Catering for Conscious Consumers

To find out what is at the heart of this movement, and how foodservice operators can help to cater for this audience while taking advantage of the opportunities it can bring to their business, we’ve carefully researched the global picture for our new AAK Foodservice Digest.

The statistics we uncovered confirm the trend, and suggest that people are prepared to pay more for goods and services they consider to be making a positive impact:

• 76% of UK consumers consider themselves to be conscious consumers – albeit with different understandings and priorities. (YouGov report Conscious Consumerism - A Balancing Act, 2023).
• 56% of Europeans consider themselves to be conscious consumers, 67% have bought products that were better for the environment despite being more expensive. (European Commission Survey 2021)
• 36 percent of Millennials and 50 percent of Gen Z reported being prepared to pay more than 20 percent price premium for green restaurants. (US Restaurant Sustainability Study by Simon Kucher)

Inspired by these and a range of eye-catching stats in a similar vein, we have prepared a new insight paper: AAK Foodservice Digest: Catering for Conscious Consumers.

In it we look at the issues that conscious consumers care about – from ethical sourcing, protecting animals and carbon reduction, to waste saving, human rights and responsible production.

We explore the opportunities and challenges that the rise of conscious consumerism presents within foodservice, and offer potential solutions, large and small.

Take palm oil for example – we explain why there’s no need to step back from it – quite the contrary, it can be the most sustainable choice for your business.

And did you know that…

Food waste costs the hospitality and foodservice sector £3.2 billion every year – that’s an average of £10k per outlet, per year. This is money that businesses should see in their profits, not in the bin. (WRAP)

Though this startling statistic relates to the UK, there’s strong evidence this pattern is repeated in all the countries we operate – we explore potential solutions.

We also look at some of the other ways that everyone can make a difference, from careful menu planning and ingredient selection, to cutting food and packaging waste.

Finally, we provide information about our own sustainability journey, including our plastics strategy, which is focused on the three Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle. Read more about our progress on plastics.

You can read more about our initiatives, and how we can support your sustainability journey here.

We hope we’ve whetted your appetite for more information. If so, our new AAK Foodservice Digest: Catering for Conscious Consumers – can now be downloaded, free of charge, here.