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Improving social and environmental
impacts is a winner with diners, according to the latest research report from
the pioneering Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). Discerning Diners
makes the business case for sustainability, finding that 56% of consumers are
prepared to pay more at a restaurant that invests in a greener, fairer future.
The SRA is a much-needed initiative, launched in 2010 to
enable food services businesses to understand their impacts and make
improvements. Their rating system scores restaurants against 14 criteria,
addressing a range of issues relevant to sourcing, environment and society.
Each establishment is given three key actions to implement
annually, drawing their focus to selected issues without asking for
unmanageable levels of change. By providing a range of useful resources and
services, including issue-specific factsheets, a suppliers’ directory and
consultancy, the SRA is making itself into a one-stop-shop for the food
businesses of the future. And it’s not just for companies; consumers who don’t
want to leave their ethics at the restaurant door will find their Restaurant
Guide an invaluable resource.
The report identifies interesting
shifts in consumer priorities when it comes to restaurant sustainability. In
2009, 45% of those surveyed identified organic produce as a key consideration;
in 2013, this had slipped to just 5%. Sustainable fish has also dropped out of
the top 4 consumer concerns, with health and nutrition issues and food waste taking their place.
The findings may be a sign that
national awareness-raising campaigns like Change4Life and
Love Food Hate Waste are
having the desired impact. Whilst these campaigns largely focus on individual
choices made in the home, their influence is filtering into consumer choices
across the board including expectations of restaurant behaviour. Local sourcing
of produce has maintained its appearance in the top four diner concerns (along
with employee treatment), but the report suggests that its actual meaning has
shifted. Food miles were previously the main focus here, but it is now being
used as a catch-all term for a range of issues surrounding provenance and
integrity.
The horsemeat scandal is
likely to be one cause of this. Whilst it mainly hit food retailers and their
supply chains rather than restaurants, Ikea and its famous meatballs were
notoriously caught out and consumers’ eyes opened to a whole new cause for
concern. This is an interesting demonstration of why businesses need to
consider the holistic environment consumers’ operate in and be capable of
reacting to its changes.
The research, advice and ratings provided by the SRA are
doing a vital job: the branded restaurant market has an expected turnover of
£16.4bn in 2013 and strong growth is predicted overall as eating out becomes
the ‘new normal’. With impressive potential profit comes power, and it’s
essential to our environment and communities that restaurants use it
effectively. There are a huge range of actions that food businesses can take,
from a new pop-up market stall to a Michelin-starred fine diner. Rehabilitating
the idea of taking leftovers home, establishing sourcing policies for fish or
palm oil, or examining the energy efficiency of properties are just a handful
of examples.
The SRA has a good mix of business
and civil society experts in its advisory network, protecting it from ‘greenwash’ whilst
maintaining a business-case understanding. However, based on the information
available on its website, tax is an omission from its ratings criteria. Over
the last couple of years, tax has become a major CSR issue and potential
pitfall for company reputation.
Consumers are waking up to the reality of austerity for
themselves and tax avoidance for the businesses they buy from. Starbucks has
already felt the burn and McDonalds found itself on 38 Degrees petition hit
list during the Olympics. As Discerning Diners notes, many restaurants operate
in a highly competitive arena: taking a clear stance against profit shifting
and other notorious tactics would protect them from significant potential damage,
as well as benefiting community and country coffers. It will be
interesting to see if next time the SRA surveys consumer concerns, tax makes an
appearance.
For those of us who don’t own a food business, we need to
start asking questions at our favorite eateries. Finding out what they’re doing
to address their impacts and making it clear that consumers care is a surefire
way to spur this sector into a sustainable future.
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