Procurement Intelligence Unit

When you got out for a bite to eat, do you ever wonder whether the beef you eat once had a happy life among its fellow cows? Or if the rocket salad you're nibbling on comes from a rooftop garden? And what if the restaurant you eat at is heated with gas sourced from organic waste, well, cow manure and sewage slurry, to be exact? Absurd thoughts? Perhaps not, as the recently founded Sustainable Restaurant Association (aka SRA) would tell you.

Recently founded in the UK by restaurateur Mark Sainsbury, Henry Dinbley of the healthy fast food chain Leon and Giles Gibbon of the CSR consultancy Good Business, the body is aimed at improving the environmental performance of UK eateries. It rates restaurants according to a wide range of criteria, such as where they source their food from, how they use their energy and how they dispose of their food waste. It's quite an ambitious project – the association would like to see as many of the 30,000 restaurants across the UK as possible to become members. To qualify for membership, restaurants must meet at least three criteria out of 100 outlined by the SRA. Once in, they are entitled to display a "We're at the table sticker". So far, several high-profile restaurants and chains have already become members of the SRA, including the likes of Carluccio's, Moro and Benares.

So let's recap: you go to a restaurant that sources bananas from Fairtrade-certified plantations, uses recycled toilet paper and makes a point to go with the environmentally friendly option on the dish washer menu. Voilà, you, the consumer, just ordered a "truly sustainable" meal from an SRA-certified eatery because it was able to satisfy a minimum of three sustainability criteria.

Let's just for a minute ignore the fact that this restaurant has a large carbon footprint and produces exorbitant amounts of waste in its supply chain (who cares, it already fulfilled three criteria, right?). But here is news. Even good old McDonald’s, yes, McDonald's, the global provider of fast food has more "green" measures up its sleeve (than you would think). It uses hydrofluorocarbon-free refrigerant equipment, sources organic milk and free-range eggs, recycles cooking oil and builds waterless urinals among other global "green" techniques. Admittedly, McDonald's is everything but an ideal showcase when it comes to fair food considering the list of McControversies that go on and on.

But at least the fast food chain reminds us that companies the size of McDonald's can and increasingly have to make their supply chains greener, and if they decide to do so, it is not about cherry picking a few measures here and there (the ones that fit the bill) and neither is it about joining an exclusive club. Instead, sustainability cascades from top to bottom, impacts a range of business units, transcends any geographical boundaries and, more importantly, is a project with a never-ending deadline (once you finish, you start over again).

Procurement plays a vital role in the success or failure of a company that aims towards a green supply chain. The challenge lies in truly transforming the supply chain by improving or building a new network of suppliers that can deliver in line with the company's overall green vision. No longer is procurement's role to source products at best price or quality but it has shifted its focus to criteria such as environmental impact, performance and sustainability. If done right, the business rewards will inadvertently follow in the long run or, as Unilever’s chief executive Richard Lambert told the Financial Times last week: "I discovered a long time ago that if I focus on doing the right thing for the lonG term to improve the lives of consumers and customers all over the world, the business results will come."

But back to our actual object of discussion, the Sustainable Restaurant Association. To give it some credit, the idea in itself not bad. If the SRA fails to convert UK eateries to become sustainable businesses, at the very least, it's poised to raise awareness among consumers. However, for restaurants to become properly sustainable - meaning the sourcing and producing of food are done in a way that respects the environment, humans and animal welfare alike - the SRA has to raise the bar when it comes to accepting new members. So watch out consumers, next time you are looking for a sustainable eating experience in the UK, make sure you don't get deceived by some happy cows printed on your napkin.