Syndication 
Hanson shared F&B strategies that help reduce food waste, including offering a greater variety of plant-based dishes and menu “ganging.”
At meetings of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), where cutting carbon emissions is a priority, serving plant-based meals on “Meatless Mondays” has become a tradition, said Bel Hanson, CMP, DES, ISCB’s senior director of operations and programs.
Bel Hanson, CMP, DES, senior director of operations and programs, International Society for Computational Biology
Swapping plant-based menus for meat is the most effective way to reduce the environmental impact of F&B, according to a new report, Temperature Check Europe 2025, released in May by isla, a U.K.-based events industry nonprofit. Compared with red meat, vegetarian meals produce 88 percent lower emissions and plant-based meals generate 95 percent lower emissions, the report said.
And plant-based meals don’t sacrifice flavor and variety, Hanson said. “Vegetarian and vegan menus have come so far,” she wrote in an email, sent as she was finalizing the menus for a conference in Liverpool, England. At the time, Hanson’s front-runner favorites, she wrote, were Moroccan spiced butternut squash with pomegranate and smoked harissa hummus and buffalo cauliflower wings and crunchy apple coleslaw.
Asking about plant-based menus is just the start of Hanson’s conversations about F&B with catering managers and chefs about ways to cut food waste and offer more sustainable options, she said. “I am not a catering expert. I rely heavily on their expertise.”
Some examples: Hanson asks that the venue catering staff review her menus to make sure that they are planned with what she describes as a “forward flow” motion, so that unused food items from each day can be incorporated into meals the following days.
And Hanson does what she calls “ganging” her menus, asking venues to share the menus of other groups who are meeting at their properties at or near the same time, so that she can align with their menus where she can. That allows venues to reduce food waste by preparing more of the same food items rather than preparing separate menus for each event.
The benefits of coordinating menus for multiple events were outlined in a case study in the isla report. At BMA House, the British Medical Association’s headquarters in London that also doubles as a venue for outside events, food waste has been reduced by offering clients a choice between customized and set menus. The preset menus, which take advantage of seasonal, local produce and don’t include red meat, are offered to clients at an approximate 10-percent discount.
Since the venue began offering the set menus, only 7 percent of clients have chosen to order customized menus, according to the report. “Switching to consistent menus has enabled our chefs to plan more efficiently, order with precision, and eliminate the guesswork that often leads to surplus,” said Hannah Robinson, BMA House’s venue manager. Clients are not only benefitting from reduced catering costs, “they’re also enjoying elevated menus that reflect the creativity and expertise of BMA House’s culinary team. With seasonal ingredients at the forefront, the new set menus are vibrant, flavorful, and anything but generic.”
Barbara Palmer is deputy editor at Convene.
Author
About The Author
