How much of an impact on the environment can any individual business really have?
Wasting food feeds climate change. Understanding what is preventing food from staying food is one of the most important actions a hospitality business can take on its journey to net zero. Guardians of Grub is WRAP’s campaign to support the Hospitality and Food Service Sector to take action on reducing wasted food. Of the 1.1 million tonnes thrown away in the UK every year, 75% could have been eaten. Guardians of Grub brings the sector together, to make a collective impact. Our free tools and resources include case studies and learnings to help businesses get saving right away.
How can restaurants, bars and other hospitality venues lead the way on sustainability, following setbacks as a result of Covid?
Our recent Becoming a Champion online learning pilot cohort saw food waste reduce between 23% and 38% over eight weeks, with cost savings of between 26% and 37%, despite all the disruption during Covid. Feeding people, not bins, helps to reduce the amount of food you need to order, plus staff time to prepare, cook and serve the food; so savings go straight to the bottom line.
Umesh Dalal, Hotel Food & Beverage Operations Director UK&I, IHG Hotels & Resorts told us that WRAP’s Guardians of Grub Becoming a Champion online learning has been instrumental to IHG’s understanding of where and how our food is turning into waste. He said the behaviour change course has really helped IHG to engage its teams on the value of food, reducing the impact of food, and contributing to net zero ambitions – protecting profits, business and the planet.
What are your top tips for the best way to communicate sustainability initiatives to the wider public – how do you make people care?
WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week in 2021 helped the public to make the link that wasting food feeds climate change. With another FWAW planned in 2022, all hospitality businesses can start to share the actions they are taking with their staff, clients and customers. Why not take part in the Becoming a Champion course, or complete the Cost Saving Skills module on the Guardians of Grub website so that you can start to tell your story. Guardians of Grub is all about celebrating achievements, so if you want to find out more about how you can get involved, take the pledge and sign up to the newsletter to find out about all the latest activities on the ground. Together, let’s protect profits and our planet.
Why not find out how much you could save in four clicks of a mouse using our Guardians of Grub Quick Save Calculator.
