Food & Beverage
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General

Food & beverages are vulnerable to climate change, resources scarcity and consumer-preference factors. F&B companies, offices and companies offering in-house catering need to implement a green strategy that encompasses all aspects of their operations. Besides, more sustainable choices often result in cost saving.

If you want to dig deeper into the environmental impact of food production, take a look at those data.

Measure & Monitor
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low
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medium
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Measuring your carbon footprint is a key step for an efficient environmental management: if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it!

It requires methodology and proper data collection: goods purchase, waste but also energy & electricity consumption especially by refrigeration, transport fleet's emissions...

You may want to categorize them under your scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions may be the easiest ones to tackle first as companies can control the sources of those emissions. However, when dealing with food and beverages, Scope 3 emissions linked to production and supply chain should be adressed too as they account for the vast majority of companies' total carbon footprint.

Key steps:

  • Implement an adequate procedure to accurately measure across all departments: e.g. How much do you consume / buy / waste every week, per person or per service, according to each product ?
  • Set annual reduction targets to achieve environmental sustainability and economic outcomes.
  • Continuously monitor and improve.

You may use "Smart" solutions such as:

  • Food Waste Tracking system, to keep track of your actual waste, follow your actual consumption and decrease stock & waste.
  • Counter systems/ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to track how much food is being served to your customers in how many portions, to help you plan future menu rotations.

Th FLW Value calculator (in beta test version) quickly estimates the value of food loss and waste in terms of nutritional and environmental impacts.

You may also consider hiring a professional to help you implement the process and track the performances.

See below for additional sources of data and actions from NEA, WRAP, Climate Smart Business among others.

~40%

of the total food waste in Singapore each year is generated by Commercial and industrial (C&I) premises.
(NEA)

~ 75% - 90%

of a food product's carbon footprint happens in the upstream supply chain.
(engagethechain)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

To support businesses in their efforts, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has produced a series of food waste minimization guidebooks, which provide advice and examples across the whole value chain:

Other useful reports, checklists and standards:

Suppliers that provide solutions:
Food Waste Management Solutions
Lumitics (SG)

Lumitics seeks to accelerate the transformation of kitchens around the world towards more sustainable operations, by empowering them with a tracking and monitoring solution to better manage their food waste.

AI-enabled food waste tracker
Winnow

Winnow believes that food is far too valuable to waste, and that technology can transform the way we use food. They help companies run a more efficient and sustainable kitchen by automating food waste capture, enabled with AI.

Food Waste Prevention Expert
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

LightBlue is an awarded Best Small Business: Good Food for All by the United Nations (among 2,000 applicants) with a vision to reconcile sustainability with business excellence.

They specialize in food waste prevention through capacity building workshops, Food Intel Tech (FIT) — food waste monitoring tech, and Food Waste Prevention program to reduce food waste, cut operational expenses, and move towards zero food waste to landfill and low carbon operations.

End-to-End sustainability and Energy Efficiency intelligence platform
faradai

Company providing End-to-End sustainability and Energy Efficiency intelligence services. It contains three main components:

  • Faradai Sustain helps enterprises achieve and report on their Net Zero goals, improve data visibility, and utilize AI to provide actionable insights.
  • Faradai Energy is a data science-centric Intelligence Platform that employs machine learning algorithms and big data analytics to provide energy saving, operational efficiency, energy procurement optimization, predictive maintenance, and sustainability management for its customers.
  • Faradai Grid is orientated directly to Renewable Energy Sources, EV infrastructure, and BESS management.
Climate cloud platform
Asuzero Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Asuzero is a comprehensive platform for enterprises aiming to achieve net-zero and combat the global climate crisis. Our unique value proposition lies in offering a one-stop solution that educates and guides customers on their decarbonization journey. We provide bespoke consulting services to help organisations understand their carbon footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all three scopes.

By addressing Scope 3 emissions, we assist customers in engaging with their vendors and conducting assessments to accurately calculate and offset their emissions.

Furthermore, our platform offers Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Supply Chain functions to help manage sustainability performance and track progress towards sustainability goals. As a certified provider by CDP and TCFD, we are authorised to issue sustainability ratings for companies and products, highlighting their level of sustainability performance. Asuzero enables enterprises to take decisive action, drive momentum, and work towards a sustainable, low-carbon future.

