Accor Steps Up Commitment to Reducing Food Waste across the MEA Portfolio on World Food Day

Dubai UAE, 16 October 2019: Accor, a world-leading augmented hospitality group, has teamed up with Diversey, a hotel industry total solutions provider with the aim of tackling food waste in hotel kitchens across its Middle East and Africa (MEA) portfolio in partnership with Winnow.

The partnership, announced today in honour of World Food Day – an annual global event dedicated to eliminating world hunger – will see Accor gradually roll out Winnow’s new cutting-edge AI-enabled food waste management technology.

The system is already supporting chefs in 17 kitchens across Novotel, Ibis, Rixos, Sofitel, Pullman, Fairmont and MGallery hotels in the region, resulting in a 69% waste reduction, which equates to approximately 800,000 meals being saved over the past three years.

By 2020, a further 30 luxury brand properties will have adopted Winnow Vision, which uses a computer vision – a form of AI which enable kitchens to automatically register food waste without any human interaction over time and a smart metre attached to bins in hotel kitchens that analyses data to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by easily pinpointing waste to cut costs and save time.

Winnow is also playing an advisory role to Accor as its accelerates its efforts to reduce food waste region-wide. This will involve the Group adopting the firm’s new market leading AI technology designed to maximise operational efficiency and data accuracy.

“We live in a world where in developed countries, food waste is on the rise, yet at the same time, one in seven people suffer from malnutrition globally. As the Middle East and Africa’s leading hospitality company, it is our responsibility to do our utmost to restore this balance,” said Mark Willis, CEO, Middle East and Africa, Accor.

“Cutting food waste across our regional Food & Beverage operations is a top priority, and our partnership with Diversey signals our commitment to this target as we look to roll out its market-leading food waste technology across our entire regional portfolio in the future.”

Mehdi Belaribi, Director of Global Accounts, Diversey, said: “At this current juncture, people, business and the environment demand bright solutions to the world’s sustainability challenges. At Diversey, we are using the very latest technology to reduce waste in water, energy or labour and food through the value delivered by Winnow.”

Marc Zornes, CEO, Winnow, added: “At Winnow our core belief is that food is far too valuable to waste, and we know that technology can transform the way commercial kitchens and chefs use food. We are delighted to work with Accor to create intelligent hotel kitchens that help the food and beverage and culinary team’s achieve greater visibility and make decisions that reduce food waste and costs to the benefit of all.”

Yearly projections based on Winnow technology rolled out at 40+ Accor properties across the Middle East & Africa

Accor’s Diversey partnership supports the Group’s global healthy and sustainable food charter, which sets out ‘9 commitments’ to be achieved by the end of 2020 as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility platform, Planet 21.

Top of the agenda is to cut food waste across its international portfolio of properties by 30% by rolling out an extensive food waste-reduction programme and giving food products a second life.

The additional eight commitments set out 2020 targets for sourcing local food and suppliers; boosting organic produce and supporting agroecology; using suppliers committed to animal welfare; promoting responsible fishing; eliminating single-use plastics; removing controversial food additives and reducing fat and sugar; serving responsibly sourced tea and coffee; and catering to a range of dietary requirements.

Strong headway has been made with many of these targets in the Middle East and Africa with initiatives ranging from partnerships with food banks and local charities to the Group’s ‘Love Food Not Waste’ campaign in 2019 for Planet 21 Day. Towards the same targets, Accor’s food and beverage team are taking steps to replace restaurant buffets with more innovative culinary concepts, while individual hotels are growing their own organic produce.

About Accor

Accor is a world-leading augmented hospitality group offering unique experiences in 4,900 hotels and residences across 110 countries. The Group has been acquiring hospitality expertise for more than 50 years, resulting in an unrivalled portfolio of brands, from luxury to economy, supported by one of the most attractive loyalty programs in the world. 

Beyond accommodation, Accor enables new ways to live, work, and play, by blending food and beverage with nightlife, wellbeing, and co-working. It also offers digital solutions that maximize distribution, optimize hotel operations and enhance the customer experience.

Accor is deeply committed to sustainable value creation and plays an active role in giving back to planet and community via its Planet 21 – Acting Here program and the Accor Solidarity endowment fund, which gives disadvantaged groups access to employment through professional training.

Accor SA is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACRFY) in the United States. For more information visit accor.com. Or become a fan and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About Diversey

Diversey’s purpose is to protect and care for people every day. Diversey has been, and always will be, a pioneer and facilitator for life. We constantly seek to deliver revolutionary cleaning and hygiene technologies that provide total confidence to customers across all our global sectors. These include: facility management, health care, hospitality, retail and food service; in addition to food and beverage. Diversey is a provider of cleaning, sanitation and maintenance products, systems and services that efficiently integrate chemicals, machines and sustainability programs. Everything we do is based on the implicit belief that cleaning and hygiene are life essentials and that what we undertake constitutes a vital service. 

Harnessing over 95 years of expertise and knowledge, Diversey develops cleaning technologies that save lives, providing a tailored, customer-centric approach that empowers sustainable solutions. Protecting and improving the environment, we operate with our customers’ needs at the heart of everything we do. Diversey’s ethical commitment is implicit in all our products and everyday relationships with our staff, our customers, and our planet. These ethics drive our commitment as pioneers of the future and creators of connection and innovation.

The Internet of Clean™ is central to our business, connecting minds with machines to ensure we turn cleaning and hygiene data insights into effective operations and generate respect for human capital. Diversey contributes to significant productivity improvements, lower total operating costs and brand protection. For more information, please refer to www.diversey.com

About Winnow

Winnow was founded in London in 2013 with a simple belief that food is too valuable to waste. Measuring food waste is a challenge for all commercial kitchens with up to 20% of all food purchased going to waste (typically 5%-15%). Winnow challenges this by building artificial intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. The mission is to connect the commercial kitchen, create a movement of chefs, and inspire others to see that food is too valuable to waste. For further details, please contact us:press@winnowsolutions.com or visit https://winnowsolutions.com