How Hilton Sparked Its 'Paradigm Shift' On Food Waste

Why is it important for hospitality businesses to work towards preventing food waste in the first place?

According to the United Nations’ Environment Programme (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021, an estimated 17% of total global food production goes to waste, of which 5% comes from the food service industry.  Estimates suggest that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed.

Not having a strategy to deal with this misuse of our natural resources would be irresponsible, both fiscally and ethically. The land, water, energy, transportation and labour that go into creating food are all wasted when we discard it. So, we have to ask ourselves, why let our teams cook food if it is just going to end up in the bin?

What are some initiatives in this area that you're particularly proud of?

As part of our 2030 Travel with Purpose ESG Goals, Hilton is committed to reducing waste across our global operations by 50% by 2030. To complement this, we work with several tech partners to help drive a forensic understanding of our waste and are trying to roll these solutions out across our estate.

One particularly proud moment would be launching the Hilton Green Ramadan Initiative last year with UNEP West Asian and Winnow across three hotels in the Middle East, which resulted in a 61% reduction in food waste during the Holy Month. I am delighted to share that this has now extended to 32 hotels across seven countries this year, and we look forward to supporting UNEP with the creation of an industry toolkit in the future. 

On the strength of the success of this programme, we then launched the Green Breakfast Pilot Programme across 13 hotels in the UAE – understanding that breakfast is the one unifying food and drink experience in any hotel the world over, and that it is also a chief contributor to waste. The first phase took place last year. Each of the 13 hotels installed production and plate waste Winnow AI systems in their operations, as well as implementing behavioural nudges and interventions. They closed the loop across the food value chain through composting, local sourcing, sustainable gastronomy, and food donations. In just four months, we saw a 62% reduction in food waste across the 13 hotels and it took us all the way to COP28 – it also contributed to the National agenda by supporting the Ne’ma Food Loss and Waste Initiative in the UAE. 

A huge source of pride is the work that Hilton and the Hilton Global Foundation do across the world to support the communities in which we operate. On a global and regional scale, and at hotel level, we have forged some powerful partnerships to support food security and to help reduce waste. In the UK, for example, Hilton London Metropole has partnered with the Felix Project since 2020 to provide meals to those in need. The Felix Project works with suppliers and restaurants to rescue surplus food, using it to prepare meals which are distributed to those in need across London. Since the hotel’s partnership began, the team has prepared and provided more than 75,000 meals for those in need. 

What impact did these initiatives have on your bottom line and environmental footprint?

Firstly, the most important impact is the one on our team members. Last year we were recognised as the #World’s Best Workplace by Great Place To Work and Fortune, and we can credit a lot of that to our purpose and how it makes our people feel.

To give you a great example of both fiscal and ethical impact, the results from Green Ramadan last year were staggering. The campaign – which served 27,000 guests – was able to break through the food waste awareness barriers with an educational and interactive approach, seeing a 61% reduction (equating to serving over 8,600 meals), and preventing almost 4.8 tonnes of waste and over 14 tonnes of CO2 emissions. It also saved in the region of $40,000. 

What are some easy wins for hospitality businesses around the world to implement in this space?

1. Evaluate where you are right now and be honest with yourselves.
2. Set your intentions to change and share your vision with clarity and passion.
3. Change the environment and you will change the behaviour.
4. Measure it and communicate to your teams – on repeat.

Have you encountered any surprising insights about food waste? 

So many – and all relating to human behaviour. We’ve learned that, in order to meet the goals laid out by the UN SDGs, we need to create a ‘default sustainable living’ environment where, as hospitality operators, we make the informed decisions on the part of the guest so that they in turn lessen their impact.

We saw huge amounts of waste coming from bread and pastry, so we made changes to the size of our croissants; in our Ramadan set-up, bread was only served to the table on request. Consistently, we found that a lot of waste came from fruit, but just changing the way the fruit was cut and presented had an immediate impact. 

One of the greatest findings was the exponential change that occurred in other parts of the operation where our chefs – the real heroes of our story – cited a ‘paradigm shift’ in the behaviours of their team applying their learnings to waste management practices in general. I know from personal experience that I have taken this insight home with me, too – once you are aware of just how much we waste, you become much more conscious of your own behaviour.

Lastly, what advice would you give to a hotel, restaurant or other food business that is ready to start measuring and reducing its food waste?

The act of measurement is the most important change to make – because, ultimately, the moment you start to measure something faithfully, you see immediate change. There is no hiding from the facts. 

While I strongly advocate for implementing an ESG management platform or using AI tech to drive data and insights, I know this is simply not an option for many small businesses. The great news is there are plenty of actions that operators can take beyond tech that simply mean an adjustment to their standard operating procedures. 

• If you look through the value chain, start with sourcing as much produce as possible locally, which helps eliminate the food loss component of carbon emissions. 
• Drive sustainable gastronomy by extending the utility of food through tricks such as fermenting and preserving, as well as upcycling ingredients that might typically be viewed as waste – as one super simple example, skins and peels can be dehydrated to make seasonings. 
• Re-purpose or divert food by using surplus food in staff canteens. 
• Make smaller portions or even opt for refill and replenish in buffet environments as a powerful intervention. That way, your prep that is still being safely stored back-of-house and can be offered for food donation to those in need. 
• Lastly, drive the consumer experience by eliminating buffets in favour of à la minute or live stations. 

Using menu engineering and basic inventory management can really help guide the purchasing decisions you make, which will ultimately result in lessening the impact on the environment and your bottom line – so it is a win-win! Whatever happens, remember that perfection is the enemy of progress. Just get started and then the rest will follow – there is no time to waste.

Interested in finding out how more sustainable practices like these can help your bottom line, too? Get in touch with our team at standard@thesra.org, or find out about the Food Made Good Standard here.