Sustainable Businesses can survive and thrive

We’re still celebrating this week after being awarded ‘Supplier of the Year’ on Monday at the Food Made Good Awards, the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s annual celebration of the hospitality industry making progress in positive change towards a better future. The award was presented to us by long-time friend of Belu, Raymond Blanc, and was in recognition of the steps we’ve taken over the years to help the industry towards a more sustainable water service.   Here’s a few words from Karen Lynch, Belu CEO, when she thanked the room – packed full of 500 of the most forward-thinking people from the UK hospitality industry: “We’re thrilled. It’s been a really tough, full on year for us, but for all the right reasons. At last environmental impact is on the agenda with a high profile, when to be completely frank, most of the last nine years at Belu have been dominated by folks wanting to hear about the number of lives transformed as a result of 100% of our profits going to our partner WaterAid. Amazing as that work is, there’s absolutely no point transforming the lives of the people with access to clean water, if we don’t respect our planet too. As everyone in this room already knows, understanding what sustainability truly means for our sector, and for our own businesses, is far more complicated than it seems. For most of us, to live our values and still be here in business takes not just our hearts and our positive intent, but every ounce of our brain power to make smart decisions without unintended consequences. And, physical resilience to find those new solutions, to make them work, and then to find some more.   I think this year more than ever we’ve learned together that good, meaningful change is more easily accomplished through partnerships and collaborations. These relationships bring more quality discussion and learning, lead to more testing and more good data and ultimately result in a more holistic and strategic view than the box ticking that can be so tempting. So, thank you, Sustainable Restaurant Association, and to all you amazing businesses in the room who we have worked with so far. It’s because of your collaboration that the Belu business model, which has our environmental and social mission at the heart of it, is a sustainable one.”   Food Made Good is a sustainable food movement from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, which aims to inspire, inform and campaign on sustainable food issues. Discover more about the brilliant work they do here.