Necessary Steps
- To help craft your message, make a list of sustainability aspects that are important for and related to public procurement and catering services. The list may include aspects such as balanced meals, organic food, animal welfare, plant-based food, and vegetarian, vegan and fairly traded food.
- Your message may also include information about the origin, regional variance, and/ or quality of the food. It may include supplementary information on possible activities, such as installing solar panel, new plant-based recipes, or new products made from recycled cloth.
- Make a list of the most important stakeholder groups to whom communication efforts should be targeted and list examples of relevant sustainability aspects for these stakeholders.
- Consider office colleagues and kitchen professionals as important partners for implementing communication efforts and explaining sustainability achievements.
- Be sure to map the different communication channels used (printed, digital, demonstrations, etc.).
- Research important events, periods, and local or national campaigns which can be connected with the communication efforts during the calendar year.
- Draw up a plan for a year’s communication efforts entailing seasonal, monthly, or weekly messages about sustainability issues. Assign a budget to the communication efforts.
- Make sure that communication efforts targeted at important stakeholders as well as general public awareness campaigns are included in the annual plan.
- Carry out the planned communication campaigns and collect feedback. Relevant criteria may include the number of respondents to a campaign, number of visitors to a stand at a fair, number of downloads made, etc.
- Evaluate the communication campaigns held across the year and adapt next year’s plan accordingly.
More Issues To Consider
- It is important to share even basic changes which have been implemented, such as the serving of healthier food.
- Make sure that updates on sustainability achievements are shared in line with the organis ation’s overall communication strategy, and that the topics communicated are aligned.
- Always base communication on facts and personal experiences. This builds trust in sustainability campaigns.
- Be prepared to adapt the communication plan to exploit new opportunities which may arise; for example, the possibility of linking up with other institutions for joint events. .
- Communication about sustainability efforts may also raise contradictory responses, as stakeholders perceive many aspects as sensitive.
- Building and maintaining dialogues supports developments in sustainability communication.
