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CH&CO’s specialist workplace caterer focusing on the London market, Vacherin, has launched its Silo Stages project, a chef-focused sustainability initiative in partnership with renowned chef and restaurateur Doug McMaster and his team at the no-waste restaurant Silo, designed to accelerate the company’s commitment to reducing food waste across its portfolio.
Led by Vacherin’s Executive Development Chef Steve Humphries (pictured above), Silo Stages will inform, inspire and empower chefs to ‘be the change’ when it comes to food waste reduction and further embed Vacherin’s sustainability culture across the business.
Beginning this month and continuing throughout the year, 21 chefs will take part in experiential stages at Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. At the end of their stage, each chef will be challenged to take back one positive food waste reducing action to their site – known as the ‘Rule of Doug’ – with the goal of rolling out all effective changes across Vacherin’s 100+ sites.
Each stage will see the chefs fully immersed into the Silo team. They will learn about all aspects of Silo’s sustainability ethos and how that underpins its day-to-day operation. They will experience all sections of the kitchen, including the fermentation lab which is fundamental to the restaurant’s no waste cycle, and support in the evening service delivery.
As well as supporting Vacherin’s sustainability commitments, the stages also uphold the core value of creating opportunities for the continued learning and development of its chefs. In addition to the fermentation lab experience, they will learn lots of techniques to use the parts of ingredients that more commonly end up in the food waste bin, in creative and delicious ways. It’s these learnings that chefs will take back to their sites to generate further food waste reduction.
Humphries said: “I am super excited to see this project coming to life. It’s an amazing opportunity for our chefs to work with and learn from a global sustainability innovator, Doug McMaster. I’m very proud to be part of this movement to inventively drive our chefs and company forward with the planet firmly at the fore front. With the potential to create 21 tangible sustainability changes across our sites, the positive impact will be huge.”
McMaster said: “It’s an honour to have the chefs from Vacherin commit to ‘The Silo Blueprint’. The Zero Waste approach deserves mass adaption, and this is a significant moment in that journey.”
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