Sustainability COmmunications
The Outcome
Increased consumer trust, ambassadors who shout about you, brand longevity, investor appeal and profitability.
Are you doing all the right things but not sure how to talk about it in a way that sounds authentic and informative?
Becoming a hospitality business the world needs can be broken down into 3 aspects:
Culture & Community
Ways of looking after your team to ensure a happy, healthy workforce
Becoming a key pillar within the local community
Charity partnerships and ways to give back
Planet
Identifying opportunities for social and environmental action
Plate
I advise on menus (design and content)
Provide valuable insight into the veggie/vegan market
Make introductions to key suppliers
Create an appealing, varied and sustainable wine list
Once strong practices in the above areas are in place, the key is to tell your stakeholders about it. That’s everyone from guests to investors, landlords and employees.
It’s about creating a commitment to those around you, speaking truthfully (which can include the pitfalls too!). No-one is expecting you to be perfect, it can be helpful to others and endearing to mention your struggles too.
From founding and operating my own restaurant, Flat Earth Pizzas,
A sustainability strategy is created to help you stand out as a leader in sustainable hospitality and should include strong content creation in the form of:
CRM plan
Reels for instagram
Social media scheduling
Internal decks for team - from inductions to recaps for engagement and motivating messages
Flagship campaigns
I’d be working alongside your marketing team to ensure that your sustainability efforts are communicated in the right way, slotting into any marketing strategy already in place.
I have completed a course in XXX by Rotterndam to apply the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into planet-friendly strategies that food businesses can adopt easily for maximum impact and minimal interruption.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are global goals set out by the UN (and agreed by 193 countries). They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Businesses all over the world are implementing them into their social responsibility strategies including, most recently, Greggs.
Whichever approach you’d prefer, I will help you set achievable targets that everyone can work towards together over a time that suits the business. There’s no judgement on the situation that you start from.
Stage 1:
Understanding the SDGs
I will take you through each goal and we’ll assess the relevance of it to your business
We will look at companies who are already using this framework (eg. McDonalds, Greggs, Oatly - as well as fashion brands such as UGG) and see what we can learn from them.
We will delve into where improvements could be made and any quick wins that might be available.
Stage 2:
Defining Priorities
This is where we will define the goals that are most suited to your business. This work is to help you improve, not call you out for anything that you might be doing wrong.
Let’s find the goals you can have the biggest impact on and start from there.
Stage 3:
Setting Goals
Goal setting is critical to success. I will suggest targets for your company that we can all agree.
By aligning company goals with the SDGs, we can demonstrate your commitment to sustainable development and later devise ways best to communicate this to the world.
Stage 4:
Integrating
I will present what has been agreed in an easy-to-understand format - no jargon! This will be a document that can be shared with the wider team as well as during inductions for new employees.
Stage 5:
Telling people!
Whatever your motivations are for introducing a sustainability strategy into your business, it’s definitely something that needs to be communicated well to everyone outside of your team.
Gen Z are coming into workforce and care more about sustainability than already switched on millennials which means that any brand that wants to be around for a while needs to think about their impact on our planet.