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We are delighted to announce that we have received a prestigious two-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) in our 2024 Food Made Good Standard assessment. We are proud to have been members of the SRA since 2020 and this accreditation recognises and celebrates the sustainability practices that we have meticulously implemented over the last few years. This means we are now amongst the most sustainable restaurants in the UK.
This is an outstanding moment for Gaucho. Much like the Michelin Guide, the SRA issues a maximum of three stars. There are only 19 two-star rated restaurants in the UK, so it is quite the achievement. It marks the culmination of huge efforts across our business to become as sustainable as we can be.
Here are a few highlights that we are exceptionally proud of:
Sourcing
Our commitment to sourcing authentic and high-quality ingredients is now rubber-stamped, collaborating with suppliers who share our values and celebrating the provenance of our ingredients. Beyond quality, we have been recognised for building fair supplier relationships and how this is laying the foundation for setting more targets on improving sustainable agriculture, fair trade and biodiversity within our supply chains.
We have been working hard on our beef supply chain to look at the opportunities for reducing its environmental impact. Since 2019, we have been working with Cabron Group Agroclimatic Solutions in Argentina to calculate the carbon footprint of our beef from farms to restaurants. This has given us insight into our supply chain and a firm understanding of where the carbon emission hotspots are. With this, we are addressing historic emissions by investing in offsetting projects with our charity partners Not For Sale, working with farmers to look at land management practices, improving soil quality, and supporting local biodiversity.
Society
This was our highest scoring pillar at market-leading 80%. With consistently high scores across the framework areas and strong policies in place, this truly reflects the work that has been put in to make our restaurants a positive place to work, ensuring staff have the flexibility and assurance they need to thrive within the business. In fact, Gaucho’s score for Treat Staff Fairly was 13% above the group average. This excellent score is another feather in our cap this year for our People Team after being ranked in the prestigious Sunday Times Top 100 Places to Work list in May.
Environment
The huge amount of work we have been doing in the environmental space has really shown here with a fantastic score of 73%, a massive jump from the 63% achieved two years ago. In this time, we have calculated our carbon footprint across scopes 1-3, monitored and set energy reduction targets across all restaurants, and ensuring food waste separation and recycling not just in restaurants, but at events and festivals too.
We are expanding our environment initiatives to look at the water and biodiversity footprints in our supply chain as well as considering more efficient technology in restaurant refurbishments to improve water and electricity consumption.
You can read the full report from the SRA here.
While we are thrilled to have another reason to celebrate our hard work, we recognise how much further in our journey we still need to go to make better and more sustainable decisions. We are excited for the year ahead to see what more we can achieve.
