Bangkok, Thailand, April 4, 2019 – Goji Kitchen + Bar, the acclaimed all-day dining destination at Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, has become the first five-star hotel restaurant in the world to achieve The PLEDGE™, an independently-verified standard designed to tackle the global issue of food waste.
The PLEDGE, which has been developed by experts in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, it is helping to combat hunger, reduce waste and mitigate climate change across the globe. The successful certification of Goji Kitchen + Bar represents a major milestone in the hotel’s mission to cut food waste, with the eventual goal of sending zero food waste to landfill sites.
In addition to being the first five-star hotel restaurant in the world to achieve The PLEDGE™, Goji Kitchen + Bar was also the first restaurant in the world to attain Gold certification.
Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park achieved The PLEDGE’s Gold certification through a multi-pronged waste reduction strategy that covered a range of departments, including kitchen, catering, finance and human resources. This included the implementation of food waste monitoring systems, new food preparation techniques, engaging with guests and educating in-house associates. For example, the “Second Love” campaign creates opportunities to make new dishes from perfectly fresh items that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
In addition, Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park has joined forces with SOS (Scholar of Sustenance Foundation Thailand) to manage its surplus food. Through this partnership, the hotel now contributes 37.5 kilograms of food per day from Goji Kitchen + Bar to the SOS network, which serves over 3,000 daily meals to underprivileged people in Bangkok.
Overall, food waste at Goji Kitchen + Bar was slashed by 27.4 tons, or 20% per cover, over a three and a half months period from September to December 2018. The campaign has also offset 68.4 tons of CO2 emissions.
“As a chef and the manager of a large and creative kitchen team, I feel a strong responsibility to live and work as sustainably as possible. It is a staggering fact that up to a third of the world’s food is discarded or spoiled prior to consumption; to see this kind of waste is heart-breaking. Another worrying fact is that most people don’t know where their food waste goes,” commented Michael Hogan, Executive Chef, Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park.
“On the flip side however, it is truly heartening to see how people – especially the younger generation – are embracing a greener lifestyle and leading the way with new ideas and positive lifestyle choices. At Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, we are undertaking a series of measures to be more sustainable, including food waste audits, responsible purchasing, education and more. We are delighted to become the first hotel restaurant in Asia
Pacific to achieve The PLEDGE, and will continue to roll-out this important program across our entire hotel in future,” Chef Michael added.
Designed by sustainability experts and academics, The PLEDGE is a practical answer to the widely underestimated issue of food waste. As an independently verified certification program, it allows businesses to reduce their food waste, foster collaboration with solution providers and actively contribute to tackling global hunger, malnutrition and climate change. Four levels of certification are available: Gold (as achieved by Goji Kitchen + Bar), Silver, Bronze and All-Star.
Having achieved The Pledge at Goji Kitchen + Bar, Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park is now moving ahead with plans to reduce food waste across all of its restaurants and food-related outlets. This has already started at Pagoda Chinese Restaurant, Akira Back and M Club Lounge and will be followed by the hotel’s catering department. Through these efforts, Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park is striving to become the first urban five-star hotel in Southeast Asia to achieve zero food waste to landfill.
For more information about The Pledge, please visit www.thepledgeonfoodwaste.org, or to learn more about Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, please CLICK HERE.
