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Food & beverages are vulnerable to climate change, resources scarcity and consumer-preference factors. F&B companies, offices and companies offering in-house catering need to implement a green strategy that encompasses all aspects of their operations. Besides, more sustainable choices often result in cost saving.
If you want to dig deeper into the environmental impact of food production, take a look at those data.
Measuring your carbon footprint is a key step for an efficient environmental management: if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it!
It requires methodology and proper data collection: goods purchase, waste but also energy & electricity consumption especially by refrigeration, transport fleet's emissions...
You may want to categorize them under your scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions may be the easiest ones to tackle first as companies can control the sources of those emissions. However, when dealing with food and beverages, Scope 3 emissions linked to production and supply chain should be adressed too as they account for the vast majority of companies' total carbon footprint.
Key steps:
You may use "Smart" solutions such as:
Th FLW Value calculator (in beta test version) quickly estimates the value of food loss and waste in terms of nutritional and environmental impacts.
You may also consider hiring a professional to help you implement the process and track the performances.
See below for additional sources of data and actions from NEA, WRAP, Climate Smart Business among others.
If you haven't set up a Sustainable Procurement Policy yet, please refer to the global Sustainable Procurement Policy page in the Resources section for a step-by-step guidance.
- Analyze consumption and existing practices. With your suppliers’ support:
- Involve your employees in the sustainable purchasing policy and educate them: share/present green product lines with/to employees (especially people in charge of food and beverage suppliers) to get their support.
- Involve your suppliers in the sustainable purchasing policy and work with them to define your objectives.
- Define targets and KPIs evolution, such as:
See more details for choosing a catering provider in the below solution "Choose sustainable food service contractors", for sourcing in the Food & Drink Sourcing sub-category and for others in the General Equipment sub-category.
And importantly:
- Limit the number of references for food and beverage items and define a green list. Negotiate better prices on less references with higher volumes.
- Include the above criteria in the specifications of your Request For Quotations.
- Overweight sustainable criteria in the suppliers' offers such as eco-certified products, local production, short food supply, green cleaning products…
Once you have measured your purchases, production and waste, you will be able to identify the areas of improvements.
To achieve waste & footprint reduction as well as costs savings, here are a few suggestions:
Did you know that most of the vegetables we eat have secondary edible parts we usually throw away?
As mentioned in the solution "Measure & Monitor" above, using a Food Waste Tracking system or a Counter systems/ ERP can help you track your efforts.
You may ask the help of a consulting company to help you in this process.
More details on F&B Waste Management in the related Sub-Category.
Make sure that everyone in charge of food preparation is on the same track to reduce food waste. According to WRAP 45% of food waste come from Food Preparation. There is a huge opportunity for training staff at this stage. In comparison, 21% come from Spoilage, 34% from Plate waste.
- Write and share clear procedures & checklists. Make them visible.
- Raise awareness, train and mobilize all employees, including managers, sales teams and operational teams.
- Share progress reporting and action plan definition at all involved operational levels.
You may consider hiring a professional to design and conduct trainings.
Awareness is the first step to change habits:
If you have an on-site composter, don't forget a specific bin for organic waste.
To start with:
Detail sustainable factors to be included in the specifications. These would be the same criteria you would apply for your own company:
Include sustainable choice criteria in the suppliers' offers analysis from 10 to 20% of the total scoring.
See more details in the Food & Drink Sourcing sub-category and in the General Equipment sub-category.
The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
My first job was with a major consulting company in Japan. I appreciated my time there, but was always yearning to do something with a greater direct impact, and something that gives me a greater sense of purpose. I am blessed to have the opportunity to travel the world, and be exposed to different perspectives, ways of living and available alternatives!
A series of serendipitous events led to the founding of merchandise.blue with two highly experienced and interesting friends. Merchandise.blue offers merchandise like uniforms, towels and bags in more environmentally progressive textiles made of materials like seaweed, organic cotton and recycled fishing nets.
