News & insights / Insights / 22.01.26

On The Chefs' Wishlist: Hopes and Plans For 2026

Sourcing

Several of the chefs focused on the need for more responsible sourcing practices across the sector, asking others to demand transparency in their supply chains, support small-scale agriculture, bring more local and native ingredients into their kitchens and prioritise the creation of truly delicious plant-led dishes.

ISSAM KOTEICH, CORDERO (VENEZUELA)

Cordero restaurant is rooted in a farm-to-table approach, with a strong focus on lamb from its own farm, Proyecto Ubre. It's become known for its use of local produce, innovation and its role in helping revive Venezuelan haute cuisine.

“The most urgent change for the hospitality sector isn’t political — it’s ours,” says head chef and co-founder Issam Koteich. “We need a sector-wide shift towards a zero-km, farm-to-table model. This is the only way to secure sustainability, quality and stability in the face of global uncertainty. At a government level, this means tax incentives for high-quality local producers and simpler, clearer health permits. At a sector level, chefs and hospitality teams need to lead with discipline, pride in origin and ethics — demanding local produce, building direct relationships with farmers and adapting menus to what’s truly local and seasonal. Total product utilisation is key."

DAN HUNTER, BRAE (AUSTRALIA)

Brae was our first Food Made Good-certified business in Australia, achieving an outstanding three stars in its first evaluation. Co-owner Dan Hunter is a strong advocate for transparency in sourcing and believes the biggest shift our sector can make is having full visibility over every single product and ingredient coming into your space. Ideally, this means visiting producers and suppliers yourself to understand their environmental and social practices firsthand.

“For those who aren’t working directly with farmers (which, to be honest, is the majority of our industry), if you’re relying on third parties for distribution, you need to ask questions and put some good pressure on them. Ask for clearer information, request visits to the farms or go see their warehouses yourself. Take a look around your own operations, too. It’s all about creating more transparency around those unknown products entering the supply chain.”

HEINZ GINDULLIS, COOKIES CREAM (GERMANY)

Cookies Cream in Berlin made history as the first fine dining restaurant in the city to go fully vegetarian and obtained its first Food Made Good Standard in 2025. Founder Heinz “Cookie” Gindullis shares why the most important thing we can do to push for transformation in this sector is for restaurants to master the art of making veg-led dishes taste incredible.

“What we can all do is make vegetarian and vegan dishes truly great — full of wonderful flavours and giving people an amazing experience. We should put these dishes front and centre because that helps us all be more sustainable. I also want to see restaurants using fresh products, made in-house, and being transparent about them, so guests know exactly where their food comes from.”

JOSIAH HERNANDEZ, CHEF’S GARDEN (PUERTO RICO)

Chef Josiah Hernandez from the three-star Food Made Good certified Chef’s Garden in Puerto Rico shares what he’d love to see change in the industry and the region.

“I would love to see the government incentivise the cultivation, use and consumption of local, minimally processed ingredients,” he says. “This would mean supporting every link in the distribution chain. The government could create programmes that provide financial support or even tax exemptions for these ingredients and products. Industry-wide, I’d love to see a continued focus on a culture that protects the endemic and naturalised ingredients of our region and invests in research to explore new applications for these ingredients using ancient knowledge.”

DANIEL VIDAL, BALDÍO (MEXICO)

Daniel Vidal is head chef at Baldío in Mexico. His vision for what needs to happen to build resilient, thriving businesses into 2026 focuses on respect: for ingredients, ecosystems and the people who grow our food. When we reconnect with ancestral knowledge and techniques, and truly understand where things come from, we cook better for the planet and honour the cultural and historical weight these ingredients carry.

“We have a project on zero waste, and we feel it’s our responsibility to address these issues within an ecological and sustainable framework. There are opportunities at many levels — government, industry and policy — and I don't think it's enough to focus on just one question. Since I’m in charge of the kitchen, one of the most important things I focus on is the quality and significance of our ingredients. In Mexico, for example, we have certain products with immense cultural value — products that can’t be measured purely in economic terms because their true value lies in culture and history. We need much more effort in distributing information about the incredible diversity of Mexican ingredients.

