News & insights / Case studies / 20.02.24

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Brunning & Price

Founded in 1989 by two friends – Jerry Brunning and Graham Price – Brunning & Price has grown from a small handful of local pubs into a nationwide collection. Their success lies in embracing the individuality of each location, focusing on forging strong connections with their local communities. In this article, we speak to Nicola Stuart, Head of Marketing and Communications, about why Brunning & Price is passionate about doing business responsibly and how that translates into sustainable practices in their day-to-day operations.

A long-time feature of the UK’s pub scene, Brunning & Price is future-focused and committed to doing business responsibly. “We recognise that Brunning & Price has a significant role to play in the communities and the wider environment in which we operate,” says Head of Marketing and Communications Nicola Stuart. This is only underscored by the bucolic backdrop in many of their locations. “The majority of our pubs are surrounded by beautiful countryside. Without these green spaces, our pubs wouldn’t be the same, so we feel a responsibility to reduce our impact on the environment as much as possible.”

The organisation is also keenly aware of the important function of British pubs within their localities – and of the consequent influence that F&B businesses like theirs can wield. “We know we sit at the heart of local communities,” says Nicola. “If we can lead by example, hopefully we can encourage our teams and our customers to take the initiative too, bringing some positive change to the community as a whole.”

To accomplish this, they have a designated environmental and social programme in place. Called ‘Preserving the Future’, this focuses on embedding sustainable practices into the business. Nicola explains that communication across the entire organisation – ensuring that every team is included – is central to the success of this endeavour. “Everyone can make a difference in our sustainability journey, whatever their role,” she says, “so it’s key that we ensure every person in our business understands the path we need to take.”

Reducing, reusing and recycling at Brunning & Price

When it comes to what ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ looks like in practice at Brunning & Price, one particularly impactful initiative has been the team’s commitment to reducing the use of chemicals. In fact, the company has saved an estimated 14,000 tonnes of chemical distribution by replacing cleaning chemicals with the Toucan Eco System, an electrolysed cleaning solution that uses water and table salt. “As well as reducing the toxic chemicals coming from our operations, we’ve also reduced the number of single-use plastic bottles delivered into our kitchens,” says Nicola.

Whether they’re refurbishing an older pub or creating a new one from scratch, the idea of clever, purposeful reuse is woven into the design of every Brunning & Price pub, helping to create a look and feel that’s unique to each location. “We love to use reclaimed furniture and artwork,” Nicola explains. “It adds to the ambiance of the pubs, but restoring old furniture rather than buying new pieces is also great from an environmental perspective.”

Continuing down the hierarchy of waste, wherever it’s truly not possible for items to be reduced or reused, waste is diligently separated for recycling and managed by their waste provider.

Amplifying impact at Brunning & Price

Aware that any business can massively expand its positive impact by working to improve sustainability throughout its supply chain, the next step for Brunning & Price is to expand their supplier engagement programme. “We already measure our carbon emissions and have a programme to reduce these across our operations and through the supply chain,” says Nicola. “Now, we want to support suppliers in reducing their carbon and in taking waste out of their processes.” This initiative is already in motion, with their emissions reduction programme extending to educating suppliers in their network – something of which the team is particularly proud. “We’ve recently hosted a series of workshops with suppliers to provide them with practical information on how to calculate their own scope 3 carbon emissions.”

The team is particularly good at communicating their sustainability work to their customers – a step where some businesses can lose momentum. “We display our Food Made Good accreditation in our front windows to showcase our excellent work!” says Nicola. “We have sections within the Brunning & Price website where we tell our customers stories about ourselves and what we are up to as a group, as well as stories about our food and drink that also feature on our social media pages.”

Food Made Good at Brunning & Price

Brunning & Price has been working with The SRA for many years, first signing up to take the Food Made Good Standard in 2016. The team was initially surprised at the “extremely thorough” nature of the accreditation process, but this only served to inspire confidence. “This way, we know that the rating is robust.” They earned three stars in their very first accreditation and have retained this in the years since, meanwhile increasing their overall score from 70% to an incredibly impressive 83%. Their highest-scoring pillar was Environment, with a 90% overall mark.

We ask what advice Nicola would give to businesses that are considering signing up to the Standard. “Do it!” she says. “The Standard provides a good understanding of where you are in your sustainability journey and areas in which to improve across environmental and social factors.” The Brunning & Price team finds that the Standard allows them to focus on areas where they need to improve, “but it also highlights what we are doing well and what we should be maintaining for years to come.” 

Read about Brunning & Price’s sustainability work and their fantastic results in the Food Made Good Standard at their website. Learn how ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ fits within the Food Made Good Framework here, or find more inspiring stories from the businesses in our network on our News & Insights page. Ready to get started on your own sustainability journey? Sign up for the Standard today!