When River Cottage met Marriott hotels

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Marriott Hotels, which will see us helping Marriott find local suppliers and source ingredients for their daily menus.

New seasonal menus will launch from 14 October at Hollins Hall, a Marriott Hotel & Country Club in West Yorkshire, and from 21 October at Marriott Cardiff, before being rolled out to cover more of Marriott Hotels’ 50 UK premises.

The partnership will change local purchasing practices, with 80% of food now being sourced from within a 60 mile radius. In addition, all meat used in the restaurants will be organic, all fish will be from sustainable sources and level of waste will be further reduced from a current level of 5%. For a detailed version of the partnership commitments, take a look at the manifesto.

Key members of the chef teams from both hotels have undergone rigorous training at the River Cottage Chefs School and obtained City & Guilds accredited certificates in a range of food and sustainability competencies.

Speaking of the partnership, Hugh said: "Working with Marriott has been an exciting new challenge for River Cottage. The team here is helping to improve the food sourcing and sustainability practice within the two hotels. We are looking forward to seeing our work with Marriott reflected in their new seasonal menus which in turn will help support the local growers and artisan producers who are now supplying the hotels."

River Cottage and Marriott ManifestoRiver Cottage is working with Marriott to improve the sustainability of the food offer within Hollins Hall, a Marriott Hotel & Country Club, and the Cardiff Marriott). The overall ambition is to position Marriott as the food sustainability leader within the hotels sector. River Cottage will be activating a number of changes that will lead to improvement in ethical, seasonal and local food procurement, whilst maintaining the economical sustainability of the business.

The partnership will deliver the following results;

• Local Sourcing – Increase the percentage of food sourced by each Hotel from within a 60 mile radius from 15% to 80%
• Menu Change Frequency – Increase the number of times the restaurant menu changes, from quarterly to daily
• Waste Management – Further deduction in food wastage from a current level of 5%
• Sustainability Rating – Improve the SRA sustainability rating in both hotels
• Organic Meat – All meat used in the restaurants is organic
• Free Range Chicken – All chicken used in the restaurants is free
range
• Sustainably Sourced Fish – All fish and shellfish is procured from sustainable sources

To assist the Marriott teams in achieving these results, all chefs at the participating hotels are being trained at the River Cottage Chefs’ School. The courses they will attend and successfully complete are accredited and endorsed by City & Guilds and cover a range of competencies including; food preparation and cooking, food sustainability, food procurement and nutrition.

If you would like to find out more about how our consultancy can benefit your business, please contact rceducation@rivercottage.net.