Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR is important for all of us at Marugame

Doing the right thing is so important to us at Marugame that we have make it one of the central philosophies of our business. It's a question we ask ourselves and challenge each other one with every decision we make. We know there are always improvements to be made and we will continue to push ourselves to be better as we go forward.

Our commitments

We follow our working philosophy of 'Doing the Right Thing'

At Marugame Udon Europe we are committed to running our business in an ethical and responsible manner and we acknowledge that we have a significant role to play in the communities and wider environment in which we operate.

The key areas this policy reflects are as follows

• People
• Communities
• Environment
• Nutrition & health
• Responsible sourcing

Our policy will continue to change as we continue on our journey and set ourselves further challenging targets to continually improve.

People

Diversity, Learning & Development, Rewards & Recognition

We aim to ensure that we offer equal opportunities to all of our team, whether based on age, gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation. We will ensure that people are recruited, remunerated, trained and promoted in an entirely non-discriminatory manner and that this approach is maintained at all times during any employees term of employment.

We believe in equality and diversity and do not accept harassment or bullying in any form. We will take steps necessary to ensure that our teams are trained to act in a respectful manner to all in order to create a safe working environment.

We will take all steps to ensure that we comply with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act and to that end we will operate within Marugame specific Modern Slavery policies. We will also ask all of our suppliers and contractors to confirm that they comply with the requirements of the Modern Day Slavery Act at all times. We will not work with any organisation or supplier who fails to confirm their compliance with this requirement.

Learning & Development

The development of our team is one of our primary objectives.

We strive to operate a first class training, support and development program that not only enhances the quality of our service provision but also positively impacts upon the knowledge base of each of our employees. We will keep our training and development program under continual review and will adjust its content based upon feedback, assessment and changes in best practice requirements.

Environment & Sustainability

We understand that our activities can impact upon the environment, both positively and negatively.

We will take steps to ensure that we limit any negative impacts and build on areas where we can help to improve the environment.

We will take action to reduce waste by working with our supply base to ensure that the volume of packaging is reduced so far as possible and that recyclable materials are used. We will also only appoint suppliers or contractors who confirm that they have environmental and sustainability policies in place.

We will ensure that our stock management is such that we have as little food wastage as possible. It is our goal to work with charities to ensure that any short shelf-life food is not wasted.

Our Buildings

Sustainable Construction

At the development phase of each of our restaurants, our buildings will be constructed and fitted out where possible with sustainably sourced materials that help to reduce our carbon footprint, whether by insulating the fabric of the premises to reduce energy usage on heating or by using equipment that will reduce water usage. We will also endeavour to source materials that are either recycled or can be recycled in the future. Where possible our equipment will be energy efficient and we will make use of low energy LED lighting in all of our front of house areas.

Packaging

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

We follow the reduce, reuse and recycle philosophy. We have minimised the amount of packaging we use; and where possible we encourage reuse. We use FSC reclyclable paper and card, and recyclable plastic where paper and card are not fit for purpose.

Health & Nutrition

Our goal is to provide choice & allow our customers to make informed decisions

Marugame understand that our customers want to choose the foods that are not only tasty but are good for them. It is our goal to ensure that we provide choices for all palates and all occasions.

We will ensure that our menu’s are of a nature that provides a variety of choice to satisfy the expectations of our customers. We will provide information on the allergenic ingredients contained within our foods and will support allergy sufferers in making safe, informed decisions on which dishes they can eat.

We will provide detail on the nutritional content of our foods. There will always be lighter option choices on the menu and we will endeavour to ensure that our menu development process includes steps to consider the potential health impacts of our foods, for example by removing trans fats where possible.

Menu’s will also cater for dietary requirements or lifestyle choices and to that end there will always be 30% of vegan options included on the menu

Responsible Sourcing

We believe that we must source our foods responsibly, considering the quality of our products, the welfare of animals within the supply chain and impacts upon the environment. We are aware that this is not solely related to food products but all raw materials that we procure, whether packaging, promotional materials or fittings for our restaurants.

