Food for good

We’re partnering with restaurants and The Sustainable Restaurant Association to put sustainability on the menu. Together, we can influence change and create a better food future.

Since early 2017, we have collaborated with The SRA and restaurants of St James’s Market to develop shared sustainability goals and to provide practical training and support to make those goals a reality.  

An initial workshop identified food waste as the first big challenge to tackle. Since then we have provided training to chefs, managers and team members on how to minimise and recycle food waste. This has led to closer monitoring of dishes that consistently result in plate waste, which is then fixed by adjusting portion sizes. Identification of which ingredients are most commonly wasted through spoilage has led to changes to ordering and storage. In addition, every restaurant now successfully segregates food waste so that it can be recycled at anaerobic digestion plants to produce biogas and biofertilisers.

Research by The Sustainable Restaurant Association shows that, as well as being environmentally friendly, food waste projects like this can save each restaurant around £6,000 a year.

“The Crown Estate has shown real leadership in engaging with restaurants on sustainability and providing practical information, networks and tools to help make their businesses truly sustainable. This gives them a competitive advantage with increasingly eco-minded diners who want to know that they are supporting businesses that share their own beliefs. Together we have the power to create a better food future for diners, for businesses and for the planet.”

Andrew Stephen, Chief Executive of The Sustainable Restaurant Association

Such is the success of our St James’s Market initiative we are now working to support all the restaurants we work with, across our Central London and Regional portfolios.

In addition to tackling the issue of food waste, we have been working with restaurants on other initiatives to put sustainability at the heart of operations. We are also working with the Sustainable Restaurant Association to create a user-friendly fit-out guide for all the restaurants we work with, which will help ensure that sustainability is built in from the very beginning, through thoughtful design, recycling facilities, fridge space, staff training and other initiatives.

These collaborations have shown the power of working together as one community, creating brilliant restaurants that lead the way in putting sustainability on the menu.

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