The food industry is responsible for over 30% of all green house gas emissions and environmental degradation. This is a fact that few are talking about and we want to change this. We are on a mission to build a sustainable food system.
SUSTAINABILTY
LISTEN UP, because it is IMPORTANTISSIMO
THE SUGO SUSTAINABILITY RATING
We have developed a rating system which will give all of our dishes a rating out of 10 on sustainability. The rating is an assessment of all the components of a dish, looking at each of the ingredients’ life cycles and calculating: water usage, land usage, energy usage, direct emissions, ecosystem damage and food conversion ratios. Each dish is then given a result per 100g . The results will then be placed on our spectrum from 1 to 10.
Want to understand more on this topic?
Please email Matteo and he will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
THE FACTS
On average 30% of all food is wasted. The UK currently wastes over 15m tonnes of food each year. This means that one third of everything we farm, whether crops or meat, is wasted. Therefore meaning that we can immediately reduce the impact of the food industry on the environment, by 30%, simply by eliminating waste. This of course is easier said than done, and food waste is one of the most difficult issues we face within our food system.
Our response...
Zero Waste
Our effort to operate a zero-waste supply chain is certainly the most challenging one. We strive for zero-waste by digging into the details as well as some creative thinking.
Examples of these are:
Small batch cooking – this allows us to adapt to fluctuations and cook only what we need
Staff meals - A simple solution is often to feed the team with the extras. Often at the end of a shift all the fresh food gets sent home with the staff.
Creative Cooking – just getting a bit creative and looking for alternative uses of the same ingredients can help reduce waste. Turning focaccia for our panini into bread crumbs for arancini, or parsley stalks into flavour for our stocks are some example of quick and easy hacks which are used in our kitchen.
THE FACTS
PLASTIC
Our oceans sequester around 20% of the carbon dioxide on the planet. Our oceans are now riddled with micro plastics which are destroying the ecosystems inside it, and we expect there to be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2040. Although there are no exact figures, we can estimate that over 50% of this plastic waste comes from the food and beverage industry.
Our response...
We are zero plastic. All of our packaging is either biodegradable or recyclable. Note we do use PET recyclable plastics and compostable plastics, which are of course eco friendly.
WASTE
BEEF
THE FACTS
Land Use
1. A factory farmed cow uses 2 -3 acres of land for 2 – 3 years
2. A grass fed cow uses 5 – 15 acres of land for 2 – 3 years
3. If we wanted to convert all cattle to grass fed cattle it would require most of the land available on our planet. We believe it's important to understand grass fed beef is certainly not more sustainable than other options of beef.
4. Cattle farming is the cause of 70% of all deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest, our planets "lungs".
Water Consumption
1. A ”high-yielding” cow drinks up to 150 litres of water a day
2. 1 pound (450g) or two burgers of beef requires an average of 9,000 litres of water to produce.
4. These figures are 5 times greater than those of pork and chicken and 3 times greater
than lamb.
Methane and emissions
1. All the cattle on our planet create the equivalent green house gas emissions to all the transport in the world (cars, planes, lorries e.t.c)
2. 3 – 4 tonnes of methane are produced by the average cow in its lifetime.
3. Grass Fed cattle produce 60% more methane than factory farmed cows.
4. Methane is 72x more damaging than carbon dioxide ( it traps 72x more heat).
Our response...
We do not cook with beef on our menu.
MEAT
THE FACTS
- There are 70 billion Livestock on the planet
-45% of the land on our planet is inhabited by livestock, causing more than 80% of the deforestation worldwide
-50% of world water is consumed by livestock
-Over 50% of all green house gas emissions come from livestock
-Over 50% of our crops are consumed by livestock
Our response...
70% Vegetarian
We target a minimum of 80% vegetarian output. Meaning that for every 100kg of food that we make,
20kg maximum, is meat. This is achieved by of course introducing more vegetarian and vegan dishes, but
also by shifting dish weight ratios towards vegetables more than meat.
Plant Flavours
A problem that the restaurant industry faces in reducing meat consumption is that vegetarianism, in the eyes of meat eaters, has been given a "less tasty" label. Italian cuisine offers an abundance of vegetarian
flavours, and we are keen to use this to create a menu where the vegetarian options are centre pieces of the menu rather than "an option for vegetarians".
FOOD MILES
THE FACTS
Food miles are in fact only 6% of the environmental costs of food, but is still something we believe is important to act on.
Our response...
We source all of our food from the most local option possible in order to reduce its carbon footprint. We do not import Italian ingredients en mass and believe that if we can’t make the dish using primarily ingredients available to us in this country, then we should not make it at all.