Serving up sustainability

Where possible we only work with the finest local suppliers who are committed to sustainable practices. These include specialist businesses such as Brighton and Newhaven Fish who supply Glyndebourne with day caught local fish and shellfish; Burts Family Butchers who provide Red Tractor assured British meats, Munneries fresh produce who go to great lengths to minimise their carbon footprint; Real Patisserie in Sussex who supply us with delicious artisan bread and pastries plus award winning chocolates from Montezuma who only use eco-friendly packaging.

Dining at Glyndebourne operates in a unique manner with guests making menu choices in advance. This allows us to keep food waste to a minimum, as we only prepare what is to be consumed on the day. We also go through a process of meticulous menu planning focusing on seasonal ingredients which means the dishes taste great and are sourced locally. We monitor sales and the popularity of products closely to ensure we do not over produce and create unnecessary food waste. Finally, all waste is recycled where possible and our food waste is taken to anaerobic digestion to convert waste into biogas for energy applications.

Generally, we are seeing a move towards plant-based dishes and we are keen to develop our plant-forward options further. Plant-based and farm to fork dishes are at the heart of our new concept for Nether Wallop. Choice is everything but our balanced approach is always in favour of plant verses meat ratios.

Glyndebourne’s Traditional picnics are now packaged in jars and recyclable paper materials which means we have removed all plastic, both single and multiple use. For everything else we use recyclable and biodegradable packaging.

We have recently appointed a new Director of Net Zero who is helping us realise our ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030. We have already began making great strides to minimise our carbon footprint through local sourcing, developing plant forward menus, selecting green energy, using recyclable packaging and by working with sustainable suppliers. Shortly we will also begin offsetting our remaining carbon output.

We are committed to ensuring a responsible and safe supply chain full of integrity, which is why we invest in quality sourcing with over 90% coming from the UK. Our fruit and vegetables come from farms holding Global GAP certificates, our milk is Red Tractor Farm Assured whilst our fish and shellfish are responsibly sourced in accordance with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Fish Guide certified between 1-3. We have also signed the Buy Social Corporate Challenge and work with several social enterprise businesses such as Toast Ale.

World Environment Day is an important occasion to raise awareness of this critical matter, but it’s not just about one day. Sustainability and the environment are at the core of everything we do. Wherever we operate and deliver great hospitality, we are asking ourselves, is this the most sustainable way we can deliver great food and drink and how can we make improvements that have a positive environmental impact. Arriving on site each day seeing the wind turbine, drinking Glyndebourne’s spring water directly from our taps and walking past our recycling compound, knowing we are taking steps in the right direction to reduce our overall environmental footprint, keeps sustainability and the environment in the forefront of our minds.