The hospitality and food service (HaFS) sector throws away 1.1 million tonnes of food every year. 75% of this food could have been eaten, costing businesses and organisations £3.2 billion.
Guardians of Grub, a food waste prevention programme for HaFS delivered by global environmental action NGO WRAP, is calling on the sector’s CEOs and directors to rise up and lead the way in tackling food waste, ensuring that all food purchased is eaten and not binned. Currently, almost one fifth of food purchased by the sector is thrown away.
November is the time to get ahead of the sector’s busiest and most wasteful month of December, by putting in measures and actions to reduce food waste, cut costs and save money. Embedding WRAP’s principles of Target – Measure – Act provides a practical foundation that all food businesses and organisations can build on throughout the supply chain and work towards achieving 50% food waste reduction by 2030 (UN SDG12.3 goal).
There is a clear business and moral case for taking action to reduce food waste with an estimated saving of just over £9k a year if 50% food waste reduction was achieved in pubs, based on 1,000 covers a week. Research by the group Champions SDG12.3 which includes WRAP identified an average return on investment of 1:14 across a range of HaFS businesses; for every £1 invested in reducing food waste businesses realised a £14 return.
Harriet Lamb, CEO at WRAP, said: ‘We know how CEOs and directors in hospitality and food service, leading from the front, can inspire teams to reduce the shocking amount of food that’s binned. So we’re calling on more industry leaders to rise up and take a stand against food waste. It is tough for teams working flat out in busy kitchens so they need the leadership, guidance and support to adopt new habits, putting in place practical measures to ensure we are feeding people not bins – and saving the business money along the way.’
WRAP is asking CEOs and directors, to take a stand against food waste through their inspirational leadership by:
- Demonstrating to their teams and externally that they are fully committed to taking long-term measurable action to reduce their food waste by signing up to the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap (no fees).
- Creating an environment where their staff and teams can thrive when embedding food waste actions within their business/organisation.
- Adding food waste prevention to their topline and department operational and financial reporting and to everyone’s objectives – from kitchens to boardrooms.
‘The pub and brewing sector is committed to putting sustainability at the heart of their businesses and our members’ pubs are already putting the Guardians of Grub resources to good use enabling them to feed people – not bins. Robinsons Brewery are already demonstrating annual savings of upwards of £2,000 per pub.’ Emma McClarkin OBE, Chief Executive, British Beer and Pubs Association.
The Guardiansofgrub.com website has all the resources that HaFS businesses and organisations need to kick-start their action. The Savings calculator helps to build the business case for food waste prevention action and leaders and their teams can quickly upskill themselves by taking the online Cost Savings Skills course.