Is green the colour of frugality?

Which national high street chain has seen year on year sales jump 3.5% and expects to turn in healthy profits of £21m for 2008? OK, it's an unfair question.

The answer is Oxfam charity shops, which have seen a leap in customers coming through their doors. The British public loves a bargain and no more so than in these recessionary times.

As the boss of Asda observed last month, the happy days of endless consumer spending are over, replaced by a new era of frugality, producing a generation of shoppers focused on low prices and limiting waste.

The interesting aspect of what the supermarket chief executive had to say was the emphasis not just on price, but on wastefulness too. Conspicuous consumption and the throwaway society are also falling out of fashion.

Watching Masterchef on TV, I couldn't help thinking there was something a little distasteful in seeing perfectly good food consigned to the bin by a head chef because contestants hadn't carved a duck breast to perfection in the kitchen test.

According to Mintel, the research firm, one in four adults say they are already adopting a thriftier lifestyle. Its latest survey suggests that 16% of us are even attempting to be more self-sufficient by growing our own vegetables or making our own clothes.

It's back to The Good Life, for all those that remember the popular TV sitcom of the Seventies. Retail Week magazine has even reported that B&Q has seen a threefold increase in the sales of chicken coops – although I can't help thinking demand was not exactly great to start with.

Nonetheless, recycling, cutting waste, self-sufficiency and taking heed of the environment all seem to be part of new Austerity Britain. It's not simply about finding the cheapest bargain.'
In past recessions, consumers' environment credentials have generally gone out of the window. It's far from clear that’s going to happen this time around.

Of course, when people go out to eat or drink they want to enjoy themselves and indulge a little - not to say escape their everyday worries. But do we really expect them to leave all their concerns and principles at the restaurant or pub door? We are, after all, increasingly in the "affordable treat" not mega blow-out market.

Evidence from the United States suggests that even ordinary Americans are these days looking for healthier options and "greener" restaurants when they dine out, alongside better value and convenience.

The National Restaurant Association's 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast surveyed operators, customers and chefs. It found that four out of 10 full-service restaurant operators and nearly a third of quick-service chains planned to devote more budget to green initiatives this coming year, with 44% of US restaurant-goers saying they were more likely to make a restaurant choice based on its environmental practices, such as energy conservation.

Chains such as Subway, McDonald's, Chipotle and Dunkin' Donuts are already leading the market in introducing energy-efficient schemes into new-builds. Starbucks, for instance, says by 2010 it wants 50% of the energy used at its stores to come from renewable sources.

In addition, 70% of Americans said they were more likely to visit a restaurant that offered locally produced food. Local sourcing is an obvious green initiative for restaurants, and perhaps not surprisingly, the NRA found that 90% of fine-dining operators believed demand for locally sourced produce would grow.

It also discovered that close to 30% of quick-service operators already served locally sourced items and nearly half believed local sourcing would only grow in popularity in the fast food market.

Offering great value and keen prices may rightly be the top priority for 2009, but if green is the new colour of frugality, should the UK eating and drinking-out market be doing more to blend in? Or are we going to be opening coffee shops next to Oxfam?


First published in M&C Report, February, 2009