Operates in: Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong

Set up a sustainable purchasing policy
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
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low
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IMPACT
HIGH

If you haven't set up a Sustainable Procurement Policy yet, please refer to the global Sustainable Procurement Policy page in the Resources section for a step-by-step guidance.

- Analyze consumption and existing practices. With your suppliers’ support:

  • Identify your most purchased products/services and the ones with the biggest environmental impact. Do it for products and services.
  • Prioritise your actions on the products & services with the highest carbon footprint.

- Involve your employees in the sustainable purchasing policy and educate them: share/present green product lines with/to employees (especially people in charge of food and beverage suppliers) to get their support.

- Involve your suppliers in the sustainable purchasing policy and work with them to define your objectives.

- Define targets and KPIs evolution, such as:

  • Sustainable or eco-certified Food & Beverage products amount on total Food & Beverage products amount: could be declined per category (vegetables, fish…)
  • Carbon footprint evolution for main Food & Beverage products volumes: it should decrease deploying all the below recommendations.

See more details for choosing a catering provider in the below solution "Choose sustainable food service contractors", for sourcing in the Food & Drink Sourcing sub-category and for others in the  General Equipment sub-category.

And importantly:
- Limit the number of references for food and beverage items and define a green list. Negotiate better prices on less references with higher volumes.
- Include the above criteria in the specifications of your Request For Quotations.
- Overweight sustainable criteria in the suppliers' offers such as eco-certified products, local production, short food supply, green cleaning products…

26%

Food accounts for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.
(our world in data)

~ 10 to 50 times lower

CO2 emissions from most plant-based products compared with most animal-based products.
(our world in data)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Reduce F&B Purchase, Consumption and Footprint
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Once you have measured your purchases, production and waste, you will be able to identify the areas of improvements.

To achieve waste & footprint reduction as well as costs savings, here are a few suggestions:

  • Buy adequate amounts of drinks and food (no over-purchasing)
  • Review portions and plate sizes if you end up with regular leftovers
  • Offer different portion sizes options and indicate serving sizes
  • Offer kids menu to adjust the portion
  • Allow your customers to bring their own containers for leftovers
  • Design menus to optimise ingredients' usage (same ingredients used in different dishes, maximise the use of different parts...)
  • Shrink your menu size to keep the Inventory levels low
  • Include meat-free, dairy-free or plant-based menu
  • Set up targets to increase the share of sustainable proteins and plant-rich foods in menus
  • Encourage guests to choose more sustainable plant-rich options
  • Source locally grown products. There are many other ways too, please refer to the below additional resources for useful checklists and possible actions.

Did you know that most of the vegetables we eat have secondary edible parts we usually throw away?

As mentioned in the solution "Measure & Monitor" above, using a Food Waste Tracking system or a Counter systems/ ERP can help you track your efforts.

You may ask the help of a consulting company to help you in this process.

More details on F&B Waste Management in the related Sub-Category.

S$ 342 million

is the value of wasted food in Singapore each year.
(Todayonline)

26%

of singaporean purchase more than enough food for consumption.
(NEA - 2015 survey)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Here are some useful checklists:  
- WRAP checklist
- Lists of Action in Food Waste Prevention

Read more tips about sustainable restaurants.

The FLW Value calculator (in beta test version) quickly estimates the value of food loss and waste in terms of nutritional and environmental impacts.

Suppliers that provide solutions:
Food Waste Management Solutions
Lumitics (SG)

Lumitics seeks to accelerate the transformation of kitchens around the world towards more sustainable operations, by empowering them with a tracking and monitoring solution to better manage their food waste.

AI-enabled food waste tracker
Winnow

Winnow believes that food is far too valuable to waste, and that technology can transform the way we use food. They help companies run a more efficient and sustainable kitchen by automating food waste capture, enabled with AI.

Academic ressource - Certification - Benchmark & Food waste consulting
The PLEDGE on Food Waste

The PLEDGE is a practical and scalable answer to a widely underestimated issue with dire consequences: Food Waste. In line with the United Nations' SDGs 2, 12 and 13  and designed on first-hand knowledge from F&B sustainability experts and academics, it helps restaurants to drastically reduce Food Waste, cut on cost, boost their image and foster collaboration with complementary food waste solution providers.

