The Sustainable Restaurant
Association
FoodSave
Barney Smyth & Ellie Rowles
Our story
All businesses are under pressure to address a complex set of sustainability issues, and the hospitality industry is no different, except
perhaps that the issues are more complex and more widely talked about.
Populus survey (2010) - 66% do not think restaurants do enough to tackle social and environmental issues
- 70% would be more likely to return if their performance was awarded
Simplifying the advisory landscape
Our mission
Our mission then is two-fold:
Help hospitality businesses be sustainable and empower diners to find places to eat & drink which share
their values.
We aren’t just here for businesses though, diners need us too.
As awareness of sustainability has grown, so have we. We now work with pubs, hotels, cafes, trains, planes
and mobile caterers. Don’t be misled by our name, any business that wants to serve good food well is ok by us.
SRA Today – 300 members, 3,500 sites and growing!
14 key areas
Joining our association is a clear sign that our Members care about sustainability issues.
When they feel ready, our Sustainability Rating process evaluates their performance across the 14 key areas of
sustainability:
3 pillars, 14 areas.
For everyone’s sake, we
try to keep things bite
sized and easily
digestible.
Stars
A good rating means Sustainability Stars.
These signify good, excellent and exceptional sustainability levels and
tell diners – this restaurant is taking care of business.
The Sunday Times called them the ‘Michelin Stars of Sustainability’ which
made us rather proud.
Other work
As our Membership base has expanded our services have too.
Consumer research – prioritising sustainability issues
2009
2013
1. Local sourcing
2. Organic certification
3. Sustainable Fish
1. Health and nutrition
1. Food waste
3. Local sourcing
Consultancy
Suppliers
Campaigns – Too Good To Waste
Project Delivery
Our future
We believe that...
Food sits at the heart of our culture and it’s not just what we eat that matters but how it’s grown, made and served that
makes for a truly satisfying experience
Our vision is to make sustainability synonymous with hospitality in the eyes of diners.
FoodSave:
Banishing waste,
boosting profit
Ellie Rowles
Sustainable Restaurant Association
Overview
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•
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The issue of food waste
The solution
Food waste audits explained
Results
Available options
The Issue: Food waste is costly
920,000 tonnes, the equivalent of 1.3 billion
meals, of food thrown away each year
Producing 2.7 tonnes of carbon emissions
And costing the UK hospitality industry £2.5 billion per
annum
Source: Waste & Resources Action Programme, Food Agriculture Organisation
Food waste is costing you
Illustrative costs to mid-sized restaurant (500 covers/day)1
£14,000
£1,600
£1,400
£37,000
Labour
Energy
Other Costs
Total
£20,000
Food Costs
Hard costs
Soft costs
1. Assumes £2 per cover food cost with 8% avoidable food waste by value
Source: Waste Resources & Action Programme, Food Agriculture Organisation
The challenge
Waste is hard to record accurately
Time consuming
Staff often too busy to record waste
Inaccurate
Staff estimates of waste are unreliable
Incomplete
Often doesn’t account for all of a kitchen’s waste, and does not give an impression of where that waste really comes from
Unclear
Difficult to identify biggest sources of waste or what type of waste to begin reducing first
Alienating
Front line staff may not consider the value of the food being thrown away and may not be aware that less food needs to be
wasted
Unrewarding
Any staff that go out of their way to reduce waste will not have their dedication noticed, discouraging them from trying to help
The solution:
FoodSave: The programme
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•
•
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Hotels
Restaurants
Pubs
Canteens
Food Waste
Audits
Advice on 1food
waste collection
services
Food Waste
Training- on line
and in groups
FoodSave website
with information
and case studies
Food waste audits
Detailed food
waste audit
• Electronic scales and a touch screen tablet in your kitchen that
records and calculates food waste quantities and values in real
time providing daily food waste analysis
Outputs
• Weekly action plans to reduce food waste
• 4 weeks (x70)
Snap shot food
waste audit
• Learn how to measure your food waste across three waste streams spoilage, preparation and customer plate waste
Outputs
• 6 days (x 98)
• Weekly reports showing the breakdown of waste weight and cost
for each food waste category
• A tailored food waste report including a forecast for your annual
food waste costs
• Detailed recommendations and training tips for reducing food waste
Computerised system
Bin the food waste
Sturdy and easy to use; waste is automatically recorded as it is
thrown into the bin
1 Pick the
stage
2
Select
Food Group
3
Select
Food Item
Quick and straightforward; staff are asked maximum of three
questions about the food being wasted
Winnow
Solutions
The system in action
Sophisticated
Specific, practical insights into your food waste
Clear categorisation telling you at which stage food
waste occurs:
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•
•
•
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Inventory
Preparation trimmings
Cooking error
Prepared not served
Plate waste
• Real time specific and cumulative weight and
value information displayed to user
• Daily reporting and progress review
Getting results
Results from first 10 businesses
• Average reduction in food waste:
1.7 tonnes per year
• Average saving to business:
over £5,500 per year
Getting results
“FoodSave really helped us focus on inventory
waste. We now pay much closer attention to
inventory checks and have made changes such as
making bread in house. The project is extremely
worthwhile to take part in”
“Working with the SRA on FoodSave was a great
experience. We gained a detailed insight into our
food waste and the tools to minimise it, boosting
our GP and reducing our environmental impact”
Andrew Fishwick, Owner
Mark Jarvis, Head Chef
The Truscott Arms
The Bingham
“This has changed the way we manage our kitchens. The BC
team are set to implement what we learned at our other
locations”
Georgia Habgood, Special Projects Manager
The Breakfast Club
Clear business benefits
Increased kitchen efficiency = higher profits
Better portion control and menu refinement = happier customers
Reduced food waste sent to landfill = better environmental performance
Available options
• FoodSave four week audit
package
• FoodSave 6 day audit package
• Purchase the computerised
food waste audit system
Starting from £3,500 for master unit and
£100 per month software subscription
Thank you
To arrange a demonstration please contact
Ellie Rowles
020 7479 4224
eleanor@thesra.org