Accor Hotels to Grow Own Vegetables in Effort to Reduce Food Waste

Referring to http://www.travelpulse.com/

HOTEL & RESORT | PATRICK CLARKE | APRIL 14, 2016

AccorHotels has announced plans to plant hundreds of vegetable gardens across its portfolio of hotels, the Agence France-Presse reported.

The French hotel group is aiming to cut its own food waste by as much as 30 percent by serving guests more locally-sourced food, CEO Sebastien Bazin confirmed Tuesday.

The Paris-based group will start by measuring its food waste, requiring restaurants at its properties to weigh and record food that is thrown away.

AccorHotels plans to use that data to determine potential solutions. The group will also slim down its menus.

“In the future we’re going to have menus with 10, 15 or 20 main courses, with more local products,” Amir Nahai, who leads the group’s food operations, told the AFP. Currently, its restaurants offer up to 40 main course options.

Nahai added that AccorHotels has set lofty goals in terms of garden development, with the group aiming to have 1,000 vegetable gardens created by the end of the decade. 

The motivation is simple, given the potential benefits of cutting waste as food accounts for anywhere between one-quarter and one-third of AccorHotels’ revenue, per the AFP.

With its ambitious plan, AccorHotels hopes to build on its most recent environmental accomplishments in which it reported reducing water consumption by nearly nine percent, energy consumption by more than five percent and carbon emissions by more than six percent over the past five years.

The U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that as much as one-third of food that is produced is ultimately wasted. And given the financial impact of the unnecessary production, travelers shouldn’t be surprised to see other hotel chains launch similar initiatives down the road.