Events caterer Searcys launched its ESG strategy, Second Nature, back in 2023, since updated with impact reports regularly tracking its goals. The company here explains the strategy, which it says is focused on a framework of these four pillars:
Inclusion by design
The idea is to create an inclusive workplace where all employees can thrive, ensuring diversity and inclusion is represented at all levels. Key KPIs include increasing the gender and ethnic diversity representation in leadership roles to 40% by 2027, alongside creating mentoring and reverse mentoring programmes and networks to nurture and support talent within the company.
Some of Searcys’ milestones to check out include:
Earlier in 2023, Searcys signed up to the Race in the Workplace Charter to ensure that it created inclusive workplaces where everyone can thrive, and launched the Ethnicity Pay Gap report later in 2024.
Cyril Gidigbi from One Moorgate Place is the first graduate of the Ethnic Future Leaders Programme.
Searys reached its benchmark of 40% females in leadership roles in the end of 2023, and the number of female venue general managers has increased by 50%.
The company is committed to being a Menopause Friendly Employer. This means that it aims to change mindsets and attitudes towards menopause, making it easy to talk about. Everyone, they say, should know how to support colleagues, friends and family.
In 2023, Searcys became a Disability Confident Employer removing barriers, increasing understanding and ensuring that disabled people have every opportunity to fulfil their potential. The company continues to welcome neuro-diverse members of staff to our business.
As the start of 2024, Searcys, in partnership with its sister brands Portico and Benugo launched a dedicated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, Enlight to celebrate the diversity of colleagues. The primary goal of Enlight is to ensure that every team member feels valued, supported, and respected, regardless of their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and all aspects of their identity.
Contributing to the charities close to heart and to the communities Searcys operates in, ourSearcys cycling team completed its 2023 fundraising tour by presenting a donation of £22,257.00 (three cheques of £7,419 each) to three nominated charities: The Hotel School, Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Adopt a School Trust and JUST ONE Tree. This year’s Tour de Searcys took them over 320 miles from London to Epernay in Champagne, France. This is the second Tour, the first one, organised last year, to mark the company’s 175th birthday, saw the team cycle from London to Bath, covering 175km between our venues.
Nurturing and growing talent
As part of Searcys commitment to help its people grow and succeed to become an employer of choice in hospitality, Second Nature will focus on the development of all of its team members. This includes providing learning opportunities for all employees beyond mandatory requirements with at least 15 hours of training per year, and offering access to medical, financial and nutritional advice for all. Targets include narrowing the gender pay and bonus gap below 10% by 2027, alongside increasing under-represented groups on leadership programmes by 30% by 2025.
Last year, the focus was in shaping our colleagues’ journey from the moment they start with the company, so Searcys have conducted:
- 18 ‘Introduction to Searcys’ in-person sessions for 269 new starters
- Four Searcys Champagne & Wine Academy
- Four Coffee Academy sessions – New sessions included Leadership foundations, Train to Train and Briefing Skills
Working with coffee roasters Searcys created a training programme to get members from all Searcys sites into HQ for coffee training. The sessions include the crop to cup journey as well as training on how to make delicious espresso-based drinks, how to pour latte art and how to clean and maintain the equipment to get the best out of it.
In total, Extract team has hosted over 40 training sessions across dozens of Searcys sites so far this year, including pre-launch training and launch day help for new sites, such as the National Portrait Gallery.
Searcys also believes team bonding is essential and, therefore held a Searcys annual Family Day last year, inviting our staff to come along with their loved ones for food, drink, music and games at one of the beautiful venues. This year’s event saw over 550 guests of Searcys employees and their families attend for a Mediterranean feast, complete with bouncy castle, caricature artist, painting competition, live band and traditional British fete games. Now a firm favourite, Searcys Family Day has attracted over 600 team members and their families this year.
Just some of the ways Searcys is supporting the team includes the introduction of improved benefits, from up to 38 days of annual leave, enhanced maternity and paternity payments. Mental wellbeing is also a key driver; therefore, all team members have access to a 24/7 employee assistance programme, in-house mental health first aiders and access to gym discounts.
Progressive partnerships
For Searcys’ supply chain, the aim is to continue to raise the bar on its sourcing standards. This will run across all elements of the business, from reducing the emission impact of Searcys signature dishes by 30% by 2026 and ensuring plant-based dishes make up at least 25% of menus, to using 100% cotton uniforms from certified sustainable sources, and exclusively using FSC-certified wood and paper products by end of 2025. The company has also introduced the pledge to achieve Red Tractor standards for all fresh meat by end of 2025 and buy 100% of liquid milk directly from UK dairy farmers who are meeting RSPCA Assured standards.
A couple of examples of our new suppliers introduced in 2023-24:
By end 2024 all the company’s shell eggs will be 100% RSPCA free-range. Choosing RSPCA Assured free-range eggs means supporting farms that provide hens with enrichment objects and comfortable environments. Free-range hens have daytime outdoor access, safe and spacious barns at night, and conditions that allow for natural behaviour. Hens in a free-range system have space to roost, with a maximum of nine hens per square metre of usable indoor space. We buy our eggs from two amazing producers: Chippendales, a long-term partner, and St Ewe, our newest partnership. Both are award winning, both are focused on the highest animal welfare standards, and both are working on carbon reduction.
Wildfarmed has become our new supplier of flour, that uses the grains that have grown on the farms that prioritise soil health, have embraced regenerative approach to farm biodiversity. Wildfarmed white flour increases carbon capture in the soil, is produced without pesticides, increases biodiversity and contains more antioxidants.
The ‘wildfarming’ method involves sowing seeds directly into grass, growing different plants side-by-side, bringing grazing animals onto the fields and never tilling the soil or spoiling it with pesticides and heavy machinery. Together, this method produces resilient, nutritious crops while constantly improving the soil and surrounding ecosystem. The flour on offer uses heritage and new varieties of grain, favouring taller varieties to allow them to grow higher than their companion plants, choosing the best on farm-by-farm basis. For harvest 2023, the company worked with over 50 farms across the UK and France.
Step-up
This pillar outlines the framework for reducing Searcys’ impact on the climate with the ultimate target to achieve net zero across the entire group by 2040. This will be achieved through a ‘Step up’ goals protocol, which includes minimising food waste, eliminating all avoidable single-use packaging and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy saving tactics and recycling. Searcys is pledging to reduce food waste by 20% by end of 2024 from a 2023 baseline pro-rated and eliminate all waste to landfill (from directly controlled sources) by 2030.
In 2023 Searcys introduced carbon calculators for its menus, that have been trialled in a number of event venues.
As the Searcys ESG journey continues, your follow can follow on LinkedIn and Instagram for more updates.
