Arena Round Table - June 2024

in partnership with Mozzo

3 June 2024

Participants

Diana Spellman

Managing Director, Partners in Purchasing (Chair)

Frank Coughlan

Executive Head Chef, BaxterStorey

Shereen Ritchie

CEO, Buns from Home

Kathryn Richmond

Development Director, Searcy's

Isis Kruse

Sustainability and Quality Manager, Sofitel London St. James

Kevin Watson

Business Director and Net Zero Lead, Levy UK&I

Nathan Kekus

Procurement Manager Sustainability & Projects, Frasers Hospitality/Hotel du Vin & Bistro/Mailmaison

Matthew Benn

Director of Partnerships, Mozzo

Danielle Faustino

Director of Coffee, Mozzo

Simon Haines

Head Brand Ambassador, Mozzo

Elke Passon

Director, Talking Food

Event Review

Diana began proceedings by reminding everyone how important coffee is.  It has replaced alcohol to become the stimulation that fuels us, and caffeine is the most common socially acceptable psychoactive compound in the world.  Therefore, sustainability around coffee must be marketed strongly for buyers to understand it as it’s a complex topic and there is a lot of tokenism around it.  She highlighted why it is so important to discuss the social responsibilities of coffee and how we can have influence to change the agenda or at least moderate the financial fluctuations that take place.

What are you doing within your businesses from a sustainability perspective?
When asked this question, there was a wide range of answers from the panellists showing an impressive dedication to the subject of sustainability.  Answers included probing suppliers for best practise, focusing on their supply chain to help reach net zero, monitoring change to understand the impact on their business, reporting on carbon footprint, and trying to be ahead of the trends in sustainable practices to set standards.  Mozzo added that creating long-lasting relationships with customers, and working with the coffee community at grass roots were priorities for them.

What about sustainable practices and cost in your businesses?
Everyone agreed that as an industry, there has never been more discussion about sustainable practices as there is now and a lot of effort and money is being given to sustainability, but it comes at a cost.  One participant said, “no CEO ever got sacked for not being sustainable, but they will be sacked if they don’t make money!”  Although everyone sees the value in being sustainable, and not that it’s just the right thing to do for the planet, being sustainable does add cost.  The challenge for operators is finding the balance.  When you add in sustainability to operating costs, which are on the rise, something has to give.  

One participant from a multi-site operation suggested, “there are very few businesses that don’t want to be sustainable and smaller businesses have it easier to make changes as they can be more agile with decision-making.  But coffee feels oversubscribed - there are a lot of suppliers out there claiming to be sustainable, but we hear a lot about sustainability from a packaging perspective and less about the sustainability of the actual growing of the beans and the carbon footprint of transportation – I feel I don’t have enough information on that aspect.”

There was also agreement around the table that there are a lot of claims about being carbon neutral and smoke and mirrors with the planting of trees to offset carbon footprint, but that buyers must sift through that to find the real truth. 

Operators want to add social value and planting trees is more ‘greenwashing.’  One participant of a larger organisation added, “we always ask suppliers if they have done a ‘life cycle assessment’ on what they’re doing so we can use the data to make informed strategic procurement decisions, because we purchase in such volumes.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t collaborate with smaller producers, it is scalable.  We just have to ask; how can we work with you to achieve an ‘LCA’.” 

The consensus among the attendees was that sustainability is such a hard subject to tackle because it isn’t just packaging, air miles and fair pay; there’s just so much and it’s a struggle to know which are the right decisions to make - the impact of one decision might have a bearing on something else.  There was concern about the unintentional consequences of making the wrong decision, but the industry seems closer, more open, and more willing to share information since Covid.

And clarity is coming it seems; it won’t be long before all businesses will have to report on everything around sustainability across Europe, and there is also the CMA Green Claims Code that makes it clear to suppliers how they should market their green messages to reduce the risk of making misleading environmental claims.

But overall, operators need to accept that if they do nothing because they’re too scared to, they will never do anything, and nothing will change.  Doing something is better than doing nothing and your first port of call should be working with your current supplier to understand what they’re doing.

