SUSTAINABILITY

Not just a promise. A priority.

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. Our approach sets us apart from competitors and is driven though the business as a key value and part of our culture. We have a robust Environmental and CSR Policy and the Board of Directors drive Hickory’s strategy, setting clear, defined objectives and goals, enforcing key principles for sustainability.

Benefits to corporate clients

When a customer chooses Hickory, they will experience and benefit from our full commitment to Scottish, seasonal and sustainable produce across our menus and our commitment to sustainable business practices. Through our sustainability practices we’ve significantly grown the business and gained approval from several clients and suppliers.

Clients enjoy first-class events, knowing their celebration isn’t making a big dent in landfill.

Food and drink

We recently added Climate Action at COP 26 to our proud list of clients and were chosen as the caterer for our shared sustainability credentials. When a customer chooses Hickory, they will experience and benefit from a range of sustainable measures:

  • Our full commitment to Scottish, seasonal and sustainable produce across our menus.
  • Our commitment to sustainable business practices, which have enabled us to significantly grown the business and gained approval from several clients and suppliers.
  • Our Innovation Team, who look at every element of our food and drink proposition to develop a range of menus focusing on local, seasonal produce and reducing food waste in order to reach our sustainability goals.
  • Our chefs plan menus around seasonal, sustainable local ingredients, actively seeking to support local Scottish suppliers and small artisan producers to reduce food miles.
  • Our Innovation Team, headed by Food Innovation & Event Designer and Culinary Director, ensure our menus lead the way when it comes to produce, sustainability, and innovation.
  • The team constantly review menus, ensuring our plant-based options are consistent across the board, and that our suppliers share our sustainable values and goals.

Monitoring

We constantly monitor our energy consumption and implement policies to improve efficiency.

We started working with Resource Efficiency Scotland in 2020, who helped us set plans to monitor our resource use with clearer labelling of bins, weighing waste and understanding where our waste is coming from. This helps us make efficiencies in purchasing, stock management and staff training.

Our kitchen team executes first-class events and recycles more than 80% of all waste. Cooking oil is recycled into biodiesel, and food waste is recycled to produce green electricity and natural bio-fertilisers. Waste is segregated into plate waste, preparation waste, spoilage and general waste. Helping us have better efficiencies in our purchasing, stock management and staff training.

We are proud to say we are successfully reducing the amount of energy used per customer each year while still growing our business.

Event sustainability.

  • Teams are recruited locally and encouraged to use public transport and car sharing
  • Our proprietary Enterprise Resource Planning Software enables us to be a digital-first business in support of our sustainability goals
  • Alongside Resource Efficiency Scotland, we have significantly improved our understanding of our waste
  • Operate a Green Action Plan and have a dedicated Green Team
  • Significant contracts including an approved caterer at COP26

Awards. And accreditations.

  • Green Tourism Gold
  • Green Meetings Standard Accreditation Vibes Scottish Environment Business Awards 2021
  • Sustainable Business Award at the CIS Excellence Awards 2021
  • Best Use of Technology Cateys 2019
  • Best Eco Friendly at Scotsman Food and Drink Awards 2018

Being chosen by Climate Action at COP 26 thanks to our shared sustainability credentials gives you some idea of how deeply ingrained ESG principles are within our business. We recognise the environmental issues associated with our major activities: waste, water, energy management as well as peripheral activities like paper-use and transport.

At every level of our business we have leaders and ambassadors encouraging more creative, mindful and constructive ways to think and act in ever more sustainable ways. It is an approach that is driven through the business as a key value and part of our culture.