The Accor Group is raising its teams’ awareness of plant-based gastronomy and encouraging the development of a more sustainable food model.
The Institut de la Gastronomie Végétale held a workshop dedicated to plant-based cuisine at the Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel. A tailor-made half-day session designed to support the Accor Group teams in the Paris Île-de-France region in evolving their culinary practices.
With more than 200 million meals served each year and the ambition to integrate 50% vegetarian options into menus by 2030, the Accor Group occupies a strategic position to change eating habits and encourage more sustainable practices.
In a context where customer demand for plant-based alternatives is constantly growing, incorporating adapted recipes is a factor of attractiveness and differentiation for hospitality establishments.
Thanks to a global strategy and ambitious commitments – such as the development of low-carbon recipes and the expansion of the vegetarian offer – the Accor Group is reinventing eating habits and contributing to transforming the culinary culture of the sector.
Karine Castro, founder of the Institut de la Gastronomie Végétale, led the entire project and ran an awareness workshop for the General Management, F&B, Sales & Marketing teams of the Ibis, Mercure and Novotel hotels in Paris Île-de-France.
As part of this project, Karine invited Chef Claire Brachet, founder of La Sauvagière, to lead a MasterClass dedicated to plant-based cuisine, specially designed for the Chefs of Accor units. The participating Chefs were able to explore innovative techniques and ingredients, stimulate their creativity, and consider concrete applications to integrate into their menus.
For this exclusive menu, Claire suggested that the Chefs create delicious plant-based recipes:
- Potatoes and fennel, seaweed mayonnaise
- Glazed tempeh and roasted broccoli
- Apple and mushroom turnovers
- Palak Paneer and Naan
- Soft pumpkin cake (Moelleux au potimarron)
- Pear cream
Understanding plant-based gastronomy and its challenges in the Hospitality industry
The workshop pursued two complementary objectives.
On the one hand, it aimed to broaden the understanding of plant-based cuisine among the management teams, to allow them identify the benefits of a plant-based offer, to better structure it within hotel establishments, and to make it a concrete tool serving their CSR commitments. This theoretical program covered a range of topics, from the definition of terms related to plant-based cuisine to the marketing and communication of the offer, thus giving participants the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and better promote the plant-based propositions of each establishment.
On the other hand, it was about helping the Chefs develop their culinary creativity, and enabling them to discover new ingredients, inspiring plant-based techniques, and innovative approaches to enrich their menus. This mixed approach, combining theory and practice, allowed the teams to better understand the plant-based offer and to project themselves into its daily implementation.
Highlighting plant-based cuisine to increase performance and attractiveness
Beyond training, the workshop highlighted the concrete advantages of a plant-based offer for hotels. Plant-based cuisine contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of meals, diversifying the customer experience, and meeting a growing demand for responsible alternatives. A well-designed plant-based offer thus becomes a lever for differentiation and upscaling, allowing establishments to strengthen their attractiveness and image, while optimizing the use of products to limit food waste and increase operational efficiency.
Furthermore, this workshop was a human experience, bringing the teams together around a unifying theme. Gathering employees around plant-based gastronomy stimulated discussions, strengthened team cohesion, and created a common dynamic around the Group’s sustainable objectives.
We thank all the teams for their participation in this workshop, as well as the Management of the Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel for their welcome.
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