Think.Eat.Drink (T.E.D) is a service that helps hospitality businesses of all sizes create, operate and manage their enterprise with minimal impact on the environment.
Last week saw the launch of their Membership Scheme, designed to help organisations implement simple solutions that improve your business’ consciousness and develop your environmental and social responsibilities, whilst at the same time generating revenue and maximising profit margins.
T.E.D Members
This pioneering Membership Scheme is designed to provide forward-thinking solutions to all businesses working within the hospitality industry that want to be green, responsible and successful. The scheme will help businesses become increasingly environmentally aware through advice and support received from T.E.D’s award-winning consultants.
Tailored support will help Members to demonstrate and deliver best practices within an industry well known for its high waste levels, unreliable practices and intensive energy consumption.
The Membership Scheme will not only bring together hotels, restaurants, bars but all food service providers with a broad range of vetted, quality, sustainable suppliers and services. It will be available to all food and drink businesses, no matter what their size, allowing them to demonstrate a positive commitment to change. It will help to provide responsible and sustainable solutions that will enhance, rather than compromise everyday business practice.
Take the simple test
Each Member is vetted and, once passed, becomes part of T.E.D’s ethical network and community – the supply chain will provide everything from eggs to electricity – to all businesses within the hospitality sector.
This allows Members to buy and sell to other responsible companies within the network, making greening the supply chains easier and a real step change can happen within the food and drink industry.
Whatever the product or service, T.E.D will have a member to help
Wherever there is food and drink, there will be an opportunity to tap into the T.E.D way of thinking, whether it’s insurance, chemicals, packaging or bread, T.E.D will have a member to help!
T.E.D. will act as a catalyst for change in four key areas; environment, health, training and community, and in addition to its Member’ services they will also offer a consultancy service offering concept creation, project implementation, management and advice, if and where necessary.
Other additional services include policy writing, general procurement or even menu guidance, which will focus on the healthier benefits of responsibility within food industry. T.E.D will help utilise and embrace the very best in British produce.
As part of an overall commitment to supporting local regeneration and growth, Think Eat Drink also aims to foster links with relevant communities through partnerships with industry bodies, green alliances & key businesses.
Who’s behind T.E.D?
The Founder is Jamie Grainger-Smith who launched of Acorn House Restaurant, the UK’s first truly eco-friendly training restaurant, in November 2006. In February 2008, together with the Shoreditch Trust, Jamie launched a sister restaurant to acorn Waterhouse, and he also founded – alongside Jamie Oliver – the Fifteen Restaurant project, where he was responsible for the strategic direction and project management and implementation. Jamie comments:
“We want and need to change the food and drink industry, we believe that it can become more responsible and we’re aiming to inspire operators & the general public to make that step change. We want to get people to think differently and change old habits. Our experience has demonstrated that these aims can be achieved without compromising style, quality or profit.
“We have had so much support for what we have achieved with Acorn House Restaurant and Waterhouse – not only from clients and customers but large organisations and environmental groups – that I feel sure a sustainable approach is not only what people want, it is the future of the hospitality industry.”
Founder Members
Include Cafediret, whose Head of Impact & Sustainability is Wolfgang Weinmann:
“We are absolutely delighted to partner up with Think.Eat.Drink; more than ever sustainability issues are vital for the food & drinks industry; they can’t be mere ‘add-on’ but actually have to form the core strategy of any hospitality business. Together we can tackle these challenges …and create new opportunities at the same time. It is about doing things differently.
“At Cafédirect, we source exclusively from smallholder growers whose extra care and attention leads to an extra special flavour of our products. And because we buy directly, bypassing the conventional market, we’re proud that growers get a greater share of the benefits. The perfect blend of taste & ethics!”
And Expo:
“Expo Industries UK Ltd are proud to be a founder member of T.E.D Members Scheme. The T.E.D ethos of sustainability, alongside ethical trading is essentially how Expo Industries UK Ltd operates our packaging business. We are very excited with the prospect of being part of a growing community of like minded Companies with a shared vision.”
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