We have an aggressive approach towards sustainability and food wastage. To bring these into the luxury segment, we are careful that these don’t cut through the luxury standards of the brand. We are exploring options with more and more local vendors to purchase our ingredients, developing them for hygiene standards and organizing their work for them to be able to perform in congruence with international business standards. Procuring locally ensures that ingredients are fresh, seasonal and don’t travel across continents. With this we are able to keep in check the carbon footprint, maintain a healthy supply chain delivering organic foods and also develop the community around our hotel. Most of our orders go through an email. This develops our vendors professionally on the online platform, its ease of use and transparent communication for better integrity. We are also working towards reducing food wastage by innovating ways to serve bulk food in our all day dining restaurant. Keeping a regular check on the consumption pattern as per the changing trends of food – healthy, vegan, gluten free, vegetarian, local specialties etc. – we are able to ensure that most foods on the buffet are consumed well and wastage is less. Also for example, keeping a pass around of fresh and hot appetizers instead of placing them on the buffet helps us to curb wastage. From the leftover food on buffets, we ascertain if the food hasn’t remained outside the recommended safe temperature and is consumable, we serve it in our associate cafeteria. Waste generated from food is utilized in making compost for the garden and plants. The dishes on our menus are also carefully selected to not feature any endangered species.

Chef Amitesh Virdi, Executive Chef at the JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa