W
hile
environmental
and sustainability
issues have been
lingering in the back of consumers’
minds for decades, over the course of
the past 12 months there has been a
notable shift in the nation’s psyche.
Ever since the season finale of Blue
Planet 2, when national treasure
David Attenborough drew attention
to the huge amounts of rubbish
polluting our oceans, the public
has been increasingly demanding
more sustainable, environmentally
friendly alternatives — from the
companies that supply their food and
drink through to the pubs, hotels and
restaurants they frequent.
In fact a fifth of the UK population say
they would actively choose brands if they
made their sustainability credentials
clearer, while 72% of millennials are
willing to pay more to companies that
are committed to a positive social and
environmental impact.
This shift in consumer attitudes
is beginning to change how the
hospitality sector shapes its customer
service offering, with recent research
from Brita Professional revealing
that 40% of hospitality outlets want
more advice and information on
becoming more sustainable. The
number of catering businesses thatwant to be sustainable will only
increase as consumers continue to
become increasingly environmentally
conscious. As such, with the catering
equipment industry working extremely
closely with its clients, achieving similar
sustainability values will become ever
more important when it comes to
winning business and securing sales.
To achieve this, businesses across
the supply chain will first need to
ensure that it has sustainability
policies in place so that it can
demonstrate its own credentials to
both existing and potential customers.
If these aren’t already in place they will
need to be developed so that they have
buy-in across the organisation and are
aligned with key business goals.
It is worth considering involving
employees in this process and asking
them to contribute ideas during the
strategy development phase.
This helps to embed responsibility
into the company culture, can improve
staff loyalty and will be a crucial factor
in achieving buy-in.
Secondly, both distributors and
caterers themselves will also need to
assess and review their own suppliers’
and manufacturers’ sustainability
credentials. Manufacturers should
be able to prove their sustainability
policies, as well as their targets for
environmental performance easily.The onus is on hospitality operators to build
their customer service offering around changing
end-user demands and that means ensuring that
sustainable supply chain initiatives are robust,
writes Gareth Brown at Duni.Finally, and perhaps most
importantly, the catering supply
chain will need to evaluate its
product offerings to ensure that they
provide the sustainable products that
hotels, pubs and restaurants want in
order to meet their own customers’
environmental demands. Committing
to stocking sustainable products
can help set a business apart from
competitors and will be increasingly
crucial as hospitality businesses look
for suppliers that source products that
consider the environment.
Ultimately, with the public
becoming ever more eco-conscious,
the pressure on hospitality businesses
to deliver sustainable goods and
equipment is only going to grow. And
by adapting now to this inevitable
shift in attitudes, the catering supply
chain will be well-positioned to meet
the sustainability and environmental
needs of their customers — both now
and in the future.Gareth Brown is international
marketing manager at Duni, a leading
supplier of commercial catering goods
to the industry. http://www.duni.comSUSTAINABILITY VALUES WILL BECOME
EVER MORE IMPORTANT WHEN IT COMES TO
WINNING BUSINESS AND SECURING SALES”OPINION: Restaurant
industry has a duty to meet
customers’ green demands
42 | Foodservice Equipment Journal | August 2019 http://www.foodserviceequipmentjournal.com
THE FINAL WORD