Why Sustainability And Fine Dining’s Future Are Linked

The time of believing in doing the bare minimum for sustainability is long over, as there is not only a moral case for making delicious food in a way that is mindful of the future but also an exceptionally strong business case.

The release of a study by Lightspeed shows that 70 per cent of diners polled would pay more for a sustainable dining experience, showing the market for well-intentioned restaurateurs matching their intentions with all of their actions, including in their cuisine, waste management and uniforms.

Perhaps even greater than this, a quarter of the diners surveyed claimed that poor sustainability practices would make them take their business elsewhere.

Naturally, the impact on the hospitality industry to these findings is absolutely critical, and many restaurants that either did not bother with sustainability or merely paid lip service to the concept are starting to realize just how much money they are leaving on the table.

Beyond the potential negative effects, 36 per cent of those surveyed are actively looking for restaurants that practice what they preach when it comes to sustainability, and as customers get more savvy, this means working towards zero-waste and closed-loop systems.

It is not enough to simply have a couple of sustainable menu items on a menu, but there needs to be clarity and transparency in how these initiatives are undertaken.

Nearly four-fifths (77 per cent) of people in the study expressed an interest in menus labeled, and half of the study’s respondents even stated that they would expect such a change to menus so they knew the carbon footprint of their meal as much as they knew the nutritional impact.

As well as this, the majority of surveyed diners want less plastics to be used (53 per cent), a more local providence for ingredients (61 per cent) and more comprehensive food waste efforts (62 per cent).