Doing more to be proud of
Our commitment to being a responsible and sustainable business by adopting a People and Planet positive approach for all our stakeholders, including our people, suppliers, pub partners, guests and the communities we serve.
Our commitment to being a responsible and sustainable business by adopting a People and Planet positive approach for all our stakeholders, including our people, suppliers, pub partners, guests and the communities we serve.The main way in which we do this is through our ‘Doing more to be proud of’ initiative which focuses on four core pillars: Planet, People, Product & Policy. Each of the four pillars connect to the core of what we do in our business, and where we believe we can make the biggest impact. The People and Planet-positive practices, policies and targets are underpinned by strong Policy – that is good governance.
To find out more, you can download our Insight Report by clicking the link below. Our Insight Report is a statement of our aims, targets and intentions, and shines a light on our focus areas and where we think we can improve!
Doing more for...
For our most fragile stakeholder, we want to operate our business and supply chain more efficiently to reduce our energy consumption, emissions and use of precious natural resources like water. We also want to reduce our impact on the environment by reducing or repurposing our waste and encourage our suppliers to do the same.
Our PLANET promise to be proud of: To operate our business and supply chain more efficiently to reduce our energy consumption, emissions and water use. To reduce our impact on the environment by reducing or repurposing our waste and encourage our suppliers to do the same.
Our EV charging infrastructure
We are proud to have the biggest private network of electric vehicle chargers in hospitality. Over 170 of our pubs have live EV charging points installed and 5 have fast charging hubs. Our charging network has been responsible for over 40 million miles travelled by electric vehicles, saving a whopping 9million kg of CO2.
Cooking oil
As well as our kitchen teams receiving training ensure the right amount of oil is used in our kitchens to reduce the amount of waste, any used cooking oil is collected by our partner, Olleco, who repurpose it into biodiesel, which is a fuel source with a lower carbon impact than traditional fossil or mineral fuels. This enables us to reduce or remove used oil from our food waste and contribute to reduced emissions by supporting the production of lower carbon fuels.
Recycled garden furniture
In 2018 we turned the pub garden at The Sun, Romsley, into one entirely made from low grade recycled plastic, including recycled plastic lumber for walkways. Since then, as part of our estate-wide recycling targets, only benches made from recycled plastic have been used by way of replacement. Working with Plastico, our manufacturer and supplier of eco-friendly packaging and tableware, over 10,000 recycled plastic benches have been installed in our estate to date.
We also ensure that any broken or end-of-life wooden furniture we remove is recycled via our supply partner who use the wood for repurposing into things like pallets, firewood of for use in allotments.
At Marston’s, People Make Pubs. We embrace the diversity of our employees, our guests and our local pub communities and strive to provide equitable opportunities for growth and social mobility. We want to create an inclusive culture that engages and inspires, and work with charitable partners that share our core values.
Our PEOPLE promise to be proud of: To create a culture of engagement, support and development that attracts, retains and supports the best people from diverse backgrounds. To support our people to ‘come as you are’ by building an inclusive culture among our employees, pub partners and suppliers which reflects the diversity of our guests and communities.
Here’s where we are making progress on our promise...
Excel
Our Excel programme has been created to support people leaving custody to obtain new skills and find employment in one of our pubs. We recruit to fixed criteria ensuring the safety of our teams and our guests and, since 2022, we have recruited ex-offenders all over England and Wales from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and helped them on their way to a career in the hospitality sector into a variety of roles from Sales & Service to Head Chef.
In 2023, we were extremely proud to open ‘The Lock Inn’ which is our dedicated training facility inside HMP Liverpool. The Lock Inn has been converted to look and feel like a Marston’s kitchen and we run a 13 week Chef course up to 4 times a year to train a cohort of 10 men to chef Level 1 (CDP skillset) with a guaranteed job offer in a Marston’s pub for those who complete it.
