Ce4Re – Development of joint circular solutions in the CB restaurant sector
Changing our food system towards CE is one of the most powerful tools to tackle climate change and build biodiversity. The restaurant sector, as a part of this system, is an asset-heavy industry and a complex ecosystem of interconnected actors relying on huge quantities and flows of exhaustible natural resources. Simultaneously, this hardest hit sector by COVID-19 is looking for new sustainable approaches to recover and rebuild. However, there exists significant transition barriers and territorial challenges to shift from linear to CE.
As restaurants are influential in shifting to a CE for food, the main objective of the Ce4Re project is to promote the transition towards CE in the CB restaurant sector. This is accomplished by developing joint circular solutions for restaurants and increasing their knowledge and skills in CE. The targeted key value chain is the restaurant sector with the chain of contractors related to food.
The developed solutions focus on three CE principles in purchasing, preparing, and serving food in restaurants:
• Redesign: provide healthier food choices, sustainable and circular menus in CB restaurants
• Reduce: prevent the large volumes of food waste generated in CB restaurants
• Rethink: make consumers change their behaviour related to food consumption and resource use in the CB region
The project results in three CE solutions (a digital tool in circular menu design, a toolset to avoid food waste, an app to promote circular restaurants) for restaurants to adopt as a part of their everyday activities. The solutions are duplicated and extended across CB borders. The number of participant restaurants will be 60. In total, 450 restaurants will be reached. The novelty value lies in the context of developing CE in the much neglected service sectors.
