Welcome to the first e-bulletin from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. 

First of all a big thank you to everyone we've met over the last couple of months and for all the feedback you've provided. It's been invaluable in helping us shape what the association is and how it will operate. For those struggling to remember what it's all about, a quick reminder. The Sustainable Restaurant Association launches February next year and is a nationwide, membership organisation which will advise and represent members on sustainability issues and help them gain credit for the time and investment put in. We will be publishing regular e-bulletins from now through to launch to keep everyone up to date on progress and to share developments.  

The conversations we've been having over the last couple of months may have helped us fine tune our objectives but they haven't changed our belief that this is something the industry urgently needs. Restaurants know they have to do something but are unsure where to start, the media is continuing to push the sustainability agenda from several different angles and this is starting to affect customer perception and behaviour. In September we carried out a survey with the research agency Populus to investigate consumer attitudes towards sustainability in restaurants, the results make interesting reading for anyone weighing up the business case for adopting a more sustainable approach.  

To the question, "Do you think the restaurant industry is doing enough to tackle social and environmental issues" a resounding two thirds of customers answered "No". When then asked how much more likely they would be to eat at a restaurant with an overall award for its social and environmental performance, over 70% said they would be more or much more likely, a pretty clear indication that incorporating and communicating sustainability is fundamental to long term success. 

We also asked customers to rank the sustainability issues that concerned them most. If I'd been asked before hand to guess, I would have had Carbon footprint and Food waste near the top. In fact, it was locally sourced products which were the customers clear focus and employee treatment a surprising third, while carbon footprint languished in last place, of least concern. We intend to repeat the survey on a quarterly basis and it will be interesting to see how public attitudes change over time.
This is a big subject and while we're sure we can offer great advice, we know don't have a monopoly on the answers. The SRA is about real solutions for real restaurants and we would love to hear about any successes you've had with managing your sustainability - whether that's with cooking methods, fridge management, food waste, laundry, community engagement...whatever it is, please let us know.

 

Simon Heppner