“It’s often said, ‘we can’t afford it’, but we actually can’t afford not to – legislation is coming; our stakeholders want it, our team members want it, our clients want it, you will get caught out if you don’t pay attention” said one attendee.

Long term partnerships are super important, we need to work together
Danielle from Mozzo then added; “It’s easier to see what’s happening with sustainability when it’s in the UK or within first world countries because we can easily measure things and we have data.  The reason it’s difficult to choose a sustainable coffee is because you hear about the social impacts, but the reality is the coffee is produced in third world countries where they don’t have access to computers or any way to produce data, yet they already carry out sustainable practices because it’s their way of life, it’s how they live day to day.  They must look after their trees, their communities, the wildlife, the water, otherwise they have no future; coffee growing would not be sustainable.  They have no means to measure these things and unfortunately, ‘certification’ carries a price.  You can pay for someone to come and audit you, but many of these coffee farmers just cannot afford it.  So how do you measure carbon footprint in that instance?  Part of the challenge for coffee suppliers is how we can help socially, as that is the biggest impact; helping producers with their economies, their healthcare, their communities, giving them access to the things that they don’t have.  Working on packaging is a bare minimum, but that comes with its own challenges when it comes to recycling.  Compared to Europe, the UK is just not set up for things like ‘compostable’ – yet many suppliers are boasting about their packaging credentials, when the reality is that while it might be compostable, it will likely end up in landfill anyway.  We just need to be more honest.  It’s also easier to support producers to be sustainable if you build long term relationships with them.  By flitting around constantly, yes you will have plenty of choice and seasonal options, but that doesn’t help them long term.  A steady income means more cash back into the communities, which means they can invest in becoming more sustainable in the future.  We need to put ethics first and help consumers to understand.  It’s a tricky balance.”

Consumers expecting to have whatever they want, whenever they want it, at the best price, was a general agreement around the table.  “We all need to change our expectations and be less ‘greedy’, we just can’t have as much, as often, as cheap, and as business leaders, that’s the challenge we’re facing.”

The way we do business needs to be more open.  Consumers want honesty
There’s more engagement around sustainability now than ever before, the consumer wants to know more, especially the next generation, they want to know where their food is coming from. They’re aware and that’s hopeful for the future.  It’s up to all of us to educate them.

One question asked was, “how do you deal with the waste from coffee?

Danielle explained from a supplier perspective, “alarmingly, as easy as we make it for customers, only 40% make use of our initiative to recycle aluminium capsules, which are fully recyclable.  The spent pods are collected from customers and everything; bag, pods, coffee is sent for recycling.  By-products get upcycled too; coffee sacks are collected for use as animal bedding, chaff (the innermost skin surrounding the green bean) is highly nutritious so is collected by local farms who use it on their crops, and any coffee that is deemed ‘under par’ in the roasting process is used in our training school.”

One hotel operator gave their angle; “One of the challenges for a hotel is you need housekeeping on board to collect the capsules and not put them into general waste, but you cannot add another bin to their trolleys just for coffee capsules.”  The entire table agreed, “get the whole team to buy in, give them the ‘why,’ rather than add another thing to their list of things to do.  It’s not a lack of willingness, it’s a lack of awareness, and we need to help them change their mindset, let them know that the power to make change is in their hands.” 

Summary
All concurred that the coffee supply chain is a complex one and sometimes it’s easier to jump on board with an established programme, but there is no ‘one size fits all’ and certification only works in certain markets.  These stories need to be told to the industry, and to consumers, and we all need education and understanding to make more informed decisions about our coffee consumption and the effect is has on the coffee growing communities, not just to tick a sustainability box.

If you’re interested in hosting or participating in a future round table event, please contact Lorraine.

Event Sponsor

Founded in 2005 by Grant Lang, he believes the best way operators can sell more coffee is to serve great coffee so Mozzo helps businesses make memorable coffee experiences with a full-service coffee partnership.  Tailored to individual needs, Mozzo’s team supports operators to elevate the coffee experience through fanatical service, consistent product quality and engaging brand purpose.  Mozzo inspires passion and builds coffee confidence with structured training, as well as immersive experience days at the Mozzo Roastery, offering essential practical knowledge.