Sustainable food in the Ringhotels

Project objective

Sustainable food in the Ringhotels

The Ringhotels, an association of around 60 unique hotels in Germany, are characterized by their individual, private management as well as their typical local ambience and excellent cuisine with seasonal products from the region. Sustainability is an important pillar of the Ringhotels' brand philosophy. The association focuses primarily on the topics of certification, energy efficiency and regional, sustainable cuisine.

The joint sponsorship project "Sustainable Food in the Ringhotels" focuses on this topic and promotes the implementation of practical measures to make the food on offer in the Ringhotels even more sustainable.

A one-hour webinar based on the Futouris Sustainable Food Manual was developed, recorded as part of a live event in September 2023 and made available long-term on the Ringhotels e-Academy website.

The target group for the webinar are owners and the management level of the Ringhotels. It includes an introduction to sustainable food, sustainable food purchasing, menu design, avoiding food waste and guest communication. Once completed, a quiz is available to test and consolidate knowledge. The webinar will be supplemented by face-to-face training and workshops at Ringhotels events in April 2023 and September 2024.

The second important component of the project is the implementation of the guest communication tools developed by Futouris in the Ringhotels. To this end, the tools were adapted to the Ringhotels' corporate design and are currently being used in the hotels. The aim is to raise guests' awareness of sustainable products and avoid food waste using tools such as food pickers for labeling on the buffet, displays to promote local and seasonal products and posters/roll-ups in the restaurant.

The use of the sustainable food measures and communication materials provided by Futouris was also integrated into the application and evaluation criteria for the high-reach and high-participation restaurants. The aim is to collect feedback on the use of the tools provided as well as best practice examples from the hotels.

Activities in the project

The following activities were carried out:

• Development of a 1-hour webinar on sustainability topics based on the Futouris Sustainable Food Manual and recording as part of a live event in September 2023

• Webinar has since been available on the Ringhotels e-Academy

• Face-to-face training and workshops as part of Ringhotels events in April 2023 and September 2024

Further activities (in-house implementation by Ringhotels)

• Raising awareness among Ringhotels guests for the topics of sustainable food and avoiding food waste using Futouris guest communication materials

• Food Picker, Displays, posters and roll-ups from the Futouris guest communication manual were adapted to the Ringhotels CI and made available to the hotels

• Use of the communication materials in the Ringhotels

• Integration of the application of sustainable food measures in the evaluation criteria of the "Ringhotels Kompass" award, which has a wide reach