When the opportunity to open Kizuna arose, it was clear that I wanted to apply similar values and principles to this physical space.
Entrepreneurial by nature, Claire started ShiokFarm in 2015 when realising the high prices for organic fruit and vegetables in Singapore. Based on the French AMAP model, in which Farmers and a community create a partnership in order to reduce food waste and cost, ShiokFarm aims to provide families and offices in Singapore with affordable organic fruit and vegetables while reducing food waste.
Starting with a small Facebook group, Claire has succeeded in making ShiokFarm an outstanding organic business. ShiokFarm received its BCorp certification in 2023.
With a background in sustainability consulting and audit, Ivona supports businesses in their sustainability journey by building an impactful strategy, embedding sustainable practices across operations, and reporting performance to stakeholders.
She is the founder of Sustainao, a Singapore-based company specialized in sustainability consulting. Previously, Ivona worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France. She holds an MBA in CSR & Sustainability and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management.
Li Seng is the founder of Green Nudge, a social enterprise that supports businesses and communities to achieve positive environmental impact through activities such as coastal cleanups and workshops, outreach talks and sustainability consulting. By raising awareness and co-creating call-to-actions with various stakeholders on sustainability efforts, Green Nudge aims to create a normative shift in the way we create and deal with waste to achieve a low carbon, zero waste future for Singapore.
Li Seng’s previous experience in the public sector in the central bank of Singapore dealing with financial regulations, combined with his current roles in the community and social enterprise sector reinforced his belief that effective public policies need to be supported by ground-up actions and engagement. Playing an interfacing role within the tri-sector, Li Seng is able to provide sectoral knowledge through a system thinking lens to make informed decisions and strategies. He is happy to discuss disposables, sustainability of events, public education, and is familiar with corporate social responsibility and community / youth engagement.
In 2003, I joined International SOS, world leader of medical and security assistance services and relocated to Singapore in 2008 where I have spent my life since. I held different regional leadership roles and I was a founding member of the Sustainability Committee and initially led the S (Social) part. I was also leading the Environment pillar, with a special focus on the Ecovadis certification.
I enrolled at SMU back in Sept 2020 and graduated from the Sustainability and Sustainable Business executive masterclass in Dec 2020. In July 2021, I joined a local singaporean startup H3Dynamics with the ambition to decarbonize the aviation industry! And since May 2023, I am now the managing director AsiaPacific for Ecocert, world leader in certification for organic products. I am also the Singapore Ambassador (volunteer) for Ecomatcher to help brands fight climate change, one tree at a time.
Finally, I am a French Trade Advisor and part of the Sustainability Committee to strengthen bridges between France and Singapore on this crucial agenda.
Duncan, originally from the UK, has been living & working in Asia for the last 16 years. He runs a creative interior design & project management company delivering projects across the Asia Pacific Region; specialised in retail, F&B and commercial sectors. Duncan is passionate about creating interiors that excite and engage Clients and Customers alike, all through the lens of sustainability.
Tomo is a seasoned development professional having lived and worked in various corners of the world from the Tibetan plateau, Indian drylands, Indonesian tropics, to Japanese metropolises. He has extensive field experience working for international and local development NGOs across Asia and Africa, including Kopernik, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the World Bank. He was formerly an Assistant Professor at the Global Leadership Program at the University of Tokyo.
Tomo has a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard College, a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and was an Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellow (2008) and Innovation Fellow (2020) at the East-West Center. In 2014 Tomo was awarded the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Of French, Swiss and Filipino descent, I am a versatile purpose-driven leader with experience across a range of industry sectors. I have built a global career as a Marketing & Communications specialist and Social Entrepreneur intent on solving some of the world's most pressing issues.
Today, I run my own consultancy business helping clients define their purpose, develop their marketing, communications, CSR and sustainability strategies and I am also a Board Member and Advisor to several purpose-led organisations in the Social Impact, ESG, Fintech and Cellular Agriculture spaces.
