Hospitality consultancy companies are driving a more sustainable sector with Upcycle Journey

Conceptional, CONTRAST, Hospitality Group and Vijverborgh are going to motivate and inspire the food service industry to work together for truly sustainable solutions. With the covenant concluded between the four organisations during Horecava 2024, they bring together knowledge, experience and network to achieve this. Upcycle Kitchen is the first initiative; an online platform for the reuse of certified reuse kitchen equipment. Upcycle Kitchen focuses on equipment less than five years old. This guarantees that the equipment is economical in use and durable.

Upcycle Kitchen is part of Upcycle Journey, the foundation within which the four consultancy companies realise their ambition. The foundation does not have a profit motive; all income from the foundation is used for the (further) development of the initiatives.

So the first initiative is Upcycle Kitchen; a collective approach to make the reuse of kitchen equipment in concepts ánd in requests to suppliers a self-evident alternative. For this initiative, Upcycle Journey has entered into a partnership with Facet, an expert in specific laws & regulations and circularity.

Self-evident alternative

Roy van der Vleuten from Vijverborgh: 'As consultants we have a position at the forefront of many developments in the industry. As a result, the idea arose last year to develop an online platform together with the market to share knowledge and experience around sustainable kitchen solutions and to obtain a complete overview of what reuse equipment is available in the Netherlands. The aim is to ensure that kitchen equipment that is less than five years old is reused as much as possible in order to contribute to lower CO2 emissions.

Supply and demand

“In the current situation, there is no overview in the market of equipment that is eligible for reuse,” says Reoewein Niesten from Conceptional. 'There are also no criteria for assessing reliability, and transferring guarantees is often difficult. Our commitment is to challenge companies and organisations to include a minimum requirement for reuse equipment in their request. We also want to activate the offer, so challenge kitchen suppliers to make the availability of reuse equipment visible via the Upcycle Kitchen platform.'

Driving role

Henk Schouten from Hospitality Group states that the aim is to include at least 5% reuse kitchen equipment in the specifications. 'We have a driving role in this, it is up to the client to be open to meeting the sustainability objectives. We facilitate the client by achieving scale in supply through suppliers and providing effective criteria for assessing the equipment.'

Partners

The initiators of Upcycle Kitchen are looking for partners who want to contribute to getting the platform off the ground. Tom Rietveld from CONTRAST: 'In the past months we have spoken to various stakeholders in the food service industry about the initiative. The reactions are very positive and leading kitchen suppliers and manufacturers such as Nordcap Nederland, Metos, Levens Middleby, Bouter, Van Gestel and Schoondergang van Zwanenburg have even already given their commitment. We will actively approach the market in the coming period, because only together can we make an impact.'

For more information or additional questions, please contact Roy van der Vleuten, 076-5418224, contact@vijverborgh.nl