Hotel victories at Sustainable Restaurant Awards

Besides the obvious, what do a luxury island hotel; an international hotel group; and an iconic London hotel have in common? They each landed prizes at the recent Sustainable Restaurant Awards. Dixcart Bay, Marriott Hotels International and The Savoy won the Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year, Most Sustainable Large Restaurant Group of the Year, and Best Food Waste Strategy awards respectively. The Sustainable Restaurant Awards were hosted by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) at the OXO2 in London. SRA president Raymond Blanc and two of his former pupils, Bruno Loubet and Agnar Sverrisson, prepared a lunch at the event. The oldest hotel on the channel island Sark, Dixcart Bay was named the Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year in recognition of its “dedication and commitment to running its restaurant responsibly”. Dixcart Bay’s staff run more than 80 environmental initiatives and, because Sark is a car-free island, talk about food metres rather than miles. The restaurant sources much of its produce directly from the island, including from its own market gardens. Additionally, judges were impressed by the hotel’s installation of a recycling facility and establishment of a vineyard that will supply almost 100,000 bottles of wine a year. Managing director of the SRA Mark Linehan said: “Dixcart Bay has shown what’s possible with dedication and commitment to running restaurants responsibly. “From its very close attention to sourcing the best local, seasonal and organic produce, through to the establishment of a very effective waste management system, the team at Dixcart deserves enormous praise for its efforts.” Like Dixcart Bay, Marriott was examined in 14 key areas across the SRA’s three main pillars of sustainability – sourcing, environment and society. The group achieved perfect scores in six areas, including treating people fairly, community engagement, healthy eating and waste management. “Marriott is leading the away amongst hotel groups in the UK. The group has set an exceptional standard of sustainability for other operators to follow,” Mark Linehan commented. COO for Marriott International in Europe Reiner Sachau added: “We are delighted to receive this award in recognition of our commitment to sustainability. It is a great accolade that all our hotels in the UK have worked hard to achieve and can be very proud of. We will continue to prioritise sustainability in all our hotel restaurants, working closely with our associates and the SRA to continually improve our practices.” To win the Best Food Waste Strategy award, the Savoy Hotel has ran a ‘food waste to renewable energy’ scheme over the past 12 months, generating 216 megawatt hours of electricity – enough energy to power around 27 per cent of its guestrooms. This scheme has, so far, saved 198.72 tonnes of CO2 and at least £200 per week in landfill costs.