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Titled ‘Equipped For The Future’, it claims that the UK catering industry could save up to £250m a year on energy costs through ‘optimising kitchen equipment, improving equipment use and tailoring menu options’.

It urges operators to demand energy efficiency and whole life costings in tender documents and to make sure all relevant client teams have information that links equipment and utility costs.

It also suggests there is a need to measure more of the catering process so that the data exists to build a business case for investment in improved equipment.

For their part, manufacturers are told to improve the information they provide to potential buyers, with more focus on whole-life costings, payback periods, functionality and reliability.

Report author Amy Fetzer says: “Equipment is responsible for a significant proportion of any commercial kitchens energy usage, carbon emissions and operating cost.

“Choosing sustainable equipment which is more energy efficient can present significant lifetime savings. So, what is it that prevents some buyers from acting on this instinct to green their supply chain by choosing the most sustainable suppliers and equipment?

“This research identifies the barriers and outlines potential solutions. It sets out clear action points for manufacturers and vendors, operators and government to enable barriers such as price, lack of comparable energy data and whole life costings to be overcome.”

The report has been produced by Footprint Intelligence and is supported by Hoshizaki.