Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels

Hilton has introduced zero waste menus at four of its hotels in the UK, coinciding with Stop Food Waste Day.

The hotel group is responding to the UNEP’s Food Waste Index Report 2024, which found that one billion tonnes of food is wasted annually, with the food services industry responsible for over a quarter of the waste produced.

The ‘Taste of Zero Waste’ menus will be available at Hilton London Metropole, London Hilton on Park Lane, Hilton Manchester Deansgate and DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole for one month (from 24 April) as part of a pilot scheme.

While currently only active at four hotels, Hilton plans to roll out the initiative across more hotels in the EMEA region in the coming year.

Each menu will be curated by chefs at the participating hotels and feature five to seven dishes, along with zero-waste drinks.

The initiative is designed to show how hotel operators can significantly reduce waste through innovative techniques such as nose-to-tail cookery, which involves using whole ingredients – from salmon cheeks to ox heart, or fermenting vegetable stalks, trimmings and peelings to make sauces and stocks, or bruised and overripe fruit for cocktails.

The teams will also be repurposing leftover items such as pastries, bread, fruit and coffee beans from breakfast buffets to create desserts, while also preserving surplus fruit and vegetables through pickling.

The £40 menu at Hilton London Metropole’s Tyburn Kitchen, for instance, includes:

Charcoal-grilled Applewood Ox Heart with potato skin risotto and pickled magnolia petals Poached Scottish salmon cheeks with seaweed stock, tomato and asparagus stalks Vegetable korma with sticky rice biscuit, tomato and coriander stalks Chicken mince on toasted sourdough with grilled chicken heart, soft herb pesto and seeds Crisp-fried cod tongues with sauce gribeche and nettle leaf tomato salad Bread and butter pudding with blueberry and fudge, and caramel sauce

Hilton will also donate a meal to a person in need for every dish purchased from the new menus, via The Felix Project. Hilton London Metropole has been working with the London-based charity since 2020, when hotels were forced to shut due to the pandemic. Restaurants were instead transformed into community kitchen hubs, with surplus ingredients used to prepare thousands of meals for those in need across London. The partnership continues to this day and the hotel has cooked more than 75,000 meals for those in need.

Ultimately, Hilton aims to reduce waste sent to landfill by 50 per cent by 2030. The hotel group has already been employed Winnow, an AI-enabled food waste solution which measures, tracks and reduces waste in commercial kitchens. Hotel groups including Accor, Iberostar and IHG Hotels and Resorts have also used this technology to cut waste.

Alongside the pilot scheme, Hilton has also introduced a new low waste menu at almost 20 properties across the UK.

Emma Banks, vice president, F&B strategy and development, EMEA at Hilton, commented:

“The launch of these new menus marks another step in the global fight against food waste. Conscious dining isn’t just a trend; it’s a deeply held value that guides where we all choose to indulge and unwind.

“These dishes have been designed to demonstrate the best-in-class techniques in use across our hotels all over the world every day – brought together to raise awareness of our ambition to continue reducing food waste across our operations, simultaneously empowering guests to make more mindful choices and inspiring them to reduce waste in their own kitchen at home.”

Last year Hilton introduced carbon labelling onto menus across almost 30 hotels in the UK to encourage guests to opt for lower carbon options.

Hilton unveils autumn menus with carbon labelling across UK hotels

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Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels

Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels

Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels

Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels

Hilton trials zero waste menus at four UK hotels