The Green Paper was first launched by Gram in 2008 and was the first quantitative research project of its kind reviewing the UK foodservice industry’s attitude and behaviour towards a greener and more environmentally responsible future.
Now in its third edition, the 2012 report provides a comprehensive and credible review of sustainable attitudes within the industry using new data, whilst also making comparisons with previous results from the 2008 and 2010 reports.
Gram working with leading associations
For 2012, Gram has teamed up with the leading channel associations within the industry, CHA (Considerate Hoteliers Association), LACA (Local Authority Caterers Association), NACC (National Association of Care Catering), SRA (Sustainable Restaurant Association), and TUCO (The University Caterers Association), to produce this report, working directly with their members to get their views and insight into the way they operate as caterers and the challenges they face in today’s times of austerity.
The findings across all channels, including restaurants, hotels, health & care, schools, universities, pubs and workplaces were then collated and analysed by Cambridge Direction, an independent research company.
The context
Over the past six years, the economic climate has dramatically changed. 2008 saw the beginning of the recession within the UK, and despite hopes for economic improvement in 2010, 2012 sees the economy in the midst of a double dip recession. During these times of austerity the Government has been forced into cutbacks: this has resulted in sectors dependent on Government support facing serious challenges and independently run businesses forced into prudent expenditure.
Since the 2008 report, many of the quick fix, cheap methods to implement an energy efficient business plan have already been applied by UK foodservice operators. It is becoming clear that establishments are now required to consider bigger financial investments in order to continue their work towards building a sustainable business. Many of the respondents that took part in the research are facing financial difficulty and this is becoming an increasing barrier to adopting more sustainable practices. With this year’s Gram Green Paper revealing a decline in sustainable growth in certain areas, the issue of adopting greener business policies continues to loom large.
In 2010, 89% of respondents could cite a green action that had been implemented within their business. This year, that figure had dropped to 76%.
Overwhelming majority want to be greener
There is, however, still an overwhelming majority of respondents that displayed a desire to be greener. This is one of the most encouraging signs to come from The Green Paper 2012. It was inevitable that current levels of energy efficiency would take a hit as a result of the economic decline, but the fact that the green issue remains a prevalent one shows that this should improve in time.
The 78% that were keen to be greener was an improvement on both 2008, and 2010.
Glenn Roberts, managing director of Gram UK, comments:
“At Gram, we have always placed a great emphasis on the importance of being green. We provide operators with energy efficient products that will help to reduce their carbon footprint, and build for a sustainable future with the added commercial benefits of reducing their energy running costs.
“When we first launched The Green Paper in 2008, it was intended as a tool to share ideas for possible initiatives that businesses could use to become greener and, four years on, we are hoping to review to what extent it has been possible to initiate these. It was interesting to see that so many establishments were keen to make their business greener, despite the number of barriers that were preventing them from doing so. In particular, channels widely cited local councils as being problematic in this respect – even channels not usually dependent on the Government, such as hotels.”
“The council doesn’t help and recycling facilities are not good, we are charged ridiculous amounts for the privilege of doing it.” – Hotel respondent.
Key hotel findings from The Green Paper 2012
- Hotel respondents were most likely to have personally introduced energy saving initiatives (54%)
- They have been the channel with the highest number of respondents citing personal initiatives in each of the three Green Papers
- Hotels were both the third most likely channel to describe their establishment as a green one, and the third keenest channel to become greener
- However, the hotel respondents who believed that they could afford to be as green as they wanted was a minority (47%)
John Firrell, director of the Considerate Hoteliers Association, comments:
“I am not surprised by the overall findings of the report. They reflect the feelings we hold at Considerate Hoteliers, that much more effective communication must be carried out and training of staff undertaken to dispel the myths that exist about “being green”.
Making savings, establishing strong environmental and CSR policies, making operational changes, training staff in the art of being sustainable and informing guests of the hotel’s ethos does not have to be an expensive or costly business. Most can be achieved at little or no cost.
“Investing in more energy efficient equipment may in the short term require an investment but the return is quick, and will often represent a substantial saving in the long-term. The myth that embracing green technology and policies represents an inevitable price to pay by the guest must be exploded. It may often give the hotelier the means to be more competitive.”
Plan now for EU Ecodesign Directive to dramatically change purchasing decisions
Making financial investments in order to adopt a greener business is something that operators need to start seriously considering, particular with the onset of the EU Ecodesign Directive, which will come into force in January 2014 and will dramatically change the purchasing decisions of the industry.
Low-cost refrigeration cabinets that traditionally do not offer energy efficient credentials will be forced out of the market and will no longer be able to be sold within EU trading countries as part of new EU law. Instead, only cabinets that adhere to the strict Ecodesign Directive energy efficient standards can be lawfully imported and exported within the EU.
Now, more than ever, operators are required to seriously consider the cost of ownership when purchasing their refrigeration requirements and with the new legislation looming, operators should be aware that a low-cost, high-energy cabinet they purchase in the next few months, will no longer meet the new standards being launched in January 2014.
Instead, operators and caterers should perhaps consider the cost of ownership into their financial planning, not only from the perspective of the directive, but also from the perspective of financing running costs and adopting a sustainable business practice.
To download your free copy of The Green Paper 2012 click here