RESTAURANTS ARE the least likely foodservice channel to describe their businesses as green. They are also the least likely to have an environmental initiative in place.
There has also been a general drop in the number of businesses that could cite a green action that has been implemented in the past year.
According to the Gram Green Paper in 2010, 89% of respondents could cite at least one way in which they had improved the sustainability of their operation. However, in this years Paper, which has just been published, that number had dropped to 76%.
On a positive note, 78% of those surveyed for the report were keener to be greener an improvement on both previous reports in 2008 and 2010.
Gram MD Glenn Roberts said there were a number of barriers preventing businesses going green, with local councils proving particularly problematic. Cost is also an issue.
Of the 49% of restaurant respondents that cited barriers preventing them from being green at work, almost half specified cost as a barrier. However, they were also one of the channels most willing to pay an increase in costs to become greener, Roberts explained.
Contract caterers were also, largely, willing to adopt more sustainable policies with more and more apprciating the long-term financial benefits of doing so. However, as contractors they are being limited in what they can achieve by clients.
