ExCeL London, together with its long-standing catering partner Levy UK + Ireland, have announced a new partnership with food environmental data experts, Foodsteps, to help reduce the embodied carbon emissions in the millions of dishes its in-house team of chefs create and serve every year.
Levy, the sports and entertainment arm of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has been ExCeL’s catering partner since the Royal Docks venue first opened in 2000, and has been putting food and drink at the heart of its 400 events and four million annual visitors ever since.
Foodsteps is the leading food sustainability data experts, who aid food businesses to measure, report, reduce and communicate their food footprint. Foodsteps will provide the kitchen and operational teams at ExCeL with detailed, UK-specific data on the lifecycle footprint of its produce, allowing the team to design lower carbon recipes. In addition, the partnership also includes a new customer-facing labelling system – using Foodsteps’ A (very low) to E (very high) rating – which will help visitors and event organisers make more climate conscious food choices.
The move is one of several steps introduced at ExCeL, with its partner Levy, on its roadmap to becoming Net Zero, including having at least 50% of its menus serving plant-based options, sourcing 100% recyclable or reusable packaging and reducing kitchen food waste to under 1%.
Natalie Sykes, ExCeL’s Sustainability Manager, said: “Food production accounts for almost a third of total global emissions, with animal-based products – in particular red meat and dairy – responsible for much of this.
“With food and drink a key element of the event industry, we want to do all we can to better inform our visitors and event organisers, and to reduce our overall emissions wherever we can. Foodsteps will make it easy to do that and complements our other measures which include reducing red meat on menus, and all desserts being dairy-free.”
Kevin Watson, Business Director & Net Zero Lead at Levy UK+I, added: “Partnering with Foodsteps allows us to better support our clients and customers, it demonstrates why the menu is such a powerful and important ally for meaningful change. Focusing on better data so our chefs and operational teams are informed, empowered, and recognised for the positive impact they can have in every single service, is what we’re trying to achieve together.”
