Welcome to the second e-bulletin from the Sustainable Restaurant Association
It's been a busy couple of weeks for the SRA and it's getting more exciting every minute. We've had the pleasure of getting to know some of you even better. Visiting some fantastic restaurants, meeting the teams who make it all happen and talking about how the SRA can work for you. It's inspiring to hear your feedback and your reaction to suggestions on how restaurants can be more sustainable.
It's really motivating for us to know that while switching off lights, turning off taps and recycling are becoming second nature to many of you, there's a real appetite to build on this and keep making progress. There are some great ideas being cooked up in the kitchen and delivered in the dining room: meat-free days, seasonal specials and fish-friendly menus are all making an impact and with this kind of creative menu-planning and dynamic marketing we'll certainly be in the queue for seconds.
We love finding new ways to turn theory into practice so if you think something you're doing might be useful for other restaurants to know, send it over and we'll flag it up.
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Cooking up a storm at R150
Speaking of working together, it was great to see some of you at Restaurant Magazine's R150 on 4 November. We were kindly invited to talk at the event and really enjoyed introducing such a receptive audience to the aims and ambitions of the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Some of you had already heard about us, with others discussing it for the first time. Thanks for all your positive comments and good to have so many you on board.
Carluccio's Simon Kossoff, was also at the event, talking about the benefits of fundraising for Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian charity that works with families in over 40 of the world's poorest countries, helps feed their children and build a sustainable future. Carluccio's has been working with the charity since 2007 and with the help of its customers has so far raised over £350,000.
Simon raised the very valid point that while the direct benefits of charity support are obvious, it can be difficult to quantify what the benefits of community activities might be to a business. He concluded that the return was real and had wide ranging benefits and from our perspective this is hugely important. One of the key challenges is to show that social, environmental and commercial objectives can align and provide tangible evidence that focusing on energy, water and waste management or promoting community engagement can deliver real benefit to the bottom line.
To more awards Pizza Express won the R150 Best Restaurant Chain at the event. Well done Pizza Express! At the weekend, however, The Times gave the group and other private and public businesses a bit of a grilling about the transparency of carbon reduction targets and actions. While reports often tell only half of the story, it's another example of the media seizing on sustainability issues to create a feature. It's more important than ever to have a framework in place to identify and manage all of these issues, which is exactly what you get as a member of the SRA.
Restaurants in action
Two restaurants we're working with this week are Alimentum and Leon. The Cambridge restaurant and the London-based chain have both agreed to be guinea pigs so that we can further fine tune the audit process and get it absolutely right for launch. If you'd like an audit or you want to become a member, contact the SRA team at hello@thesra.org.
We're also interested in restaurants who use or would like to trial FiltaCool, a simple device designed to reduce both energy and food waste in your fridge or chiller room. Trials are offered free so any interested restaurants please get in touch or click on the link above.
Plus if you're feeling seasonal and to prove we're hip, we've found a Seasonal Food App for those of you with i-Phones. It could be the start of a beautiful new friendship with the very best fresh and traditional UK food. Beetroot, celeriac, quince and that ubiquitous winter favourite Brussels sprout, they're all up for grabs this November. What do we think about an app for sustainable seafood? Let us know.
Creating a buzz
Last but not least, we rounded off our fortnight with a trip to the cinema. The film Vanishing of the Bees isn't creating a buzz for nothing. Bees pollinate a third of the food we eat and this contributes £200 million pound a year to the UK economy. But our furry friends are in serious decline. We highly recommend a viewing - for the message and for the beautiful cinematography - and maybe even a beehive on your restaurant roof!
For now, thanks for your support and if you know anyone who'd like to join the mailing list, just click on the link below. You can also tweet us on the SRA Twitter page - all instant thoughts welcome. We're on a mission to create our own buzz before our launch January 2010 so the more support we can gather the better.
Simon Heppner
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