“We’re in an industry that is just beginning to grow gastronomically, and it’s very important that we start by understanding what is truly ours: how our ancestors cooked, what is best on this earth, and how we can bring it into our kitchens. We can integrate cuisines and products from other regions of the world, but the industry has a responsibility to start cooking with what we have locally. While there are important ingredients from other regions with cultural and historical value, we also have products of deep local significance. For example, from the start of this project, we’ve committed to working with 100% local products and avoiding ingredients from abroad. We’ve achieved this convincingly; people leave happy, discover new products they didn’t know about and understand there are many ways to cook using local ingredients.

“We’re proud to be among the first to use certain products, and I believe the next generation of chefs has a responsibility to continue exploring this diversity and bring it into their kitchens.”

AARON HASENPUSCH, KLINKER (GERMANY)

Aaron Hasenpusch at three-star Food Made Good-certified Restaurant Klinker in Hamburg highlights the importance of sourcing from small regional farmers and partnering with local administrations to back sustainable agriculture.

“We buy our products when they’re in peak harvest. This supports small farmers and allows us to spend less on products because they’re at their best quality and lowest price. We pickle them, which reduces food waste, and the flavour is on a completely different level than what you can buy from wholesalers. This approach needs more support from the government so small producers can continue their work; they care for the soil, protect biodiversity and provide better-quality products.”

Society

Under this pillar of the Food Made Good Framework, we saw a real recognition of hospitality’s longstanding reputation for long hours, low pay and toxic work environments — and an urgent call for the sector to do better for its people in 2026 and beyond. Across different countries and cultures, chefs also asked for better government support and for industry awards that demand healthy, supportive workplaces as standard.

CHET SHARMA, BIBI (UK)

At BiBi, no decision is made without asking, “How will it affect our people?” Chef-patron Chet Sharma really shows what treating your team well looks like in practice. “In terms of what the government could do to really support the hospitality industry, one of the big things would be providing a bit more relief on VAT. Why is that important? At the moment, we’re having to push people a little harder than they would in other industries. If we could get some relief from the government on that front, we could charge guests slightly less — which would benefit them — but also take in more revenue that could be distributed more fairly across the team.”

“Within the hospitality industry, there are things we can change ourselves," he continues. “From business owners and chefs to line cooks, waiters and bar staff, especially at this time of year with Christmas coming up, everyone’s habits change a lot. As I’m a bit older, I always think about longevity in this career. It’s all about treating yourself well: keeping fit, staying active and making sure staff have good-quality food. Earlier in my career, I didn’t pay enough attention to ensuring the team ate well, with a focus on vegetables and proper nutrition. It’s not just about performance — it's it’s about helping people be well in their day-to-day lives, too.”

JERONI CASTELL, LES MOLES (SPAIN)

Chef Jeroni Castell of Les Moles in Spain grounds his technique and creativity in the provenance of the Terres de l’Ebre region, drawing from its coastal and mountain landscapes, rich history and distinctive local ingredients. Jeroni's hope for 2026 is for the industry to find flexible solutions that will provide a work-life balance for staff, eliminating the need for government-mandated shorter work hours.

“More than asking for a change, I'd ask for something NOT to be implemented. I believe mandatory reduced work weeks would be a mistake for hospitality,” he says. “This creates inflation because restaurants need to hire more people to cover the same hours. Instead, we need flexible work-life balance solutions. Restaurants should choose their own schedules, closing certain days or evenings. Right now, many can only open evenings on weekends. Some city restaurants don't open weekends at all. We're adapting our hours so that people want to stay in hospitality. This is essential, and we need to do more of it.”

