Food & beverage
Above: Six Senses Douro Valley’s organic garden.
Below: Hilton wants to increase its eco credentials across properties in the Asia-Pacific.
they represent a fundamental part of the chain’s F&B sustainability push. The premise is simple. When food comes back to the restaurant kitchen uneaten, any waste is segregated. In the first place, usable leftovers are given to hungry humans. Now, those chickens come into play, competing with goats and cows for stale bread and fruit cuttings. Anything left over is used for compost.
All told, it is hard not to be impressed by the Six Senses approach – doubly so when you consider the numbers. In 2022, after all, the operator successfully produced over 210,000lb of compost, alongside 93,505 eggs and 77L of essential oils. Crocini, for his part, paints a related picture at Hilton as well. “For example,” he says, “the Hilton Seychelles Labriz Hotel has implemented a compost heap, the output of which helps to grow its on-site organic garden, adopted a stringent food-waste-monitoring effort, and engaged with a water-bottling plant to replace plastic water bottles. Other environmental efforts include using only recycled glass, tins and PET bottles.” That is echoed by similar projects elsewhere.
At a Hilton property in San Diego, managers have partnered with local beekeepers to “provide a haven” for more than 100,000 of the buzzing creatures. The resulting honey is used by the hotel’s restaurant, as the bees also help pollinate the local gardens. Beyond these clever waste-cutting measures, hotels are equally working on ways to cut the amount of food that gets wasted to start with. At some Hilton locations, that begins with advertising. At various properties in the Gulf, the region’s famously extravagant buffets are now marked by carbon emission labels, encouraging diners to eat fewer dishes that impact the planet. “Smaller portions, live cooking stations, and artfully reduced food displays” have all helped too, Crocini continues, noting that altogether the campaign has seen a 61% reduction in food waste – representing the equivalent of 8,600 meals saved. Not, of course, that operators are expecting guests to go hungry. Especially when 86% of travellers put a high premium on eating local cuisine, Crocini says that Hilton is “laser-focused” on giving punters what they need. Smith agrees. Quality, he says, is always more important than quantity. But that hardly means guests should not “get all that they desire”.
Glass half empty
This tension may well grow over the years ahead. Especially as the battle to limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C becomes more urgent – and the impact of climate change continues to ravage developing countries – Smith suggests that “environmental and social responsibility” will remain at the heart of everything Six Senses does. In practice, meanwhile, the chain is rushing ahead with a range of food- focused sustainability efforts, including lobbying the sector to become greener, and introducing more plant-based dishes to restaurant menus. Over at Hilton, the efforts are equally wide- ranging. “While food waste reduction leads to a big impact,” he emphasises, “we at Hilton also understand that waste reduction across the board creates an even bigger one, and in the food and beverage space we have a handful of other initiatives to ensure we’re tackling the issue holistically.” There are plenty of exciting schemes here, from crafting cocktails from vegetables to removing glass bottles from the company supply chain. Given just how vital this work is to the future of the planet, such ambition is surely just as well. ●
54 Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Hilton Hotels & Resorts; Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
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