It is the ideal scalable solutions for government agencies, international hotel, catering and restaurant groups, willing to better control food waste and associated costs, establish an audited benchmarking system, and identify existing food waste solutions providers at each level of the FW pyramid.

The 3rd party verified certification and benchmarking system is articulated around 7 key pillars that include Policy adoption, Food Waste Monitoring System, Cross Department Responsibilities, Staff Awareness, Procedure Improvement, Guest Engagement and Transformation / Redistribution to avoid landfilling.

The BOLD objective is for restaurants, canteens and hotel outlets to reach ZERO Food Waste to Landfill.

The 95 criteria, guidelines on auditor's expectations, and tools are available 24/7 on the online platform.

Spirits distribution technology
EcoSpirits by Proof & Company

Launched and distributed by Beverages distributor Proof & Company, ecoSPIRITS is an innovative closed-loop distribution system that aims to eliminate packaging waste in the premium spirits supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport costs, the technology provides both a cost advantage combined with a transformative carbon footprint reduction.
It claims to be the World's First Low Carbon, Low Waste Spirits Distribution Technology.

Food Waste Prevention Expert
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

LightBlue is an awarded Best Small Business: Good Food for All by the United Nations (among 2,000 applicants) with a vision to reconcile sustainability with business excellence.

They specialize in food waste prevention through capacity building workshops, Food Intel Tech (FIT) — food waste monitoring tech, and Food Waste Prevention program to reduce food waste, cut operational expenses, and move towards zero food waste to landfill and low carbon operations.

Get Employees' buy-in
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Make sure that everyone in charge of food preparation is on the same track to reduce food waste. According to WRAP 45% of food waste come from Food Preparation. There is a huge opportunity for training staff at this stage. In comparison, 21% come from Spoilage, 34% from Plate waste.

- Write and share clear procedures & checklists. Make them visible.

- Raise awareness, train and mobilize all employees, including managers, sales teams and operational teams.

- Share progress reporting and action plan definition at all involved operational levels.

You may consider hiring a professional to design and conduct trainings.

62%

of millennials want to work for a company with a positive impact on the world.
(startus)

45%

of food waste come from Food Preparation.(WRAP)

Suppliers that provide solutions:
Food Waste Prevention Expert
LightBlue Environmental Consulting

LightBlue is an awarded Best Small Business: Good Food for All by the United Nations (among 2,000 applicants) with a vision to reconcile sustainability with business excellence.

They specialize in food waste prevention through capacity building workshops, Food Intel Tech (FIT) — food waste monitoring tech, and Food Waste Prevention program to reduce food waste, cut operational expenses, and move towards zero food waste to landfill and low carbon operations.

Supporting employee and community engagement through coastal cleanups, workshops, and outreach talks
Green Nudge

Green Nudge is a social enterprise that supports businesses and communities to achieve positive environmental impact through activities such as coastal cleanups and workshops, outreach talks and sustainability consulting. By raising awareness and co-creating call-to-actions with various stakeholders on sustainability efforts, Green Nudge aims to create a normative shift in the way we create and deal with waste to achieve a low carbon, zero waste future for Singapore.

Provide action-application training and education on waste management practices
Zero Waste SG

Zero Waste SG is a charity and non-governmental organisation leading the drive towards zero waste in Singapore through education and advocacy.
Zero Waste SG focuses on engaging the public and corporates on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in areas of:
1. Food Waste
2. Plastic Disposables
3. Household Recycling
4. Organisational Waste

Educate Consumers
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

Awareness is the first step to change habits:

  • Use canteen space to explain through posters your sustainable actions
  • Provide key figures
  • Explain the environmental impact of meat production and hence why its consumption should be reduced
  • Make recycling easy in your office canteen / restaurant (make sure that you provide general bins and recycling bins with adequate signage so that employees can properly dispose of plastic, aluminum and paper, along with their general trash)

If you have an on-site composter, don't forget a specific bin for organic waste.

50%

reduction in meat and sugar consumption would be necessary to help feeding a growing world population of 10 bn people by 2050.
(The Lancet)

~70%

of agricultural GHG emissions come from the production of ruminant meat.
(Mc Kinsey)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Download the NEA food-canteen challenge to engage with your customers.