JOSIAH HERNANDEZ, CHEF'S GARDEN (PUERTO RICO)

Josiah Hernandez had a second wish for 2026: more supportive, healthy work environments for hospitality teams. “I’d love to see a new set of nominations and awards for healthy, nourishing kitchen environments,” he says. “Too often, I see chefs or restaurants winning highly coveted awards — like Best Chef or Best Restaurant — but, behind the scenes, their kitchens are toxic environments that can take a real toll on people’s lives. I would like to see more of these nominations to be contingent on how healthy and supportive a kitchen environment truly is.”

Environment

Reducing waste will be a continued focus for chefs in 2026, with those we spoke to acknowledging that success in this area needs stringent practices in-house, backed by policy at a national level.

ROB RUBBA, OYSTER OYSTER (USA)

Rob Rubba, chef and partner at Oyster Oyster in Washington, DC, shared one key thing restaurants can do to deliver better for people and the planet: pay closer attention to kitchen waste.

“One change I’d love to see in our industry is a compost bin in every kitchen. A compost bin isn’t a place you throw things away; it actually makes you aware of what you’re putting into it, how much you are wasting, and the potential you are constantly overlooking. It stops being about what you can toss out and becomes a question of what you can create. Suddenly, things we used to ignore can be turned into sauces, ferments, pickles, dried spices — all kinds of things that impact flavour. The ideas that can be born from a compost bin are incredible, like taking oyster shells and used cooking oil and turning them into candles, or old wine bottles and turning them into plateware for the restaurant. With a compost bin, we rethink what we throw away and discover what we can create.”

ZACHARY ROY, LOWE (DUBAI)

Zachary Roy from LOWE in Dubai shared a powerful message calling for more top-down support from local authorities so restaurants can keep improving what they do. “A change I’d like to see is to get some sort of hub where we can deposit our organic waste — stuff that would normally be thrown in the bin or wasted — so we can create compost together. That compost could then be given back to farmers or used in our gardens to close the circular loop.”

He also reminded us that the real drive for change sits with people: if people are empowered and businesses share what they learn, everyone gets better together. “The most important people in the industry are exactly that: the people. We can create some sort of conscious advocacy — heroing our teams, our chefs, our front-of-house — and give them the power to speak to others and share the knowledge we have. If you have all the knowledge you need to make a restaurant sustainable and don’t share it, it’s absolutely wasted. It’s about sharing that knowledge. It's about about getting these courses, systems and teachings out to other people. Sharing the knowledge, heroing others and highlighting them is the biggest thing we can do in an industry.”

ALBERT FRANCH SUNYER, NOLLA (FINLAND)

Albert Franch Sunyer is one of the Nordic region’s most inspirational chefs and head of Restaurant Nolla, Helsinki’s much-loved zero-waste kitchen celebrating seasonal, organic ingredients built on environmental responsibility, transparency and community.

Albert’s vision for change is both systemic and cultural. He shares why we need national policy that rewards responsible choices, while also knowing that transformation starts within. “If I could change one thing, it would be national policy that rewards restaurants working to reduce waste and source regeneratively. We all need support from the system to make the responsible choice the easy choice for everyone. Something restaurants can start doing right now is creating a culture of responsibility within their teams. It’s important to talk about why choices matter, celebrate the wins, raise awareness and make responsibility part of the daily conversation.”

RAY ADRIANSYAH AND EELKE PLASMEIJER, LOCAVORE NXT (INDONESIA)

The team at Locavore NXT recently completed its first Food Made Good evaluation and earned an impressive three stars. Chefs Ray Adriansyah and Eelke Plasmeijer sat down together to share their hopes for the year ahead.

“To give a better education — but I think this needs to be backed up by great people behind it,” said Ray. “The government needs strong support from people who really care about hospitality. chefs, restaurateurs, people who really care about hospitality in Bali, teachers in the hospitality industry — people who actually know what they’re talking about.”

“Get industry experts involved in making policies and advising on what’s right to do,” agrees Eelke. “It’s very important to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If we all focus on ourselves and make small changes (how we deal with waste, how we take care of our teams and those kinds of things), these little actions can have a much bigger impact over time. At the same time, try not to get frustrated by looking at the bigger picture, because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Focus on fixing small things first, before tackling the bigger issues.”