Summary of sustainability-by-stealth strategies in food and drink
- Consumer interest in sustainability is declining from 51% to 46%
- Food companies adopt discreet carbon‑reduction strategies without overt green marketing
- Levy removes unsustainable choices entirely while keeping menu prices unchanged
- Sainsbury’s restricts seafood to sustainable options despite potential consumer preference backlash
- Larger businesses absorb higher costs to normalise greener default food choices
When Nestlé cracked the code for lowering sugar content in chocolate bars, it wanted to shout about it. Understandably. But the resulting Milkybar Wowsomes bar, which contained 30% less sugar, was quickly pulled due to “underwhelming demand”. Consumers want to eat less sugar, but they do not necessarily want to know about it when they do.
The same may well be true in the realm of sustainability. Consumers say they want to eat more sustainably, but when push comes to shove, many will not put their money where their mouth is.
Slowly, a different movement is unfolding across food and drink: a silent revolution, if you like. Some companies are taking a new approach to carbon‑reduced offerings: they’re still selling them, but aren’t overtly highlighting their green credentials.
Green by default? Sustainability by stealth? Whatever you call it, advocates say this strategy may be what truly makes a difference in the face of a sustainability downturn.
Sustainability is suffering - so no need to shout about it
Among consumers, interest in sustainability is on the decline. Research suggests that in Europe, the number of shoppers who consider sustainability when making purchasing decisions is falling – from 51% to 46% since 2020.
Food businesses are aware of the shift, but that doesn’t mean they’re dropping sustainability from the agenda. Some are even ramping up, just choosing to do so discreetly. That’s what Levy is doing – a division of Compass Group, the largest catering company in the world. Levy provides food and drink for large-scale sports and entertainment events in stadiums, and has been revising its menus with carbon-reduction in mind.
When the business swapped out its beef burger for a hybrid alternative, it was a quiet move. There was no mislabelling, no misrepresentation of the product, just a silent removal of choice. The attitude is: “If you want to know the story, we’ll tell you. But we’re not trying to shove it down your throat,” says CEO Jon Davies.
The same is true when big-name artists like Beyoncé and Billie Eilish request only vegan food be served on-site. “We don’t specify that this is a vegan or plant-based menu. We just label the products as what they are."
Remove the unsustainable choice completely
Not only are some businesses not shouting about the sustainability wins they’re making, but like Levy, they’re completely removing the choice from consumers. And once you’ve got the consumer in your store – or stadium – that’s an extremely effective strategy.
Retailers are exploring these kinds of strategies, too. One of the UK’s biggest supermarket retailers, Sainsbury’s, is one. When former CEO Justin King was at the helm, the retailer made the decision to only sell sustainable fish – according to the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) standard. The MSC uses a traffic light system; no ‘red’ labelled products would ever appear on Sainsbury’s shelves.
Sometimes you’re going to have to deny people the choices they want to have, and you need to be brave enough to do that
Justin King, former CEO, Sainsbury's
The fallout is that Sainsbury’s never sold any ray fish, like skates. Ray fish, although popular in the UK – particularly in the northwest of England – are considered unsustainable due to slow biological growth rates and overfishing. It’s estimated 40% of ray species are threatened with extinction.
Sainsbury’s choice was not always popular among skate-loving consumers, recalls King. But it was important to the former CEO that judgement over consumer choices was completely removed from the equation. “If we judge people for their choices, then we won’t actually make any difference to what really matters.”
It can be a divisive strategy, but one that King advocates for strongly. “Sometimes you’re going to have to deny people the choices they want to have, and you need to be brave enough to do that.”
Who pays for sustainability - when it’s the only choice?
Whether this is a strategy available to every food and drink business, no matter the size, is up for debate. Anecdotal evidence suggests it’s the big players that can afford to make the swaps, and crucially, not charge the consumer more.
When Sainsbury’s decided to sell Fairtrade bananas, it wanted to remove any friction from the equation. So Sainsbury’s Fairtrade bananas aren’t more expensive than non-Fairtrade. “If we judged people for it, we knew we wouldn’t actually make any difference,” says King.
Levy takes the same approach. Its hybrid burger is priced exactly the same as its standard burger and chips – now fried in rapeseed oil grown completely glyphosate-free. The move was beneficial for Levy, since beef prices had risen around 20-30% and replacing part of the burger with mushrooms reduced cost pressures. Levy has since moved to venison, a meat Davies says is leaner and more nutrient-dense. Plus, he sources it from the Highlands of Scotland, where deer live more naturally than in intensive farming setups. It’s a more expensive ingredient, but as part of the world’s largest corporate caterer Levy can guarantee volumes from farms and secure multi-year deals. “We get the price down,” reveals Davies.
The same goes for packaging. The caterer uses seaweed-made disposables from UK start-up Notpla which Davies says are truly compostable. It’s more expensive than conventional packaging, but Levy is absorbing that cost knowing it breaks down in home composting within four to six weeks.
What’s the impact on the bottom line?
The big question for any business looking to make more sustainable choices is undoubtedly: how will that impact my bottom line? If green swaps are being made, and the operator is completely absorbing the cost, does the move make economic sense?
We’ve been doing this for six or seven years, and every year, our volumes have grown
Jon Davies, CEO, Levy
Without P&Ls on hand, it’s not easy to give a conclusive response. But in Levy’s case, the signs look good. One obvious benefit for the sports and entertainment caterer is that it operates within a closed environment. If consumers don’t like what’s on offer, they can’t easily find an alternative.
But the feedback from consumers has, so far, been “amazing,” says CEO Davies. When Levy put venison burgers on the menu at a Premier League football club site, he observed a 19% increase in sales.
In fact, the amount sold year-on-year is continuously on the up “We’ve been doing this for six or seven years, and every year, our volumes have grown,” says Davies.
That’s an obvious win-win. “Consumers can taste real food, it’s the same price, and that has had a transformational effect.”