WRAP provides a Food Waste recycling poster.

Suppliers that provide solutions:
inspire, educate, and engage the next generation of sustainability champions
GreenPush

Our vision is to help employees make a difference in their workplace today so they can create a better tomorrow.

We give your team members a chance to make a difference in the world. We empower them with knowledge, tools and resources to encourage sustainable behaviours and actions in every part of your business.

Discover our programmes to inspire, educate and engage your team members to make sustainable change.

Choose sustainable food service contractors
Cost
LOW
Cost
MEDIUM
Cost
HIGH
EFFORT
low
EFFORT
medium
EFFORT
HIGH
IMPACT
low
IMPACT
MEDIUM
IMPACT
HIGH

To start with:

  • Prefer certified suppliers
  • Ask them for a standard evaluation such as Ecovadis
  • Evaluate their sustainable practices

Detail sustainable factors to be included in the specifications. These would be the same criteria you would apply for your own company:

  • Prefer local produces, and partner with local communities in order to limit transport and logistics
  • Prefer short food supply chain
  • Buy Certified Products (see ecolabels in Singapore)
  • Buy in Bulk. At least, require from your supplier to limit the packaging whenever possible
  • Integrate side effects such as deforestation and deterioration of natural ecosystems for your raw materials
  • Track food waste
  • Prevent Food Waste with last-minute deals
  • Donate surplus food
  • Donate food waste to feed animals
  • Convert food waste into industrial usage
  • Install on-site food waste treatment system or contract off-site treatment with specialists
  • Avoid single-use crockery/utensils
  • Make recycling easy for consumers
  • Choose Green Cleaning Products
  • Monitor and reduce energy consumption
  • Repair / buy second hand / resell equipment, furniture, fixtures
  • Opt for energy efficient equipment

Include sustainable choice criteria in the suppliers' offers analysis from 10 to 20% of the total scoring.

See more details in the Food & Drink Sourcing sub-category and in the General Equipment sub-category.

~1/4

of GHG emissions come from the agrifood industry globally. It further degrades the natural resources on which it depends, and pollutes air, water, and soil.
(Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Suppliers that provide solutions:
Quality of life services - food, facilities management, benefits & rewards, workplace & technical services
Sodexo

Sodexo has been one of Singapore's leading facilities management and food services companies since 1982. They deliver a wide spectrum of services from catering services, kitchen operations management, food waste management, integrated facilities management from offices to production plants.

Sodexo is committed to make a positive environmental & social impact since 1966. In 2009, they designed their corporate responsibility roadmap "Better Tomorrow 2025 Plan" with a focus on hunger, waste and gender. Their mission is to improve quality of life, to keep people healthy, happy & motivated throughout life.

They claim that their WasteWatch powered by Leanpath Program in collaboration with WWF prevents on average 50% of food wasted.

Food & Support Services (dining, catering, management...)
Compass

Compass Group Singapore provides dining and catering services, as well as management services, through their 3 brands Eurest, Chartwells and ESS.

They started to implement a sustainability strategy in 2018, now based on three pillars: health & wellbeing, environmental game changers and better for the world. For instance, they committed to 50% reduction of food waste across the group by 2030 and partnered with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2019, to promote a circular economy for food.

Click here to contact them.

Buddies - Experience sharing

The « green journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.

Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.

Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.

Shen Hui Tan
Co-founder - merchandise.blue, Founder - Kizuna

My first job was with a major consulting company in Japan. I appreciated my time there, but was always yearning to do something with a greater direct impact, and something that gives me a greater sense of purpose. I am blessed to have the opportunity to travel the world, and be exposed to different perspectives, ways of living and available alternatives!

A series of serendipitous events led to the founding of merchandise.blue with two highly experienced and interesting friends. Merchandise.blue offers merchandise like uniforms, towels and bags in more environmentally progressive textiles made of materials like seaweed, organic cotton and recycled fishing nets. 

When the opportunity to open Kizuna arose, it was clear that I wanted to apply similar values and principles to this physical space.

Claire Chabrières
Founder – ShiokFarm

Entrepreneurial by nature, Claire started ShiokFarm in 2015 when realising the high prices for organic fruit and vegetables in Singapore. Based on the French AMAP model, in which Farmers and a community create a partnership in order to reduce food waste and cost, ShiokFarm aims to provide families and offices in Singapore with affordable organic fruit and vegetables while reducing food waste.

