Marriott Hotels and River Cottage announce partnership

MARRIOTT HOTELS and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage has announced a partnership that aims to support local, sustainable food sourcing.

 

As a response to increased consumer awareness and demand for local and seasonal food sourcing, Marriott Hotels in Yorkshire and Cardiff will launch showcase menus featuring the best that local and seasonal producers have to offer, before the initiative is rolled out to cover 50 more UK Marriott hotels.

 

River Cottage has supported the latest initiative from Marriott Hotels, by facilitating the the introduction of key local suppliers and sharing best practice on sustainable sourcing along with daily menu planning.

 

“Culinary enjoyment is a crucial element of any travel experience and the partnership with River Cottage will not only enhance the guest experience but hopefully encourage local people to try our restaurants too,” said Osama Hirzalla, Vice President Brand Marketing & eCommerce for Marriott International in Europe.

 

In addition to Marriott’s Future Fish programme that aims to select and serve fish and shellfish from sustainable sources, the partnership will see changes in the following areas of Marriott’s food offering:

 

  • Local sourcing – Increase the percentage of food sourced by each Hotel from within a 60 mile radius to 80%
  • Menu change frequency – Increase the number of times the restaurant menu changes, from quarterly to daily
  • Waste management – Further reduce food wastage from a current level of 5%
  • Sustainability rating – Improve the Sustainable Restaurant Association rating of each hotel
  • Organic meat – All meat used in the restaurants will be organic
  • Free range chicken – All chicken used in the restaurants will be free range

 

The chefs at both hotels have undergone rigorous training at the River Cottage recently launched Chefs’ School and obtained City & Guilds accredited certificates in a range of competencies, from procuring sustainable food through to butchery and nutrition.

 

Chris Griffin, Head of Education at River Cottage, said: “This is an exciting project for River Cottage because of the substantial changes we can help Marriott make in procuring and cooking food. The new menus embrace our SLOW philosophy – Seasonal, Local, Organic and Wild – and we are delighted that local food heritage is being celebrated at each hotel. This is the first phase of a project that we hope will grab the attention of the hospitality industry.”