CSR and Sustainability

📈 Restaurant365's midyear industry survey, representing nearly 3,700 dining locations, reveals key 2024 challenges: 80% report increased labor costs (1%-5% for 64%), and 80% note higher food costs (1%-5% for 51%, 6%-14% for 40%). Sales top the concern for 38%, with 49% seeing a rise and 34% a decline. To counter issues, 39% will invest in sales and marketing tech, while 37% focus on staff benefits and training. Over half (55%) train employees 1-2 hours weekly, predominantly via shoulder-to-shoulder methods (40%). Sustainability efforts are noted by 68%, with 39% implementing food waste tracking.

🏕 Hyatt collaborates with Maya Rio Development for Belize's first Hyatt-branded hotel: The Placencia Resort to join Destination by Hyatt and World of Hyatt in late 2025 after a $10 million renovation, featuring 90 rooms, suites, beachfront villas, and new dining spaces. Princess Hotels & Resorts to open two resorts in Jamaica's Green Island in September, Princess Senses The Mangrove with 401 suites and 14 over-water villas, and the family-friendly Princess Grand Jamaica with 590 suites. Hotel Balzac, owned by Olivier Bertrand, opens in Paris featuring 58 rooms, a three-Michelin star restaurant, and will later add a Japanese-inspired spa. HEI Hotels & Resorts adds The Westin Dallas Downtown to Texas portfolio, now managing 15 properties in the state.

📍 Restaurant365's survey of 3,700 QSR and dining locations in 2024 found 80% experiencing increased labor costs, with 64% seeing a 1-5% rise. Food costs increased for 80%, with 51% noting 1-5% and 40% at 6-14%. Sales top the list of concerns for 38%, while 49% reported sales growth and 34% a drop. Investment priorities include sales and marketing technologies (39%), staff enhancements (37%), and expansion of catering operations (37%). Additionally, 68% are implementing sustainability practices, such as food waste tracking (39%).

🍴 Restaurant365's industry survey, representing nearly 3,700 dining locations, reveals 2024's top challenges: labor (80% reported cost increases, 64% at 1-5%) and food costs (80% saw increases, 51% at 1-5%, 40% at 6-14%). Sales are a major concern (38%), yet 49% of leaders reported increased sales. Investments focus on back-of-house tech, sales/marketing tech (39%), and staff enhancements (37%). Sustainability practices are adopted by 68%, with 39% on food waste tracking.

🍹 Turtle Bay, a Caribbean-inspired restaurant group, reported 90% of staff feeling their well-being had improved or stayed the same with its ‘4 days at the Bay’ initiative. The scheme led to a recommendation rate of 83%, a refreshed feeling in 77% of employees, and a team turnover decrease from 131.5% to 84.1%. Record turnover reached £93.7m by 31 March 2024, with a slight EBITDA decrease to £9m. Profit before tax was £1.9m, down from £9.9m the previous year. The group invested £8.4m in new and existing sites, including openings in Glasgow, Camden, Blackpool, and Lincoln.

🏡 Bayview PACE allocated $7 million in C-PACE financing for Pocketbook Factory's transformation in Hudson, N.Y., into Pocketbook Hudson, a $42 million, 70,000-square-foot mixed-use development featuring a 40-room hotel, wellness center, restaurant, bar, and café. The project, returning the market to 2020 levels, will add rooms increasing Hudson's market count by 10%. The historic property, purchased for $3 million in 2021, also utilized $8.96 million in historic tax credit financing and $13 million in EB-5 debt. C-PACE funds in the U.S. have surpassed $7 billion.

🏕 Rio Perdido, an eco-luxury hotel in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, has added eight West Bungalows designed by Studio Saxe and Dania Saragovia. These forest hideaways feature a 170-square-foot terrace, double outdoor shower, oversized tub with hot spring water, and interiors with 90% locally sourced materials. The new bungalows join 30 existing ones, surrounded by 20 miles of trails, a thermal river, and pools.

🚀 Carriers Air France-KLM and Qantas form an alliance with Airbus, investing $200 million in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance (SAFFA). Qantas contributes $50 million from its 2023 climate fund. SAFFA focuses on aviation biofuel technology and production, initially in the US. SAFFA's first investment was in Crysalis Biosciences in April 2024. The fund aims to reduce low-carbon fuel costs and accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson emphasizes the need for industry partnerships to bridge the supply and demand gap for SAF.

💸 Starbucks, under CEO Laxman Narasimhan, announces multiple sustainability efforts, with a focus on combatting climate change by the end of 2023. They've launched a returnable beverage cup program with NextGen and partnered with Mercedes-Benz to install 400 electric vehicle chargers at 100 stores. Recently, Starbucks revealed a partnership with Nexamp, initiating six solar energy projects in Illinois, aimed to provide electricity savings for over 1,100 residents and power 170 local stores. These initiatives build on 340 Illinois stores already wind-powered, and by 2025, the solar projects will contribute more than 40 megawatts of solar energy. Starbucks also formed an environmental board committee to oversee green investments.

💾 Generation Z, with considerable buying power, is entering the full-time workforce and seeking travel experiences aligned with their values: healthy living, sustainability, and advocacy. Around 36% of Gen Z exercise regularly; 30% use hotel fitness facilities; 56% prefer eco-friendly accommodations; hotels can attract them with well-equipped fitness centers and sustainable practices, like cardio equipment converting human energy to electricity. Brown University student Elina Pipa influenced her university to adopt sustainable cardio fitness equipment. Ruben Mejia of SportsArt emphasizes the influence of Gen Z on the hospitality industry.