Starting with a small Facebook group, Claire has succeeded in making ShiokFarm an outstanding organic business. ShiokFarm received its BCorp certification in 2023.

Ivona Balint-Kowalczyk
Sustainability consultant, Founder - Sustainao

With a background in sustainability consulting and audit, Ivona supports businesses in their sustainability journey by building an impactful strategy, embedding sustainable practices across operations, and reporting performance to stakeholders.

She is the founder of Sustainao, a Singapore-based company specialized in sustainability consulting. Previously, Ivona worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France. She holds an MBA in CSR & Sustainability and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management.

Li Seng Heng
Founder - Green Nudge, Green Collar

Li Seng is the founder of Green Nudge, a social enterprise that supports businesses and communities to achieve positive environmental impact through activities such as coastal cleanups and workshops, outreach talks and sustainability consulting. By raising awareness and co-creating call-to-actions with various stakeholders on sustainability efforts, Green Nudge aims to create a normative shift in the way we create and deal with waste to achieve a low carbon, zero waste future for Singapore.

Li Seng’s previous experience in the public sector in the central bank of Singapore dealing with financial regulations, combined with his current roles in the community and social enterprise sector reinforced his belief that effective public policies need to be supported by ground-up actions and engagement. Playing an interfacing role within the tri-sector, Li Seng is able to provide sectoral knowledge through a system thinking lens to make informed decisions and strategies. He is happy to discuss disposables, sustainability of events, public education, and is familiar with corporate social responsibility and community / youth engagement.

Samuel Chauffaille
Managing Director AsiaPacific (excl. China) - Ecocert

In 2003, I joined International SOS, world leader of medical and security assistance services and relocated to Singapore in 2008 where I have spent my life since. I held different regional leadership roles and I was a founding member of the Sustainability Committee and initially led the S (Social) part. I was also leading the Environment pillar, with a special focus on the Ecovadis certification.

I enrolled at SMU back in Sept 2020 and graduated from the Sustainability and Sustainable Business executive masterclass in Dec 2020. In July 2021, I joined a local singaporean startup H3Dynamics with the ambition to decarbonize the aviation industry! And since May 2023, I am now the managing director AsiaPacific for Ecocert, world leader in certification for organic products. I am also the Singapore Ambassador (volunteer) for Ecomatcher to help brands fight climate change, one tree at a time.

Finally, I am a French Trade Advisor and part of the Sustainability Committee to strengthen bridges between France and Singapore on this crucial agenda.

Duncan Craig
Director of Sustainability (Interior Environments) - Concourse

Duncan, originally from the UK, has been living & working in Asia for the last 16 years. He runs a creative interior design & project management company delivering projects across the Asia Pacific Region; specialised in retail, F&B and commercial sectors. Duncan is passionate about creating interiors that excite and engage Clients and Customers alike, all through the lens of sustainability.

Tomo Hamakawa
Managing Director - Earth Company / Mana Earthly Paradise

Tomo is a seasoned development professional having lived and worked in various corners of the world from the Tibetan plateau, Indian drylands, Indonesian tropics, to Japanese metropolises. He has extensive field experience working for international and local development NGOs across Asia and Africa, including Kopernik, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the World Bank. He was formerly an Assistant Professor at the Global Leadership Program at the University of Tokyo.

Tomo has a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard College, a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and was an Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellow (2008) and Innovation Fellow (2020) at the East-West Center. In 2014 Tomo was awarded the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award.

Mun Wei Chan
Founder & Principal Consultant - SustainableSG

Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.

He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.

He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Christine Amour-Levar
Founder & CEO - HER Planet Earth & CAL Consultancy

Of French, Swiss and Filipino descent, I am a versatile purpose-driven leader with experience across a range of industry sectors. I have built a global career as a Marketing & Communications specialist and Social Entrepreneur intent on solving some of the world's most pressing issues.

Today, I run my own consultancy business helping clients define their purpose, develop their marketing, communications, CSR and sustainability strategies and I am also a Board Member and Advisor to several purpose-led organisations in the Social Impact, ESG, Fintech and Cellular Agriculture spaces.