Turning surplus lunches into social impact: How IHG's voco Grand Central Glasgow is working with Olio to meaningfully address its food waste 

In the hotel sector, making sure guests have enough food to choose from without generating too much waste is a constant challenge. 

Over the past 12 months, voco hotels has been working with Olio and our volunteers to tackle this exact problem. We sat down with Stuart Thompson, Cluster Executive Chef for voco Grand Central in Glasgow, who told us all about how he and his team have found using Olio’s  food redistribution solution to share food with the surrounding community.

From creating a positive social impact to enhancing the hotel’s sustainability narrative, Stuart shared why donating food through Olio has worked so well for them as a business. 

Could you start by telling us about your role and the hotel you work at?

Stuart Thomson: Certainly. I’m currently the cluster executive chef for both Kimpton Blythswood Square and voco Grand Central Glasgow, two very different hotels. We use Olio at voco Grand Central Glasgow, which has 232 rooms, increased occupancy of up to 300 to 400 guests, and substantial meeting and event spaces. 

Are there any elements of Olio that you’ve found work particularly well for voco Grand Central Glasgow?

Stuart Thomson: Anyone who works in this sector knows that the nature of our business means we need to provide as many options as possible for our guests, and this does create some excess food. 

 Our corporate daily delegate rate working lunches are grazing-style buffets with probably 16 different options for guests. Anything that isn’t used in that event, and that we won’t re-use, we then pass on to Olio.

How did you decide to start working with Olio to redistribute your surplus food, rather than discounting or re-selling? 

There will always be a dilemma with any excess food. Do we choose to try and resell it, or do we donate it? We found it was definitely easier for us to give to Olio than to post it and do all the other stuff as we would need to do with other discounting or reselling platforms.

Operationally, Olio is just so much simpler.  Plus, at voco hotels, we always want to help local communities, and we can make a measurable positive difference through working with Olio.

Are there any specific goals or objectives that Olio is helping you achieve in terms of a strategic direction for voco Grand Central Glasgow?

Stuart Thomson: Not necessarily for the individual property, but it’s definitely helping us on our sustainability journey as a group, and fits in really nicely with our voco hotels sustainability mantra, called Step by Step.

The mantra is characterised by two pillars – a commitment to innovation and sustainability; and a belief that small steps collectively make a big difference. Olio ties in really neatly with those two pillars.

Olio is also a story piece that the sales team and commercial team can pass on to guests and clients, explaining that any excess food is put to use rather than wasted.

How have you found working with Olio?

Stuart Thomson: Generally, the responsiveness of the Olio team and the volunteers has been really pretty slick. We’ve now moved from set collection days to using the app on-demand, which allows us to be more flexible.

In the early phase or pilot, we stuck to set days, but business dictates that we may not have anything on those days. So, the flexibility to request pickup with 24 hours’ notice works better for us.

I think we’ve probably had maybe two or three instances at most where nothing was picked up by volunteers – but otherwise, everything’s been great. 

How have you found working with our volunteers?

Stuart Thomson: Gary, who is our conduit, always speaks highly of the volunteers. We generally seem to get quite a few returning volunteers who cover our area. So I think there’s a bit of a relationship there, and there’s been nothing negative to report at all.

Understandably, when people hear about Olio and what we do, they often have concerns around food safety.

Could you share whether that was a concern for you at the beginning and how you find the food safety aspect now, having worked with us for a while?

Stuart Thomson: Ahead of the pilot with Olio, there were obviously some questions around compliance and food safety. The initial team went through all the safety checks and systems in place before our first pickup.

We donate cooked food that’s been chilled down or frozen. For instance, if we make a spaghetti bolognese, we would make it, chill it down, label it, and then pass it on. This works really well for us.

Honestly, there’s been no concern around it at all. We do a handover and temperature check as we donate the food, which is recorded for our internal records. After that, it’s Olio’s responsibility. When we hand over, we’ve got no concern that there’s any risk involved at all.

If you were chatting to another hotel considering working with Olio, what would you say?

Stuart Thomson: Food waste is a problem that we’ve all got to tackle in our industry. Given the challenges and circumstances hospitality has faced over the last few years, we’ve had to diversify and look at options to manage food waste, both in terms of cost, production, and labour.

When we assessed Olio’s fit for our business, it was the ease and stress-free nature of the operation. The fact that donating the product was actually easier for us than trying to resell via other platforms was a big factor.

 I think it’s an easy system to integrate into the business. It gives the team a huge sense of pride in what they’re doing, and it brings food waste into focus within the business. It’s also a good story to tell any of our prospective clients that we’re trying to manage food waste responsibly.

If there was one word you could use to describe your experience with Olio, what would it be and why?

Stuart Thomson: I think it would be “benevolence.” With Olio, we’re giving back and showing kindness – that’s how I look at it. Historically, kitchens probably just put this stuff in the bin, and for me, it’s a case of being able to pass something on. It’s an act of kindness, which I think has only upsides. It’s also important for us commercially.

Genuinely, all the support has been fantastic. We had some really good, meaningful conversations ahead of the pilot. I think we’ve gotten a lot from the partnership on both sides.