Cameron Roberts chats to Ben Dutson and Sam Morgan about how sustainability is at the top of caterers’ menus.
For caterers, it’s no longer enough to serve unique and delicious food, sustainability is the order for the day. At events, it impacts the entire value chain – it’s no different for the caterers. The avenues for sustainability are vast, from waste to seasonality of food, so there’s a host of challenges to consider for caterers in 2022.
The pressure is intensified by customer demand – with sustainability being so high on the agenda for many organisers, caterers must be creative in how they present their green chops to align with governance and sustainability policies.
I chatted to Ben Dutson, food innovation director, Sodexo Live! and Sam Morgan, executive chef, The Venues Collection at Compass Group UK and Ireland, about how they are navigating the sustainability minefield. Spoilt for choice The key interaction between delegates and caterers, unsurprisingly, is through food. So reflecting an organisation’s green journey through menu options is an important milestone to reach for.
For some, this is about taking meat off the menu – with ingredients like beef being great offenders when thinking about sustainability. It’s easy to say on paper that meat is typically less sustainable, so remove it from all menus, but for many organisers this is not a powerful enough driver.
According to Morgan, price will be a key driver for customer choice, rather than ethical reasons. He said: “While our venues aim to give customers cost effective, sustainable menu choices as standard, as dairy and meat go up in price, chefs are going to have to be more creative and customers more open to new menu choices.
“We can’t dictate to our customer that they can’t have the beef at their award ceremony. That’s not what we’re about. There are other ways within the menu that we can balance out our carbon footprint,” he continues.
Dutson echoes the point, saying it’s not about removing certain items from the menus, but rather being conscious of where the ingredients have come from.
He said: “I think it’s about just looking at every single level of menu choice. If you’re using fish, make sure you understand exactly where it’s come from, how is it fished? Is it on a sustainability charter somewhere? Or is it on an endangered charter somewhere?
“Particularly when we’re feeding 90,000 people at Royal Ascot. If you’re going to do it, we have to know where it comes from.”
The question is not just around what food goes on the menu – but where the produce originates from. Morgan spoke about one supplier, saying: “We use a company called Waste Knot vegetables who supply us with a surplus that is not good enough to go into the supply chain for Sainsbury’s or Tesco.
“But from my perspective, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with vegetables. In fact, you get some absolutely humongous cabbages. So, if you get your delivery on the right week, you benefit from it.”
Covering costs
One of the main sticking points for sustainability is cost, especially in events. With many conferences running on such tight margins and many sustainable solutions coming with some kind of monetary increase, how do events businesses square away the increase in price?
Dutson, who manages much of the food and beverage (F&B) at Royal Ascot, said these tight margins are not exclusive to smaller events – that even the 90,000-person attendance at races was operated on fine profits. He said: “it’s not like we’re making millions out of selling somebody a burger or a three-course meal, it is tight.
“So yes, there is a cost implication, you must find a balance. Eventually some of these things [sustainable options] will have to come down in price because they will become
the norm.”
This flattening of the price curve cannot come soon enough for Dutson, who singled out plant-based protein as having a high price point because it’s very on-trend now, but eventually it’s going to become normality.
He concluded by saying: “My biggest hope is that it’s not too late, because we are pushing close to that that point of no return.”
On the other hand, Morgan put much of the price increases to other factors, like altered supply lines due to Brexit, with basics like rapeseed oil more difficult to get a hold of. He said: “Customers need to hear and see added value. That’s why we are communicating with our event buyers from the very start of their booking journey about where the ingredients come from and why choices may cost more or less.”
Pace of change
For many organisations in events, sustainability can seem like a huge challenge to take on. It’s a question of internal resource and communicating change to customers.
Morgan spoke about the training piece, saying: “Climate change is the biggest issue facing all of us and the importance of educating sustainability can’t be overstated but it is something that will take time to properly filter through to delegates.”
He did however say that an increased desire for sustainable initiatives had led to some businesses, who may not be perceived as sustainable, to be more conscious of their events operations. He said that “for businesses like that if they can make a conscious choice in everything they do alongside that, to help with their sustainability promises, that’s where we can add real value.”
Dutson spoke about the internal pressures of delivering on sustainability promises, and how daunting it can be to take on. His advice was to “break it down and go through every touch point that you can and think about what you can do, then that’s the way that we kind of approach it.”
He continued, saying: “At Royal Ascot we are serving 90,000 people a day, it’s impossible to say, we won’t use a bit of clingfilm, or that we won’t have any vehicles on site. But as long as we’re pushing to do as best we possibly can, then each year we get better and better, then we are setting the standard.”
What’s in a label?
For sustainability initiatives across events businesses, shouting about how sustainable solutions work is an aspect of going green that is often left by the wayside.
For Morgan, carbon labelling not only provides a signpost for guests, but also influences the way he curates menus.
He said: “We use an online web portal and input the recipes that we use within our business. It allows us to see the carbon footprint per portion and gives us an average carbon allowance and also gives guidance to help us to make that dish have a lower carbon footprint.
“But it just gives me a way of looking at my recipes to say: Do we need a dairy element in there? Could we switch it to make it more carbon friendly? Do we need the butter? Do we need to choose? Can we reduce the red meat or utilise a lesser cut?”
