The Facts Speak For Themselves….
3 in 4
Three in four adults would prefer to eat in a restaurant which displays a dish’s carbon footprint, helping them make more informed decisions over what they eat.
82%
82% of adults want to see more restaurants, pubs, hotels and cafes offer lower carbon menu items.
78%
78% of adults would like to reduce their environmental impact by making more informed choices on their food when eating out.
91%
Over 90% of adults say large restaurant chains and caterers have a responsibility to do all they can to help our environment.
Where you come in
As consumers’ awareness around the environmental impact of their food choices grows, the hospitality industry has a crucial role to play in promoting sustainable eating.
Food chain transparency has been highlighted as a key consumer eating trend for 2019 and many diners are looking to reduce their personal carbon footprint. Your diet contributes approximately 20-30% of your individual greenhouse gas emissions and for most people, low carbon eating is one of the simplest and most effective changes to make. Eating out contributed 43.2% of total spend on food & beverages in 2018; the choices consumers make when dining out can have a big impact on their carbon footprint.
Customer Appetite
Customer appetite for more sustainable dining is on the rise. Ethical consumerism in the UK food sector is growing 9.7% year on year and ‘environmental concern’ is the fastest growing reason people give for their food choices – rising 30% in 2017. This suggests diners are voting with their feet and selecting more environmentally friendly eateries.
Putting carbon emissions on your menus isn’t just more ethical, it makes financial sense too. Low carbon foods carry lower costs and research shows 80% of UK adults are happy to pay more for their meals if it benefits society. Your sustainable menu can offer a healthy margin to your business, help to drive footfall from ethical consumers and improve public perception of your brand as a responsible, environmentally aware operator.
What is a Carbon Forkprint?
Simply put, a Carbon Forkprint is the carbon footprint of food. Here at E.Mission® we use academic data to help food businesses understand the Carbon Forkprint of the dishes on their menus. Our expert team works in partnership with outlets to give their customers a unique experience; we provide easy to understand information about the environmental impact of what they eat.
Our menu analysis service is the first of its kind and calculates the Carbon Forkprint of each dish, based on the ingredients’ cooking, sourcing and how emission intensive the food production process is. This can help restaurants and customers understand how simple changes can have a significant impact on the menu’s footprint. Displaying the Carbon Forkprint on menus, in a similar way to calories, helps consumers make more informed decisions about what they eat.
Let's do a trial...
We use our tried and tested approach to make a Carbon Forkprint trial easy for you and your customers. At a restaurant in Birmingham city centre, the emissions associated with main meals fell by over 7%. That’s a CO2e saving of almost 1 tonne in just 1 month. Hundreds of customers, when given access to the carbon emissions of each meal on a menu, chose more environmentally friendly items. When asked, 98% of the restaurant customers wanted to see other hospitality venues follow suit.
Get in Touch….
For more information on how E.Mission® can help your business reduce its Carbon Forkprint.