HMSHost: A Leader in Sustainability

logo in corporate office reception area

During the December Elemental Impact Washington D.C. trip, the Sustainable Food Court Initiative leadership spent a morning at team member HMSHost's corporate offices.  Along with the general updates, the meeting was an excellent opportunity to strategize with Linda Dunn, VP Supply Chain & Analysis, and Joshua Barone, Sr Manager, Business Analysis, on future projects and directions. Anne Duffy, Media Director, joined the meeting to explore how Ei may be a strong partner in sharing HMSHost's leadership role in foodservice industry sustainability.


First on the agenda was a big THANK YOU to HMSHost for their amazing sustainability commitment.  The SFCI made tremendous strides in 2011, mainly due to HMSHost's willingness to recreate operating practices with an environmental focus.  It takes pioneers like HMSHost to work out the challenges|barriers so fellow operators may follow suit.  The ZWZ Blog post, SFCI in ACTION Mode, gives a SFCI update. The Sustainability = Sharing & HMSHost presents @ NRA Board Meeting  posts are an excellent recap of HMSHost's commitment.

Linda & Chris Moyer, NRA
ConServe Program Director

In early 2012 the intent is to announce a second SFCI Pilot at Concord Mills in Charlotte, NC.  The mall is owned by SFCI team member Simon Property Group and HMSHost has the concessions contract.  In October SFCI Co-Chair Doug Kunnemann and Holly Elmore, Ei Founder, traveled to Charlotte and met with the Concord Mills mall and concessions managers.  


While in Charlotte, Doug & Holly also visited the Charlotte Airport, where HMSHost has the concessions contract, to learn about their current and planned recycling practices. The ZWZ Blog post, Fertile Charlotte Grounds, gives an overview of the trip.  A January Charlotte trip is scheduled to launch the pilot with a plastic film recycling project along with the initial steps to start back-of-the-house organics collection for composting.

Chris, Anne, Linda & Joshua

In 2011 Holly visited the Tampa Airport, another airport with HMSHost-operated concessions, twice to understand how we may work together on evolving their already amazing sustainable practices.  With one of the Atlanta ZWZ icons relocated in Tampa and HMSHost's support, there is strong potential for a ZWZ-Tampa.  The ZWZ Blog post, An Atlanta Icon Resurfaces in Tampa, for an overview of the first Tampa visit.


For 2012 the SFCI | ZWZ HMSHost focus will be in the Atlanta, Charlotte and Tampa markets.  With the strong on-the-ground relationships, the SFCI team looks forward to moving beyond zero waste initiative focus and into toxic-free environments.

It was a fantastic visit with Linda, Joshua and Anne - stay tuned for exciting 2012 updates as the fun is just beginning!