Green Earth Appeal and Lightspeed ePOS host Carbon Free Dining event

Lightspeed ePOS and Green Earth Appeal have partnered to host the first event for Carbon Free Dining, a ground-breaking initiative aimed at introducing a more sustainable model for UK restaurants.

Under the programme, Carbon Free Dining plants a tree on behalf of a restaurant for every bill they present. Lightspeed ePOS then provides their platform to any restaurant under the initiative, subject to the number of trees a restaurant plants.

The initiative is already revolutionising the way local businesses and their customers give back to the environment in the fight against deforestation, extinction and global warming, having planted over 500,000 trees in more than 17 countries.

It has received support from three-Michelin star celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, James Martin and Gregory Marchand, who have since signed up their respective restaurants to Carbon Free Dining.

As part of the launch, Lightspeed and Green Earth Appeal are inviting the hospitality industry to Haz restaurant, East London, on 19th June, for an event focusing on how to create a sustainable restaurant model that will increase profitability by responding to the needs of today’s consumer. Members of the panel include Peter Hemingway, influencer and community manager at the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), and Sandy Jarvis, sustainability advocate and Head chef of the renowned Culpeper restaurant in Shoreditch.

Lightspeed ePOS and Green Earth Appeal provide a cost-effective way for restaurants to showcase their corporate social responsibility at zero cost to the business.

Satinder Bindra, former director of communications for United Nations Environment, has been a strong advocate of the collaboration, stating, “[This is] an outstanding initiative which successfully merges the luxury of eating out with the joy of knowing we are simultaneously giving something back to nourish our planet”.

 Similarly, CEO and Founder of Lightspeed Dax Dasilva has also commented that, “Lightspeed was founded on pushing boundaries, empowering business and putting culture before code. By defining a new paradigm, we are redefining the industry. Carbon Free Dining is just one more step towards offering our ePOS partners and their customers a seamless way to achieve their own goals”.

 Register here for your free ticket here.

About Carbon Free Dining
Carbon Free Dining is a ground-breaking environmental certification programme managed by The United Nations Environment partner, Green Earth Appeal in partnership with Lightspeed. Simple to implement, Carbon Free Dining offers certification to those restaurants who demonstrate their passion for the environment. Carbon Free Dining-certified partners empower their diners to plant a tree in the developing world to counterbalance the environmental impact of their meal.
Learn more

About Lightspeed ePOS
Lightspeed ePOS is a cloud-based solution for independent restaurants and a Business Partner of the Institute of Hospitality.
Learn more

 

Emirati and Italian Architects win Second Annual Bespoke Access Award to Champion Accessible Hospitality

Robin Sheppard, Baroness Celia Thomas, Maher Hadid (MnM Studio Architects)

At the second annual special event held at the Palace of Westminster on April 18th, MnM Studio Architects, along with Maria Brighenti and Marcello D’Orsi, were announced the joint winners of the 2017/18 Bespoke Access Awards, a design competition to create accessible solutions, run in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and featuring a prize fund of £30,000.

MnM Studio devised an innovative accommodation solution based around the four senses of smell, taste, sound and sight, with extensive use of Braille throughout. Termed “empathy through aesthetics”, the system aims to support the emotional state of the guest, while maintaining a distinct visual appeal via a stylish, curved design.

“’Empathy through aesthetics’ perfectly encapsulates what we are aiming to do with the Access initiative”, commented Baroness Celia Thomas, Chair of the Judging Panel and Patron of the Awards. “The emphasis placed on the emotional state of the guest was particularly impressive, given this is an area that is often overlooked.”

Alongside MnM Studio, freelance Italian architects Maria Brightei and Marcello D’Orsi were successful in the Architectural category, as well as being announced joint winners of the overall Celia Thomas Prize, worth a total of £20,000. Their design, which focused on the means through which existing accommodation can be renovated with the disabled traveler in mind, concentrated on the public spaces of hotels, and how subtle enhancements can be made to significantly increase the ease with which they are passed through.

Robin Sheppard, Baroness Celia Thomas, Marcello D’Orsi

“I was particularly struck by the attention they had paid to the customer journey through reception and the lobby areas”, commented Alan Stanton, Stirling Prize-winning architect and member of the Judging Panel. “These are areas often overlooked by both architects and business owners alike, and it is easy to think of them as merely transient. But they can significantly improve or disrupt a guest’s experience, so it was exciting to see them highlighted and approached with such care.”