We have some simple goals for our food products. We will look to ensure that:

• All whole eggs are are cage-free.
• We have a 100% cage-free egg supply chain with all products that contain egg as an ingredient.
• We ensure all new products containing egg entering our supply chain are cage-free.
• Meat is free from antibiotics
• UK meat and poultry is sourced from Red Tractor certified farms. Where meat and poultry is sourced outside of the UK we are working towards ensuring Red Tractor equivalent standards are met.
• No GMO products
• We only use sustainable palm oil

We will liaise with our suppliers from initial sourcing and will regularly look to reconfirm their compliance with our goals. Additionally, all of our food suppliers will be required to be certified to GFSI accredited certification standards.

We are continually reviewing our responsible sourcing policies in line with our philosophy of continual improvement.

Sustainable Restaurant Association

We are Members of the Sustainable Restaurant Association

We have been members of the Sustainable Restaurant Association from before opening. We take their support and guidance in helping us make better, more sustainable, decisions. We recognise we are on a never ending journey; there are always improvements to be made, and our goals will keep stretching as we continue forward.

Find out more about the great work the SRA do here.

Find out about the SRA

Our CSR Work and Results

CSR Update 2023 Q1

Corporate Social Responsibility Update

2023 Q1 (January to March)

We entered 2023 with a commitment to drive the good sustainability foundations we have build forward. The first quarter has been about understanding opportunities to improve in a number of key pillars including:

Carbon emissions
Energy consumptions
Reducing Food Waste
Supply Chain
Our people

We have in addition been working on a number of key projects aligned to these pillars:

Reducing Food Waste

We removed 80% of the garnishes from our menu dishes and simply allow our customers to choose the garnishes they would like at the condiment station.
We removed bowls at the condiment station to customers to take only what they will eat
We implemented a new inventory management system to allow more accurate ordering and less in kitchen waste
We implemented ‘Bowl Sizes’ allowing customers to choose small, regular or large sizes in most dishes; so customers who want a large portion can order this, but those customers looking for a smaller meal can opt for this at a lower price, and less food waste at the end.

Sustainable Restaurant Association

We have been members of the SRA since before we launched our first restaurant in 2021.
We have upgraded our membership now we have multiple restaurants and in 2023 we are working with the SRA’s sustainability consultants to review all our current processes and highlight what we can do different that will have the most positive impact on our planet.
We are currently reviewing all our current processes and in the next quarter we will be developing our strategy for the next couple of years.

Zero Carbon Forum

We have joined the Zero Carbon Forum and are working closely to understand our current carbon emissions as a business.
In the next quarter we will be developing our findings into an action plan for continual improvement

Energy monitoring

We are trialling in our Oxford Circus restaurant monitoring energy useage by equipment by hour.
Early trail results show a reduction in electricity useage between 13-19%.
Based on the results of this trial we will be rolling this out to all restaurants during Q2.

Supply Chain

We have implemented minimum welfare standards for all dairy and meat products.
We have audited our products to ensure everything we buy and serve meets our guidelines.
We have removed caged-eggs completely from our supply chain in 2021.

Our People

We take part in the ‘Best Companies’ survey and we saw our scores improve from ‘One to Watch’ to ‘Very Good’ between August 2022 and February 2023. With the biggest improvement for our team members being ‘My manager cares about me’ an area that we highlighted as critical to our team members happiness and one we are very proud to have turned up the dial on following a focus on leadership training and coaching and improved procedures and communications throughout the business.

What you can expect from us over the next three months:

We will be working further on food waste initiatives to launch in Q3/Q4
We will roll out energy monitoring across the business
We will complete our reviews with SRA and Zero Carbon Forum
We will prioritise opportunities to delivery biggest impacts to build into our upcoming plans

CSR Update 2023 Q3