Sustainable Food in the Ringhotels

Sustainable Food at Ringhotels

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

The joint project ‘Sustainable Food in the Ringhotels’ is the focus of attention in this area and promotes the implementation of practical measures to make the food offered by the Ringhotels even more sustainable.

A one-hour webinar based on the Futouris Sustainable Food Manual was developed, recorded at a live event in September 2023 and made available on the Ringhotels e-Academy website for the long term.
The target group of 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. After the webinar, a quiz is available to test and consolidate knowledge. The webinar is complemented by face-to-face training and workshops as part of 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 practices of Ringhotels. For this purpose, the instruments were adapted to the corporate design of the Ringhotels and are currently being used in the. The aim is to raise guests’ awareness of sustainable products and to avoid food waste by means of instruments such as food pickers to indicate items at the buffet, displays to promote local and seasonal products, and posters/roll-ups in the restaurant.

The application of the sustainable food measures and communication materials provided by Futouris was further integrated into the application and evaluation criteria of the wide-reaching and high-participation ones. This is intended 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 have been 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.
• The webinar has since been made 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 by means of Futouris guest communication materials
• Food pickers, displays, posters and roll-ups from the Futouris guest communication manual have been 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 into the evaluation criteria of the ‘Ringhotels Kompass’ award, which has the widest reach.