“The architectural community across the country has really embraced the Access Awards since their launch in 2016”, added Jane Duncan, RIBA Immediate Past President. “It is tremendously encouraging for the future of accessible tourism to see this year’s awards attracting interest from around the world, as well as ideas shining a light on some of the more often-overlooked aspects of disabled travel.”

The competition attracted submissions spanning the length and breadth of the UK, as well as from across Europe and Asia. Entrants competed across an expanded range of categories, including Product Design, Architecture, Service Applications (Digital) and Service Applications (Training). Alongside the overall Celia Thomas Prize, worth £20,000 and believed to be the largest cash prize in the UK for a design concept.

“We were extremely pleased to see the competition attracting a truly global roster of entrants this year”, said Robin Sheppard FIH, Chairman of Bespoke Hotels and recently appointed Hotel Sector Champion for Disabled People. “The Access Awards continue to grow and evolve, but the high quality of entries ensures our collective focus remains on improving the experience for all hotel guests, whether disabled or otherwise.”

The entries were judged at the turn of the year by a panel which included Paralympic gold medalist Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Stirling Prize-winning architect Alan Stanton, Baroness Celia Thomas, Tom Perry, Head of the Cities Programme at the Design Council, Graeme Whippy, Disability Specialist for Channel Four, Alastair Hignell CBE, alongside Robin Sheppard.

Full list of winners:
MnM Studio Architects, Dubai
Joint Winners of the Celia Thomas Prize

Maria Brighenti with Marcello D’Orsi, Italy
Joint Winners of the Celia Thomas Prize

MnM Studio Architects, Dubai
Joint Winners of the Architecture Category

Maria Brighenti with Marcello D’Orsi, Italy
Joint Winners of the Architecture Category

Wilson Mason LLP, Lancashire
Winners of the Product Design Category

Purcell, London
Winners of the Service Applications (Training) Category

Neatebox Ltd, London
Winners of Service Applications (Digital) Category

Full list of judges:
Robin Sheppard, Chairman, Bespoke Hotels Group
Celia, Baroness Thomas of Winchester, House of Lords
Alan Stanton OBE, Stanton Williams
Tanni, Baroness Grey-Thompson, Paralympic Gold Medallist, House of Lords
Graeme K Whippy MBE, Disability Specialist for Channel 4
Alastair Hignall CBE, Trustee of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation
Tom Perry, Head of the Cities Programme at the Design Council
Sarah Weir OBE, Chief Executive of Design Council
Paul Gregory, MCIBSE, MSLL, Global Specification Director for Dyson.

www.bespokehotels.com/access
#BespokeAccess

Gender balanced management teams make for safer and more engaged employees, Sodexo study finds

Study of 50,000 Sodexo employees finds teams with gender diversity achieve better results across the board

International services company Sodexo has found teams managed by a balanced mix of men and women are more successful across a range of measurements including employee engagement and health and safety.

The five-year study of 70 Sodexo entities across different functions represents 50,000 managers worldwide and tested the performance implications of gender-inclusive work culture. The study examined women across all levels of management – not just upper-level leadership positions – in order to investigate the “pipeline” that will ultimately affect gender balance at the top tier of businesses.

Sodexo’s study found that non-financial factors can also significantly benefit from a more equally structured leadership, with benefits including;

Gender-balanced management reported an employee engagement rate that was 14 percentage points higher than other entities

Gender-balanced entities saw the number of accidents decrease by 12 percentage points more than other entities.

Gender-balanced entities had an average client retention rate that was 9 percentage points higher than other entities.

Gender-balanced entities had an average employee retention rate that was 8 percentage points higher than other entities

Operating margins significantly increased among more gender-balanced teams than other teams.

The pattern of results indicated that a near-equal balance of men and women in management was critical to observing gains in financial and non-financial KPIs. Once the proportion of women in management exceeded 60%, the benefits plateaued, confirming that a mix between 40% and 60% is necessary for optimal performance.

Analysts also found a direct correlation between the percentage of women in the total workforce and those in management, indicating gender-balanced workforces and leadership create an environment supportive of career growth for women. This lends support to the idea that gender parity in top leadership is closely related to the pipeline of women in the workforce.

Sodexo, already a leader in diversity & inclusion, is breaking new ground in gender parity. Today, women represent 50% of its board. Thirty-two percent of senior leadership positions are held by women globally – a 6% increase at the very top levels since 2013.

Middle management and site management positions are balanced at 46%. Currently, 59% of the total workforce works within gender-balanced management.

The Sodexo Gender Balance Study originated in 2014 with Sodexo’s desire to improve its gender parity in leadership throughout the management of its 425,000 global workforce and to expand previous outside research on gender parity in the workplace.

The full report can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/2tmBIbm