According to TWC, more than half of UK consumers consider sustainability and the potential environmental impact when ordering food in restaurants, with 66% stating that menus should use more products and ingredients from local suppliers.
Development director at TWC, Tom Fender, said: “There is no doubt that UK consumers are ‘waking up and smelling the coffee’ when it comes to sustainable living and the importance of each one of us making a contribution to reduce the impact of climate change, reinforced by the messages currently coming through from COP26.
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“Covid appears to have been a trigger for many of us. Nearly half of the people questioned said that ethical choices when eating out are now more important to them than before the pandemic began. And 68% of the nation says that food waste is a BIG issue for them, alongside the use of plastics and the over-packaging that we continue to see across the supply chain.
“Hospitality outlets are already making massive strides when it comes to sustainability and in the last two weeks, we have seen an increase in those making pledges towards Net Zero and the interim greener pathways that take them along this journey.
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“Certainly, local provenance is becoming far more important in consumers’ minds. This will have been exacerbated by the fact that they ‘shopped and stayed local’ during the lockdowns, which has been influential in shaping people’s opinions on how they will shop and eat out in the future”.
