Behaving responsibly
Having a transparent and effective corporate governance is significant for any organization. At gategroup, we are dedicated to fulfilling this responsibility and striving to enhance the transparency of our governance procedures, following global best practices. As part of our governance efforts, we are developing an ethical and auditable responsible group supply chain, and we are committed to leading the catering service industry by concentrating on sustainability initiatives in menu planning and providing incentive culinary product stewardship to our clients.
Transparent governance
Transparent good corporate governance is imperative for any organization that wants to maintain the trust of its stakeholders. We take this responsibility seriously and have been continuously working on deepening transparency of our governance processes in alignment with international best practice expectations.
gategroup's Code of Business Conduct outlines how all employees must embody the standards of integrity that shape our company. These are extended to our suppliers, their employees and sub-contractors via the Group’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
Corporate compliance is part of gategroup’s ethical business conduct. In 2022, we rolled out new trainings on information security, data protection, and competition laws to ensure that our employees are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to protect our customer' data and comply with relevant laws and regulations.
To actively manage governance, compliance, and risk within gategroup, we have established a Global Risk and Compliance Committee (GRCC). Through this committee, we ensure that we have a robust system in place to identify, assess, and manage risks across our operations.
In addition, we have a whistleblower program that encourages employees to report any concerns they may have about potential ethical or legal violations. This program helps us to identify and address issues before they become bigger problems.
Food safety is a top priority for us at gategroup. We have implemented rigorous food safety standards and procedures to ensure that our customers can trust the quality and safety of the food we provide.
We are signatories to the United Nations Global Compact and support the Sustainable Development Goals throughout.
Responsible supply chain
gategroup strives for long-term collaboration with its suppliers. In the 2022 financial year, around 46% of the total purchase volume came from suppliers with a more than 8-year business relationship with gategroup, and over 70% of the total purchase volume came from suppliers with more than 5 years of partnership.
Our relations with suppliers are guided by the gategroup Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC), which outlines the ethical and environmental standards that we expect from all our suppliers. This code is incorporated into our supplier agreements along with the General Terms and Conditions and the gategroup Code of Conduct. We believe that by working together with our suppliers, we can create a responsible supply chain that benefits everyone involved, from the environment to our customers and suppliers alike.
We work with suppliers to create new, locally sourced, and sustainably packaged gastronomic experiences that reflect our customer brand identities and culinary roots.
We are proud to say that the majority of our direct material products are already sourced locally, and we are committed to increasing this share even further. In fact, in 2022, we had 85% of our customer-related product sourcing from local vendors. This not only helps to support local businesses but also reduces transportation costs and associated emissions.
Following an earlier pledge by our sub-brand Servair, in 2022, we made a group-wide commitment to make our entire egg supply chain cage-free by 2025. Eggs are just the first step, and we are in the process of conducting internal assessments to make further commitments on the topic of animal welfare.
To understand and actively manage ESG-relevant risks and opportunities in our procurement activities, as part of our ESG Framework 2025, we set ourselves an ambition to develop a transparent and audited responsible group supply chain by 2040.
Product stewardship & innovation
gategroup is committed to being a leader in the catering service industry by focusing on sustainability drivers in menu design and offering innovative culinary product stewardship to our customers. We believe that by adopting and promoting sustainable practices, we not only can reduce our environmental impact but also improve the welfare of animals in our supply chain, and provide our customers with higher-quality, healthier and more nutritious meals.
As part of this approach, we set ourselves a goal of increasing the vegetarian and vegan offering to our customers. In addition to this, we are also committed to eliminating single-use plastics in our product offering and transitioning towards more circular solutions.
