“So, what’s your sector doing about carbon reduction then?” my scientist brother-in-law rather pointedly asked the other day. “Quite a lot”, I confidently replied, “it’s just that we are not very good at telling anyone”.
My honest belief is that hospitality is making real progress on sustainability and towards meeting zero carbon targets. Or perhaps it’s just that I spend a lot of time with the Zero Carbon Forum guys and know what their members are doing.
Maybe the truth is a little more opaque? What we do know is that even in these cash-strapped times, consumers do notice and many are actively engaged in the sustainability debate.
New research, carried out by CGA by NIQ for food tech provider Foodprint by Nutritics, shows that 70% of consumers say they actively try to lead an environmentally-friendly lifestyle, and a significant minority (44%) say sustainability is important in their choice of destination when going out to eat.
A third (34%) even say they are willing to spend more than usual with brands with strong sustainability credentials – although another third aren’t. You can’t please everyone. Nevertheless, for operators with a strong sustainability story that’s a fair few customers to go after.
More telling, and this underlines the fact that the demand for a more sustainable future will only intensify, is that younger consumers in the 18 to 34 age group are nearly twice as likely to say they’ll pay more for sustainability than those over 55.
But, and this goes right back to by brother-in-law’s point, only 23% of consumers think pubs and restaurants communicate carbon footprint information well – while 34% say they simply aren’t doing enough to provide information. So, is hospitality hiding its ‘green’ light under an eco-friendly bushel? And if so what’s to be done?
More data and better labelling might be an answer, as nearly half (47%) of consumers say they’d like more information about carbon footprints on menus – and two in five say that would influence their order.
As a director of a restaurant brand that has introduced labelling told me the other day: “It isn’t perfect, but we’ve seen a positive consumer response… it’s started a conversation.”
Local sourcing, recycling and waste reduction are the most important sustainability factors for the public in choosing where to go out. So developing story telling around those might be a good first step – not least because consumers’ awareness of environmental credentials like B Corp is seriously low.
But many operators remain nervous about shouting loudly, publicly at least, about their carbon reduction progress – partly because the job isn’t complete and there are gaps in their plans that critics could easily seize upon and exploit. There’s also a real fear of it being seen as ‘greenwashing’.
Where there is an undeniable need to communicate better is internally with employees, as these, often young, team members are even more committed to the sustainability cause than customers, and are more critical too.
Over 90% of hospitality staff, according to the same Nutritics research, say living an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle is important to them, with a similar number saying they would consider a company’s social and environmental responsibility when choosing a place to work. Half have accepted one job over another partly because the company was more sustainable, and four in five are more likely to stay in a hospitality job for longer if their employer has a positive environmental impact.
Here’s the downside. Only a quarter think their workplace is prioritising ethical sourcing and reducing waste and energy use, and 61% think there are aspects that could be improved.
Over 80% think staff training, community projects and sourcing are important aspects of sustainability – but fewer than half actually see them in practice in their workplace. Two thirds of staff believe hospitality is behind other industries in sustainable practices.
There’s lots more insight like this in the research, but the bottom line is that even if companies are fully engaged, and many are, there’s a need for more talking and a focus on polishing the image of the sector around environmental issues. For those not signed up to the carbon reduction cause, you better start catching up if you want to hang onto your people.
To be fair to the market, sustainability is the board agenda item that business leaders feel less confident about than anything else that comes across their desks. A recent confidence survey by CGA, showed that sustainability was the discipline that had the highest number of executives that believed they were lagging the market as well as the greatest gap between market lagging and market leading.
There’s a real need to move more quickly and to hire in expertise too. It’s interesting to see some companies now appointing chief sustainability officers at a senior level, most notably in the contract catering arena.
As one industry veteran told me: “I can’t think of anything in my career that has changed at such a pace and at such a level. It’s touching everyone and everything we do in our working days.”
Another added: “We’re doing some good things, but we know we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”
There is also an acceptance among the more progressive operators that messaging does need to be better. It’s summed up by another CEO: “Our guest-facing teams need to be able to articulate what’s good about sustainability in our business… they need training that’s clear, concise and accurate, and about the things that people can actually see in the restaurants.”
Perhaps in the not too distant future my brother-in-law won’t need to ask me what’s happening in hospitality, he may see for himself next time he drops by his local.
