As part of Nestlé Professional’s ‘Choose Hospitality Pledge’ we’re delighted to release the latest in the series of Sustainability Bites podcasts - Hospitality & Foodservice: The Future Of Talent.

In line with the Choose Hospitality Pledge’s objectives we hosted an enlightening panel discussion addressing young people’s negative perception of the sector and how we encourage more young people into the sector.

The podcast examines the sector’s challenges, opportunities and what the strategic priorities in recruitment and talent acquisition should be. The panel analyses the UK regulatory environment, and we take a close look at key trends as well as short and long term solutions to one of the sector’s greatest challenges.

Chaired by Footprint's Nick Hughes, our panel for the podcast is as follows..

Amanda McDade, National Head of Careers & Education, Springboard
Julia Jones, Head of Sustainability & Corporate Communications, Nestlé Professional UK&I
Martin McDonald, Apprenticeships Lead, Sodexo UK&I
Steven Edwards, Chef/Owner, Etch

Plastic reduction remains a key priority for out of home businesses as they seek to achieve their climate and nature goals. This in turn has created huge interest in alternative packaging materials such as paper as well as novel materials like seaweed, but are businesses making the right choices when switching out of plastic?

This podcast Packaging: materials & substitution in association with Nestlé Professional, explores the current strategic priorities of businesses where packaging sustainability is concerned and considers questions including:

• What alternative materials to plastic are getting the most traction in an out of home setting and why?
• On what criteria are businesses assessing the use case for alternatives to plastics?
• How are companies measuring and reporting the sustainability credentials of different materials and how can they guard against accusations of greenwashing?
• How is the UK regulatory environment influencing business’s choice of packaging materials?

On the green sofa for this podcast are a number of protagonists in the packaging field who, whilst approaching the issue from differing perspectives, all have an eye to the future making for a fascinating discussion.

• James Marsh - Senior Packaging Specialist, Nestlé UK
• Martin Kersh - Executive Director, Foodservice Packaging Association
• Justin Turquet - Director of Sustainability, Bunzl Catering & Hospitality
• David Burrows - Associate Editor, Footprint

Sustainability Bites, in association with Nestle Professional, is a podcast which unpicks the key sustainability issues affecting the hospitality and foodservice sector. In this episode we explore the current strategic priorities of businesses where packaging sustainability is concerned and consider questions including:

• What alternative materials to plastic are getting the most traction in an out of home setting and why?
• On what criteria are businesses assessing the use case for alternatives to plastics?
• How are companies measuring and reporting the sustainability credentials of different materials and how can they guard against accusations of greenwashing?
• How is the UK regulatory environment influencing business’s choice of packaging materials?