SUSTAINABILITY is at the very top of the agenda for Scottish hospitality group Lisini Pub Company.
The family-owned business, founded in 1969 by the late Harry Hood and still operated by Harry’s family in 2023, owns five venues in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.
The company has been monitoring its energy usage for over a decade, but recent years have seen the business step up its efforts and introduce a range of sustainability initiatives across the group en route to achieving net zero emissions by 2045.
“A lot of the trade could probably sit back and say to themselves ‘hospitality has been battered beyond belief post-COVID’,” Lisini director Siobhan Edwards (daughter of Harry Hood) told SLTN.
“We’ve got so many issues that we’re fighting, so many fronts, from rates to VAT to energy.
“But for us sustainability is the right thing to do. We can’t stand still.
“So it’s really important that we grab onto what’s important to our customers, our staff, and invest in our units and our products.”
The push has seen the business appoint a dedicated sustainability manager, Kay Smith, who has responsibility for cutting carbon emissions across the group.
In addition to initiatives such as investing in more energy-efficient equipment, sourcing renewable energy providers and working with suppliers to reduce emissions wherever possible through its supply chain, Lisini has also been working to reduce the carbon footprint of its food and drink menus.
On the food side, in addition to working with local suppliers to cut down on food miles, the group has been steadily introducing more plant-based dishes to its menus.
And moves on the drinks side include using plant-based alternatives to egg in cocktails and making fresh lime juice in-house instead of buying it in.
In addition to Kay overseeing initiatives across the group, each of the five units also has its own ‘green team’ tasked with coming up with carbon-cutting measures in their venue.
“We’ve got green teams that work at each of our venues and they compete against each other to win prizes to reduce their energy consumption, their water consumption and things like that,” said Kay.
“I think in the last 12 months overall as a company we’ve managed to reduce our electricity usage by almost 20% and our gas usage by almost 15% just by behavioural changes.
“That’s the impact the green teams have had. Over and above that, from a head office and investment perspective, we’re looking at renewable energy sources. So PV panels, air source heat pumps, that sort of thing.”
Siobhan and Kay said changing mindsets has been one of the biggest challenges the team has undertaken, and has resulted in a raft of smaller initiatives across the estate, from a herb garden at Angels Hotel in Uddingston to compost bins at Dalziel Park Hotel in Motherwell.
Even the Dalziel Park groundskeeper has been getting into the spirit.
“There’s lots of rabbits that like to eat the plants (there),” explained Kay.
“And there’s lots of slugs that like to get involved.
“We’ve changed the mindset, hopefully, so we’re looking at copper to deter slugs. We made a chilli and garlic spray for the lupin so the rabbits don’t like to eat the leaves as much.
“So it’s big things right down to the wee things.”
A major part of the process has been signing up to Net Zero Now, the sustainability platform backed by partners including Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Pernod Ricard, which helps businesses calculate their carbon footprint and then works with them to reduce their emissions.
“It definitely was a daunting prospect because it takes everything into account,” said Kay.
“It’s not just your electricity and your gas usage, it’s everything – down to how your staff get into work. All the products you buy in, where they come from – what country they’re coming from.
“But the Net Zero Now platform is actually really simple to use. And our project lead, Emily, was really helpful. I had lots of little questions about what category this or that should go in. It was a time consuming thing to do but I’m so glad we’ve done it.
“And I think, going forward, it’ll be much easier, because we know exactly what we’re doing now.
“And we know how to record the data so that we can use it year after year.”
And being able to measure the effect of even the smallest changes has helped to keep the Lisini team motivated, said Siobhan.
“I think because we specifically measured our carbon footprint with Net Zero Now, we can demonstrate the small changes that they’re making,” she said.
“For example, we’ve got a laundry line at Angels.
“The housekeepers came and said to Kay that, as part of the green initiative, they’ll stop putting tea towels in the drier. They’ll dry them outside with little pegs. Wee small things like that are just remarkable.
“And any hospitality company can do it if they have the right mindset.”
