BOUTIQUE CONTRACT caterer, Bartlett Mitchell, is converting its entire cleaning chemical requirements to environmentally friendly, ecological products from Delphis Eco. The change, effective immediately, will take place across the company’s 70 operations in London and the South East.
Don Seller, Purchasing Director for Bartlett Mitchell explained the reason behind the change. “Even though they are essential in a business like ours where we serve over 25,000 people a day, using cleaning chemicals will inevitably have some negative impact on the environment. However, as members of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), we wanted to proactively identify how we could reduce or eliminate these impacts and we set about listing the cleaning product criteria we wanted to achieve.
“The new products had to be less toxic, just as effective, and used in lower quantities if possible. We were also looking for product accreditation, recyclable packaging, a reduced/more multi-use product range, and it needed to be a business decision too so pricing was important. From a client perspective, if we could offer products that help them meet their site environmental targets, that was also a benefit for us.”
Bartlett Mitchell found a potential supplier very quickly because Delphis Eco is also accredited by the SRA and offers an entirely ecological range of cleaning materials. Their products were trialled in a cross section of Bartlett Mitchell operations, from large to small, to compare the consumption and effectiveness of the range versus the existing cleaning products used, and the results were very positive. 97% of the responses to the items trialled found them to be the same or better than the existing range of non-eco cleaning chemicals used. It has also been possible to reduce the range used from 34 products to just 21, including everything from dishwasher liquid and heavy duty degreaser to hand wash or oven cleaner. This will have a positive impact on stock holding and team training.
According to Seller, the results have been more than they had hoped for. “We have ticked off all the boxes on our search criteria and to the best of our knowledge, we are the first contract caterer to transition entirely to eco cleaning chemicals, and we have made cost savings. The products also have the EU Ecolabel, which means that they have to perform the same or better than the five non-ecological market leaders in each class at least 85% of the time – the Delphis Eco items achieve a 92% success rate which gives us and our team the confidence that they will do a great job as well as reduce the impact on the environment. Our CSER work is ongoing and it’s really good to have achieved another milestone like this.”
Mark Jankovich, Managing Director of Delphis Eco, added, “It’s been a pleasure working with another SRA accredited company like Bartlett Mitchell on this project – they are like-minded entrepreneurs and we share a CSER vision. Our cleaning range is derived from plant-based extracts so they are wholly environmental, readily biodegradable and in 100% recyclable packaging. By choosing Delphis Eco, Bartlett Mitchell were therefore able to tick all their selection criteria off at once.“
