A win for Forest Green Rovers: saving money without costing the Earth
Overview
Forest Green Rovers wins double-digit savings across food and catering-related purchasing by working with allmanhall. As a sports stadium looking to stand apart from the crowd, Forest Green Rovers relies on allmanhall’s help to ensure that every penny of their food and catering budget is working as hard as possible, sustainably and responsibly, to nourish a healthy balance sheet.
Not only does the Club benefit from sustainable food cost savings, but these savings are delivered alongside industry leading support by experts acting as an extension of their team to give them peace of mind!
By engaging allmanhall, Forest Green Rovers gains the leveraged purchase volume to mitigate food price increases and consolidate supply without having to do it themselves. They also have the reassurance of award-winning sustainable and transparent food supply chains alongside easy access to purchasing information and simplified, more efficient processes.
“Food is a big part of the experience here at FGR, whether it is matchday, events, hospitality, feeding the players or hosting the rewarding community cookalongs. As a club we are keen to educate on plant-based sustainable switches that are better for people and the planet. allmanhall have provided a great solution for the club to make financial and sustainable savings, as well as offering a carbon calculator for the meals produced from the kiosks.”
– Paula Brown, Head of Commercial, Forest Green Rovers
Why did Forest Green Rovers engage allmanhall?
Founded in 1889, Forest Green Rovers has a long and vibrant history. Dale Vince, a British green energy industrialist and the founder of the electricity company Ecotricity, became the chairman of the semi-professional football club in 2010, after investing in it as a major shareholder to improve its social and environmental impact.
Under Vince’s leadership, Forest Green Rovers became the world’s first vegan football club in 2015. They were the first carbon-neutral football club certified by the United Nations in 2018, and in the same year they beat Manchester City and Lords Cricket Ground to win the first ever Green Heart Hero Sustainability in Sport Award, given by the Climate Coalition at a ceremony in Parliament.
allmanhall approached Forest Green Rovers because the team was keen to demonstrate concrete savings on their food purchasing whilst sharing their sustainable mission. Tackling the impact of climate change is fundamental to allmanhall’s operations and supply chain as our food industry both contributes to and is vulnerable to its effects. allmanhall collaborates to ensure their operations and actions have a positive influence on the places and people that they work with, including their extended supply chains. Leading by example, allmanhall is ‘Gold Rated’ by EcoVadis, the world’s largest provider of business sustainability ratings, and ensures that every core supplier is also rated for sustainability by EcoVadis.
What was the result?
allmanhall conducted a benchmark which demonstrated that Forest Green Rovers could benefit from double-digit savings whilst enjoying transparent and responsible food procurement, ensuing that the catering offering for their supporters and community alike wouldn’t cost the earth.
allmanhall’s experienced team mobilised key suppliers rapidly, and the stadium’s catering team was given full training on allmanhall’s catering controls platform. This system provided full stocktaking capabilities, EDI ordering, recipe costings and nutritional information, and the ability to track every penny of spend.
Forest Green Rovers engaged allmanhall in May 2024 and benefitted from savings of 17.4% as well as a reduction in monthly invoices from 30 to just 2, saving administrative time.
With allmanhall’s support, the Club introduced an award-winning carbon assessment tool that monitors the carbon footprint of every dish and helps them adapt to an even more sustainable way of operating.
The Foodsteps platform plays a key role in:
- measuring and reducing the stadium’s food emissions
- creating greater transparency within their supply chains
- assisting the catering team as an educational tool
- directly empowering the Club’s supporters and visitors to make more sustainable food choices
Regular procurement reviews suggest new or alternative products which help the Club to save money whilst maintaining their enviable sustainability credentials.
As food procurement experts managing the efficacy and impact of the food supply chain, allmanhall also support the stadium’s catering team to minimise food waste at the end of the value chain – a welcome and positive move when almost one third of a company’s food budget goes straight in the bin.
To strengthen Forest Green Rovers’ extensive programme of community engagement, the allmanhall team joins in regular community cooking sessions which go down very well with local schoolchildren and their families. These sessions teach the children valuable cooking skills and sustainable ingredient knowledge.
Collaboration doesn’t even stop when the office closes for the day – allmanhall’s team also take part in the Club’s football tournaments to strengthen the sense of teamwork exemplified by their working partnership.
What did the client say?
“Food is a big part of the experience here at FGR, whether it is matchday, events, hospitality, feeding the players or hosting the rewarding community cookalongs. As a club we are keen to educate on plant-based sustainable switches that are better for people and the planet. allmanhall have provided a great solution for the club to make financial and sustainable savings, as well as offering a carbon calculator for the meals produced from the kiosks.
– Paula Brown, Head of Commercial, Forest Green Rovers
With double-digit savings and fully transparent and sustainable food procurement, alongside engaging community support, Forest Green Rovers are delighted to have teamed up with allmanhall to ensure every penny of their food and catering budget is working as hard as possible, sustainably and responsibly, to nourish a healthy balance sheet.