Cumbria Tourism has announced a groundbreaking new partnership with Guardians of Grub to help the county’s tourism operators rise up against the 1.1 million tonnes of food thrown away by the hospitality industry every year.

The high-profile food waste reduction campaign works with organisations nationally, including UK Hospitality, Manchester Food Board and Visit Belfast to support hospitality and food service businesses in reducing the amount of food they throw away. It estimates that around 18 per cent of the food purchased by the sector ends up in the bin. That equates to £3.2 billion of wasted food – an average of £10,000 for every outlet across the country, including Cumbria. 
As the county’s official Destination Management Organisation (DMO), Cumbria Tourism will be working with Guardians of Grub to help local businesses protect both their profits and the planet by helping them access a range of free practical resources. Tourism and hospitality operators can get started with an online cost saving calculator and a 15-minute cost savings skills course to help develop their teams’ skills and knowledge around the essentials on reducing wasted food. 
Guardians of Grub also provides access to a range of additional resources including smart menu planning guides, handy checklists, inspirational posters for staff, bin labels, stock control sheets and more. 
Once they have the basic information, businesses can take their food waste reduction to the next level with the new ‘becoming a champion’ e-learning course.
In the coming weeks, Cumbria Tourism will be recruiting businesses for this second more in-depth virtual course, enabling them to take a deep dive into all the ways they can make a difference in their day-to-day operations – from looking at portion sizes and analysing how they separate different types of waste to food delivery and storage.  
Sustainable tourism officer, Gemma Procter, said: “The food you serve, where it comes from and how it reaches you all contribute to one of the biggest portions of your business’s carbon footprint. As you pay twice for wasted food – once to purchase it and once to dispose of it – minimising wasted food is vital.
“The good news is that you can often make a big difference in this area of your business. We’re looking forward to working with Guardians of Grub to reduce the impact of wasted food with businesses across Cumbria.”
A spokesperson for Guardians of Grub, said: “With wasted food costing our industry £3.2 billion per year and every 1kg wasted contributing to 3kg of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) it has never been more important to work together to shape the sector’s future and feed people not bins.”
For access to the introductory 15-minute Guardians of Grub course, visit: www.guardiansofgrub.com. To express an interest in signing up for the free ‘becoming a champion’ online course, contact Gemma Procter at: GProcter@cumbriatourism.org