Green gastronomy: what could be the recipe for sustainable success?

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/4

Krisztina Bódi
president of HoReCa and Event Chapter

The event was moderated by Krisztina Bódi, president of the HoReCa and Event Chapter.

Zsuzsanna Hermann,
president of the Green Chapter and vice president of the HoReCa és Event Chapter

“Four years ago in 2020, the HoReCa and Event Chapter of MMSZ was founded here at the SIRHA Budapest trade show, and a year later Hungexpo was also the place where the Green Chapter was established”,

said Zsuzsanna Hermann, president of the Green Chapter and vice president of the HoReCa and Event Chapter in her opening speech.

László Hovánszky,
honorary president of MMSZ
HoReCa and Event Chapter

László Hovánszky, honorary president of the HoReCa and Event Chapter added: today Green Gastronomy isn’t just an empty term anymore, as it can help businesses to reach new target groups.

“Sustainable hospitality”

Ákos Bősze
HoReCa business development executive
METRO

METRO has been flying the flag of “Sustainable Hospitality” for a long time, so it was just right that the first speaker was Ákos Bősze, HoReCa business development executive of METRO. He started his presentation by saying that this topic is often associated with paper cups and similar items, but actually it is about much more than that.

Nowadays restaurants often say that “the vegan is calling the shots”, meaning that if a group of 5 people are looking for a restaurant to eat and one of them is vegan, it is the vegan person will decide where to go. However, there are also many people who suffer from some kind of food allergy or intolerance, so it is important to have competent staff and kitchens where restaurants can safely handle different ingredients separately.

An unusual business model

The next item in the programme was the PLANET Business Club. Júlia Dalmadi, the owner of TransFoodMission led the four sessions on different topics. The first PLANET Business Club session was with Tibor Hodik, owner of Natura Hill Zebegény, who talked about the relationship between regenerative agriculture and hospitality.

Júlia Dalmadi, owner of TransFoodMission conversed with Tibor Hodik, owner of Natura Hill Zebegény

He explained that the business model of a sustainable restaurant is actually not very different from any other business, with the exception of a few things. At Natura Hill Zebegény they use ingredients that are partly home-grown and partly sourced from local producers, there is no waste generated, and high quality is just as important as a good relationship with the community – be it guests or suppliers.

There is a difference between plastic and plastic

The third presentation was by László Büki, honorary president of the Association for Sustainable Packaging and Izabella Bauer, head of sales at BS Plastic, who talked about cross-sectoral cooperation in the field of sustainability. They told that there is a close relationship between packaging and plastic. We are witnessing a revolution in the plastics industry, with various new biopolymers being used in a growing number of fields, which could make plastic packaging much “greener”.

At the roundtable, László Büki, honorary president of the Association for Sustainable Packaging and Izabella Bauer, head of sales at BS Plastic – moderator Krisztina Bódi 

Miklós Gyalai-Korpos
head of R&D
Pilze-Nagy

Júlia Dalmadi’s next guest was Miklós Gyalai-Korpos, head of research and development at Pilze-Nagy Kft., and the topic was creating value from waste: why did Central Europe’s largest mushroom grower started to engage in circular economy solutions? The company uses agricultural by-products (wheat straw) to grow mushrooms. One of the main reasons for implementing the circular model was to reduce waste disposal charges, as the waste could be used as valuable compost instead of having to pay for getting rid of it.

Why aren’t we paying more attention?

Rudolf Semsei
owner
VakVarjú Restaurants

Rudolf Semsei, the owner of VakVarjú Restaurants, Dobay Confectionery and Budapest Party Service, president of the MaReSz Gastronomy Chapter, and vice president of the Guild of Hungarian Restaurateurs (MVI) was the next speaker. He pointed out that there are some 500 sustainability-related trademarks in the world today, but when consumers decide in just 7 seconds which product to purchase, they almost certainly don’t look at the authenticity of the sustainability that the product offers. This obviously leaves a lot of room for misleading advertising messages, so it would be vital to stop greenwashing.

Bernadett Strasser-Kátai
managing director
Real Nature

Bernadett Strasser-Kátai, the CEO of Real Nature called attention to the importance of educating consumers and monitoring the market to see what products are in demand. Unfortunately this is overshadowed by the high inflation in Hungary, because of which domestic consumers are now further behind the shoppers of neighbouring countries in terms of healthy and sustainable eating.

At the roundtable (from left to right): Zoltán Oláh, executive chef of Castellum Hotel; Gianni Annoni restaurant owner; Zsolt Oltványi, owner of Mentes Confectionery; Beáta Várkonyi, director of corporate affairs at Danone in Central and Eastern Europe – moderator Attila Kaszás, president of the HoReCa and Event Chapter of MMSZ

At the joint event of the HoReCa, Event and Green Chapters of MMSZ, a number of experts shared their views and experiences

Klára Tihanyi
exhibition director
HUNGEXPO