SV Switzerland publishes Sustainability 2023 progress report

As Switzerland's leading company in the communal catering and hotel management sector, SV Switzerland has been committed to sustainability for many years. SV presents the measures it has implemented in the areas of environmental and social responsibility in its annual Sustainability Progress Report. The current report covers the years 2019 to 2023 and is available online.

More animal welfare thanks to IP-SUISSE and Schweizer Poulet

In the reporting year, SV Switzerland decided to further improve animal welfare standards when purchasing meat. Already 70% of its previous meat volume came from BTS/RAUS production - now the company is going one step further. Since March 2024, SV has been switching its meat purchasing to the stricter IP-SUISSE label on a large scale: The aim is to introduce the new standard in all SV restaurants while also maintaining the animal welfare content of 70%. This includes all pork, beef and charcuterie. Further progress was made in the area of chicken to promote animal welfare: in 2023, all chicken purchases were switched to exclusively Swiss products.

Planetary Health Diet as a strategic beacon

As early as 2022, SV set itself the goal of aligning its range with the recommendations of the Planetary Health Diet in the long term. In other words, a predominantly plant-based, varied and balanced diet that also allows animal proteins in defined quantities. SV sees this as the most effective way of promoting a balanced, environmentally friendly and climate-friendly diet without patronizing its guests. This was also a strategic focus in the reporting year: To this end, SV Group Product Management is constantly developing new vegetarian and vegan recipes, as well as those that comply with the Planetary Health Diet. Between 2019 and 2023, 171 vegetarian and vegan menu recipes and 50 new salad recipes with a focus on wholefood salads were created. 105 new recipes were developed for the Planetary Health Diet. To bring the new offer to life in the restaurants, Planetary Health Weeks were held as an experience week in all SV restaurants in 2023 in addition to Veganuary.

Strong partnerships

Thanks to a partnership entered into with Beelong in the reporting year and the ECO-SCORE® developed by them, SV will in future have an orientation system at its disposal that guests can use to compare the environmental impact of the menus on offer. ECO-SCORE® evaluates food and dishes in terms of their environmental impact from production to the plate and makes this transparent in a simple way. The rollout of the orientation system is planned for summer 2024 and will be introduced in the relevant establishments at the customer's request.

With the support of myclimate, SV was also able to create a cross-divisional carbon footprint for the entire SV Group for the first time. This now enables the company to formulate measurable reduction targets for the entire business - including the hotel division.

In addition, SV has decided to extend its successful partnership with WWF Switzerland, which has already existed for over 10 years, for a further three years and to intensify its collaboration in the area of climate-friendly nutrition.

Progress in the area of "social sustainability"

In the area of social sustainability, SV implemented numerous projects to promote employer attractiveness, employee development and vocational training. One of the milestones in 2023 is the revision of fringe benefits. The benefits for SV Switzerland employees now include, for example, free meals and the option to purchase vacations.

The topic of compliance was also dealt with intensively: An internal whistleblower portal was set up in the reporting year - the Speak Up Line. This ensures that any irregularities such as corruption, abuse, discrimination or harassment can be reported.

Ambitious goals

SV was included in the Swiss Triple Impact Directory in 2023. As part of this initiative, the company has set itself targets to increase the proportion of food from ecological, social and ethical production in addition to the climate target and aims to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030 (compared to 2022).

SV has also committed to setting science-based reduction targets. To this end, the company joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in 2023 and will submit its targets to SBTi by summer 2024.