Marston’s Charitable Foundation
Marston’s Charitable Foundation scheme enables our employees to donate directly from their pay, to support causes close to the hearts of our pubs and their local communities. We encourage as many people as possible to contribute so we can complement other fundraising and help ensure that smaller, local charities and causes have access to support, particularly during the tough economic climate.
Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion is central to our core values and our People Pillar. We are committed to promoting an inclusive environment that represents many different backgrounds, cultures and points of view and will always strive to reflect the communities we serve.
Our Diversity and Inclusion strategy was launched in 2023, encapsulating our objective of wanting Marston’s to be a place where our teams:
- Relate to, feel represented by, and trust each other
- Feel valued and supported
- Feel involved in the bigger picture
- Are appreciated as individuals
- Communicate openly, have a voice, and are listened to
Mental Health training for our people
We partner with The Burnt Chef Project to deliver mental health awareness and resilience training to our people. Through this partnership, we are challenging the stigma associated with mental health in the hospitality industry. We are committed to providing a better environment for everyone by equipping line managers with the skills needed to have better conversations around mental health and to recognise signs of stress. It is essential for all our colleagues to have someone helping them when in need.
The Burnt Chef Project is not for profit so relies heavily on public donations. As part of the launch of our new partnership, thirty colleagues across Marston’s took part in a fundraiser skydive. They raised over £13,000 for a project that is close to their hearts. The money raised will go directly towards the efforts to educate, train, and support the thousands of hospitality colleagues battling with poor mental health so that, together, we can build a healthier, happier and sustainable hospitality profession.
Our network groups
We want to ensure that the food and drink that we source to serve to our guests in our pubs has as little impact on the planet as possible. We also have our guests interests in mind when we provide information about the dishes we serve, helping to support them make choices based on health or lifestyle.
Our PRODUCT promise to be proud of: To be proud of our Plates by delivering quality food & drink which is ethically sourced and in a way which reduces food waste and emissions.
Reducing food waste
We are proud to have partnered with Too Good to Go (TGTG), an app-based solution to food waste, selling surplus food to consumers that would otherwise have been thrown away at a reduced price. We have introduced TGTG in the majority of our carvery sites.
As well as providing a valuable social service, TGTG is helping us to meet our goal of reducing our food waste by 50% by 2030, and our carbon emissions.
Food Supplier Charter
Our guests have a right to expect a high level of diligence in the sourcing of goods, products and services. Our food charter sets out our expectations on quality of product, traceability of ingredients, ethical approach, sustainable sourcing and associated labour practices. The Charter conveys our expectations for suppliers to reduce their own environmental impact by minimising unnecessary packaging and choosing recyclable materials, wherever possible.
The way in which we do business is embedded into our governance framework which is communicated to our people and partners by pragmatic policies that reflect our ethics and values. We ensure these are effectively communicated, progressively encouraged and monitored for effectiveness.
Our POLICY Promise to be Proud of: To support the development of our business in delivering its objectives by promoting high standards of governance, risk management and transparency.
Our People Handbook
Through our digital handbook, we provide a living document to inform our team members on our strategy, behavioural framework, People Promise, career information and policies. All our policies are within the handbook, written and laid out in an engaging and consistent format. Recognising that “People make Pubs” the handbook is people friendly with accessibility options. The book is tailored to the roles in the business, so that the reader knows that it includes what is relevant to their own role. Links to some our the polices contained within the handbook are included below.
Drinkaware
Marston’s is a corporate donor to the charity Drinkaware and supports its campaigns. The Drinkaware Trust is an independent UK-wide alcohol education charity, funded largely by voluntary and unrestricted donations from UK alcohol producers, retailers and supermarkets. The Trust is governed independently and works in partnership with others to help reduce alcohol-related harm by helping people make better choices about their drinking. More information can be found on the Drinkaware website.
Our policies reflect our ethics and values and we the way in which we conduct our business.
See below for links to some of our value-based policies for more information.
