic approach.

Val Carter, Corporate Responsibility Director, ARAMARK, said, “Taking the key learnings from last year, when we also achieved Bronze status, ARAMARK has concentrated efforts on reducing its environmental impact and stepping up momentum in core strategic areas. These include the workplace with the implementation of the employee benefits programme; the marketplace with a commitment to local food sourcing; and environment management with the completion of the company’s two-year carbon footprint analysis report.

“Working with BITC to achieve certification solidified our commitment to corporate responsibility and further demonstrates the company’s credentials in this area; it’s a true mark of our leadership in the food service industry. Thanks to our dedicated team and customers we are already working hard on all areas to ensure 2010 will be another step towards a Gold Class CR programme.”

Further results of the Index have been featured within the Responsible Business supplement of the Financial Times today.

TerraCycle UK

We are always looking for new programmes that help us reduce the environmental footprint in the food services industry – and we’ve found a new one in the UK.

TerraCycle UK is a recently established entity. In September 2009 they launched a program in partnership with coffee giants Kenco and Tassimo – collecting difficult-to-recycle packaging via the brands consumers. Once the waste is returned it is upcycled into products such as coffee coasters, tote bags, and you guessed it… garbage bins.

In 8 months TerraCycle UK has collected over 3.5 million units of pre and post consumer waste packaging and have over 25,000 consumers collecting for them – this is seven times the success rate of the first TerraCycle campaign in the USA - which after four years has close to 10 million people collecting.

The UK company head Chris Baker plans on expanding waste streams and collection locations throughout Europe by end 2010.

Through the upcycling initiative foodservice businesses can easily commit to take action and help reduce UK landfill (which currently stands at 85% of household waste).

A better tomorrow outlined in Sodexo’s new corporate citizenship report

Sodexo has announced the publication of its fifth annual corporate citizenship report - this year focussing on the company’s newly introduced ‘Better Tomorrow Plan’.

The report demonstrates the role that corporate citizenship plays in the company’s culture and performance and higlights some key achievements of Sodexo employees over the last year.

A significant development in Sodexo’s approach over the past year is the launch of the Better Tomorrow Plan, the company’s sustainability strategy to 2020. The plan aims to consolidate corporate citizenship efforts across operations by combining values and ethical principles, specific sustainability commitments and an assurance to engage with stakeholders.

Sodexo has continued to embed sustainability into its products and services during the challenging economic climate in line with its clients’ and customers’ growing expectations.

The report provides an insight into the commitments to sustainable development that underpin the ‘Better Tomorrow Plan’ and covers health, nutrition and well-being, local community development including through Sodexo’s worldwide STOP Hunger campaign, and commitments to environmental performance in the supply chain and at Sodexo sites.

The report also highlights Sodexo’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace through its award-winning Spirit of Inclusion training programme.

Thomas Jelley, Sodexo corporate citizenship manager, said: “Throughout the business, I see examples of our people going the extra mile every day and much of what they have achieved this year is featured in this report. My hope is that everyone we serve can recognise Sodexo as a company whose commitment to corporate citizenship is demonstrated through continuous improvement.”

‘Culture of food’ to be part of the Olympic legacy

The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, the independent body established to assure and monitor the sustainability of the London 2012 Games, has today published its review of food and catering across the London 2012 programme. The food review, titled On your marks, get set, grow, praises the work done by London 2012 in linking food and sustainability. This is the first Summer Games to make such a connection.

The Commission has identified a number of positive food achievements such as LOCOG’s Food Vision, which sets out plans to provide healthy, affordable and sustainable food during the Games and to celebrate of the diversity of British cuisine through on-site catering. In the review, the Commission now sets LOCOG the challenge of ensuring that these aspirations are delivered.

The ODA is also commended for improving catering standards for the Olympic construction and infrastructure workers, including the promotion of seasonal fruit and vegetables, Fairtrade products and meat from welfare-conscious sources. The Commission calls for this success to be translated into a template that can be used on any large UK construction site.

The Commission recommends exploring greater opportunities for growing food on the Olympic Park after the Games end. The OPLC should follow the example set by the Athletes Village by implementing a food strategy that would enable the Park to be ‘retrofitted’ for food-growing, making it easy for residents and businesses to access healthy and sustainable food.

Shaun McCarthy, Chair of the Commission, said: “During the London Games, around 14 million meals will be served. The challenge is not just one of scale. We must foster a culture of food that embeds sustainable practices into every link of the supply chain, thinking about health, employment and welfare, not just whether food is ‘green’. Needless to say, the food should taste great too. The ODA has already successfully tackled the ‘burgers or nothing’ option at their construction sites, and this is the kind of progress that will create a sustainable food culture that lives on after the Games come to an end.”

As an International Olympic Committee sponsor, McDonalds will provide around 20% of Games-time meals for the general public in the Olympic Park. Coca Cola and Cadbury, as sponsors, will also have a major presence at the London 2012 venues. All three companies have made considerable efforts to reduce the social and environmental impacts of their products and all three have also signed up to the LOCOG Food Vision. Given the link between sport and health, during the Games, the sponsors, along with LOCOG, will need to consider how best to address popular perception of their products.

The Commission will continue to monitor food as part of its remit and looks forward to seeing evidence of the Food Vision being delivered through the procurement process for caterers, continued activity of LOCOG’s Food Advisory Group in supporting delivery of the Food Vision, and the development and launch of the London 2012 Food Charter.