Don’t let your food leave a bad taste

Whether hosting an event for colleagues or clients, there’s lots to consider when choosing the venue, especially if you’re hoping to find one that meets your own exacting sustainability standards.

With a recent survey revealing 90 per cent of UK professionals believe greenwash is prevalent across all sectors, the task becomes even more challenging. Some restaurants really do walk the walk as well as talking the talk – it’s just knowing how to spot them so that when you and your guests finish your meal, you’re not left with a bad taste in the mouth.

Here are some tips from Lussmanns for identifying the restaurants where the food does good as well as tasting great. Your greenwash detector should be sounding as soon as you see expressions like ‘farm-fresh’, ‘all-natural’ and ‘responsibly-sourced’ on a restaurant’s website or menu. These terms are meaningless. Instead, you should be looking for substantive expressions, like Soil Association organic, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee and tea and seafood that’s certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. All four of these are globally recognised and respected bodies that operate rigorous standards.

In fact, there’s another international sustainability standard that should provide any business host with total piece of mind when entertaining, the Food Made Good Standard. This certification, created and operated by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, assesses restaurants and indeed any commercial food-service operator, across all aspects of their operation – from the food they source, through their energy use and includes their people policies too.

Even if you might not think of taking home leftovers from a business dinner, knowing that a restaurant is happy to offer that service is a good indicator of how seriously they value food and how determined they are not to waste it.

Valuing their people is another important attribute of a sustainable restaurant. Spotting it in advance of a visit isn’t straightforward. One good clue is how they communicate their tipping policy. Look for wording along the lines of: “A discretionary 12.5 per cent gratuity will be added to your bill – 100 per cent of this goes to our staff.” A happy, well remunerated and valued workforce is not only a good indicator of a restaurant that’s operating with care across the board, but also of the kind of venue where you and your guests will enjoy a meal that won’t cost the earth.