Celebrating 23 years of helping our clients grow their businesses

According to today’s Guardian it is. Lord Stern (author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change) this week claimed that meat ‘is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases’ and ‘puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources.’

For many, a main meal is not complete without a portion of meat, but for those who are of the same mind as Lord Stern and want to reduce their meat intake, there are great alternatives such as Marlow Foods’ Quorn products. The unique ingredient found in all Quorn products – mycoprotein – means that the all of the products are lower in fat than meat and high in protein. For years Quorn products have been seen as a vegetarian option, but as more and more people are opting for less meat in their diets due to health, Quorn products are now also a healthy option for all.

This morning’s front page of The Times certainly gave food for thought – pun totally intended

According to the article we need to give up meat to conquer climate change. The methane gas debate has been ongoing and we are all more or less aware of the fact that it is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas. And who produces the most methane gas? Well, take the average bull … It produces 500 litres of methane gas a day. Now, I’m no mathematician but if you take the 500 litres of methane gas and multiply it by the 1.4bn cows and bulls wondering around planet earth – it quickly adds up. Take those cows and multiply it by the 20.9 sq m they need to produce 1kg of product and where does that get you?

I’m a meat eater and I’m appalled. You don’t think of those numbers when you’re enjoying a burger or a lovely piece of medium rare rump.

I bet if I grew up on a farm I would’ve known these kinds of numbers. After all, the average beef cow produces 14.6 tonnes of manure a year and who is going clean up the mess we leave to the next generation?

For now, I’m stopping in at my local Sainsbury’s and exploring the Quorn range – I’m not vegetarian (how can I be if I don’t eat vegetables) but there have got to be better alternatives out there to meat.

When many of London’s bankers had to pack up their desks and leave their Canary Wharf offices, several restaurants in the area were forced to follow. However, with promises of big bonuses on the way, The Times reports today that financiers appetites are returning.

A wave of new restaurants is opening in the Docklands area, led by Jamie Oliver with a branch of Jamie’s Italian. The restaurant now sees queues outside on weekends and weekdays, and is believed to serve 5,000 people a week.

Although the first quarter of next year is predicted to be very challenging, let’s hope the improvement seen in Canary Wharf will begin to be evident further afield.

Food and drink connoisseurs from all over the globe will be flocking to Paris as wines, dating back centuries, go under the hammer.

One of Europe’s oldest restaurants, La Tour d’Argent, is opening up its renowned wine cellar and auctioning 18,000 bottles to clear space and to raise money for renovation and investment.

A glass of pre-revolution cognac anyone?

Women1st was launched last week by People 1st and I attended the launch along with 100 other senior women across the hospitality, leisure and travel sector. Cherie Blair gave an inspiring speech and many in the audience pledged to give their support to mentoring others and to generally supporting the network. What surprised me was the way some of the press reported the event – presenting female business networks as some kind of club for positive discrimination. After all, we tend to network with people that we have things in common with – whether its business sectors, football teams or indeed gender.

Given that the sector needs to engage and retain more women, Women1st will I am sure, be of great service to women who are looking to build their careers or those who have reached the top of their profession and want to help others do the same.  I look forward to the first networking meeting in November (and I won’t be taking my knitting needles with me!) www.women1st@people1st.co.uk.

Gordon Brown took the scaremonger approach yesterday at the Major Economies Forum in London, when he declared that the world was facing a climate-change ‘catastrophe’. Brown claimed that the United Nations and leaders of the world had 50 days to save the world, and that there was ‘no Plan B’ for the planet.

Although quite dramatic, what Brown is saying is right, and quoting American President, John F. Kennedy, he challenged: “If not us, who? If not now, when? If not together, how?” We need to take climate change seriously, and work together and now to reduce emissions and limit pollution – before it’s too late to reverse the damage we have done.

According to Robert Tate, membership director of Business in the Community (BITC), the current challenging economy isn’t a reason not to continue.

“We believe that responsible business practice isn’t just a nice to have, it’s essential for winning business and establishing a good reputation in today’s socially conscious world. To our members, putting social, community and environmental projects on hold until the economy fully recovers is not an option.  Once the negative impact of the recession is over, the companies that maintained these commitments will surely reap the rewards.”

“Values, integrity and responsible business practice are not just for the good times. In fact, BITC was founded in 1981 to reinforce the responsibility of businesses to play their role in counteracting the social depression of the time.  In a recession, social problems are heightened and environmental issues certainly won’t wait until it’s over.”

Step 1
RBP should be an integrated part of your business strategy, not bolted-on as a nice to have. Think about how you can use it to underpin and build on your company’s values.

Step 2
Invite input from employees. Involving your workforce in creating and updating your RBP strategy creates a sense of working together to achieve an aim beneficial to all. This has worked well for Wetherspoons, which introduced a ‘Tell Tim’ (Tim Martin, Wetherspoons’ founder and chairman) employee suggestion scheme. Receiving twenty submissions a day, the scheme financially rewards suggestions with merit and considers a selection to introduce.

Step 3
Make sure there is something for everyone by covering Business in the Community’s Four Pillars of RBP:  Community, Workplace, Marketplace and the Environment.

Step 4
Acknowledge that results are gradual and that small actions can make the greatest difference overall. Grass-roots initiatives such as turning off lights and equipment when not in use can be just as effective and credible as costly, one-off gestures

Step 5
Appreciate that solid and all-encompassing RBP initiatives are what consumers and other companies want to see when looking to do business. The challenge lies in how you communicate your position in a way that gets across your commitment to RBP and added value as a business.

If you would like more information about how to set up and communicate your responsible business, please call Anita Woods on 020 8256 1360 or email anita@williammurray.co.uk