Impact Blog | Restaurant Social Responsibility

Restaurant Social Responsibility

Welcome back to the Impact blog, where today we reach number six in our series. We’re so happy to have reached half a dozen and provide more content to our loyal readers. We love to know that we have helped build an avid community of conscious consumers, all sharing our passion for positive action.

From January we have explored a range of topics. These include our involvement with the SRA, low carbon beef farming, sustainable sourcing and sustainability events happening in London. This we are delving deeper into the crucial role charity partnerships have in our Impact remit. For instance, one of our partners, ‘Not For Sale’, works worldwide with communities most at-risk of exploitation. They are a contemporary anti-slavery charity who fight the causes of exploitation at source.

At M, we know the vital need to support and promote charitable organisations. While working alongside six partners, we have grasped the opportunities they have provided. This includes gaining access to an abundant network of contacts, bringing employment to news groups and fulfilling diversification and inclusivity goals within our workforce.

Who are Not For Sale (NFS)?

45.8 million people live in slavery worldwide. NFS’s goal is to end the dire lack of economic opportunity, as well as remove the environmental degradation that causes exploitation. It believes that it’s possible to create a world where people and our planet exist together in harmony — a world where no person is for sale.

To do this, Not For Sale aims to understand the root causes of slavery by liaising with local experts. NFS partners with local entrepreneurs to organise projects that give education, empowerment and income for the most vulnerable and at risk, all in their effort to discover where the vicious cycle can be disrupted.

Both Gaucho and M restaurants have a committed partnership with Not For Sale, and have pledged to raise and donate £1 million over the next decade. In a variety of campaigns, including the annual ‘M Is Not For Sale’ fundraiser and a pop-up experience at M Victoria, we have helped support and provide for the NFS mission. We are extremely proud to be enhancing our support further with significant investment into NFS initiatives aiming to offset carbon emissions.

Offsetting Carbon with Not For Sale (NFS)

Through this charity partnership, we are focusing on a long-term strategy to reduce the emissions at source on our farms in Argentina and throughout our supply chain, as well as working to tackle our historic emissions, such as reforestation or afforestation initiatives, we are also directing our investments in community projects that have a carbon offsetting potential. For example, we planted 4,056 trees in South America In January 2021, which offsetted a massive 1,464 tonnes of CO2eq. This kind of project is how we aim to and we have offset the last six months of our beef carbon emissions.

We are now also facilitating work in nine countries where we source beef for our Gaucho and M restaurants. In this project, over 17,500 trees will be planted. This will offset nearly 4 million tonnes of CO2eq. Incredible.

Projects in Peru

Planted tree species Aniba canelilla 340 trees planted Each tree offsets around 14kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? craftwork, construction timber, carpentry, essential oils, medicine

Planted tree species Bertholletia excelsa 387 trees planted Each tree offsets around 20kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? beekeeping, construction timber, cosmetics, aids land reclamation and soil restoration

Planted tree species Hura crepitans 193 trees planted Each tree offsets around 8kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? Resin, medicine, aids land reclamation and soil restoration

Planted tree species Theobroma cacoa 1,284 trees planted Each tree offsets around 8kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? chocolate Projects in Brazil

Planted tree species Carapa guianensis 279 trees planted Each tree offsets around 40kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? Cosmetics and traditional medicines

Planted tree species Enterolobirum contortisiliquum 1,573 trees planted Each tree offsets around 24kg of carbon per year What will they be used for? wood for construction, medicine, ornamental

Restaurant social responsibility is a crucial focus for both Gaucho and M Restaurants. When it comes to sustainability and core values, our charity partnerships play a crucial role. We’re ecstatic to be partnered with so many incredible charities, each one with their own mission to inspire and action positive impacts on our planet. In particular, we would like to give a heart-felt and genuine thank you to Not For Sale. We are so extremely proud of the work we have done together, and we’re excited to see what’s next.