All Bar One: Electric kitchens and sustainable Cosmopolitans

When All Bar One made the decision to trial its first fully electric kitchen at its London-based Houndsditch site in November 2023, it had no idea just how successful the concept would be.

Yet, feedback has been so positive the 48-strong bar brand is now planning to install 100% electric kitchens in all future remodels and new site acquisitions.

The project saw the kitchen close for two days as electrical appliances were brought in to replace existing gas equipment, which was then graded, re-conditioned and recycled within another Mitchells & Butlers business.

During the two-day closure, staff received full training in how to use electric grills, fryers and induction hobs in the most energy efficient way at a kitchen in Watford.

“It’s been going so well,” Andrea Allen, All Bar One’s marketing manager, says of the Project Faraday initiative.

“We’ve been doing visits every two weeks back to the site, we’ve had no negative comments about food quality or speed, we’ve done some blind taste tests with internal teams and some guests, and nobody can tell the difference.”

Led by the brand’s energy ambassadors, the project is already changing team behaviour, Allen says. 

Data is fed from electrical equipment to an energy consumption dashboard which educates staff and will help “support us [in] achieving Net Zero by 2040”.

All Bar One is also part of the Coolfood Pledge, which sees members commit to reducing carbon emissions linked to the food it serves by 25% by 2030. It redesigns its food and drinks menus once a year and has introduced extra vegan and vegetarian dishes, cut red meat options, and removed unnecessary garnishes.

“If it doesn’t change the way the dish tastes then there’s no need for it to be there,” says Allen.

Some plates have been “deconstructed” so instead of being an integral part of the meal, customers can choose to add in protein like chicken or prawns.

One example, Allen says, is its Pad Thai. 72.3k dishes were sold in 2023, compared to 70.5k in 2022 – after making the recipe more sustainable by removing meat.

Environmental education is also high on All Bar One’s Agenda for both customers and staff alike.

The Nourish Bowl and Laksa Coconut Curry are among dishes flagged by a leaf symbol on the menu to signpost conscious consumers to low emission options.

The sustainability message is also sown into the grassroots level of the business.

Since 2022, All Bar One has worked with Fever-Tree to support environmental charity Earthwatch Europe and its Tiny Forests tree-planting project, which aims to mitigate climate change and provide nature-rich habitat patches to support urban wildlife.

Employees can spend their volunteering days with Tiny Forests with travel and lunch expenses covered by All Bar One.

The business also aims to enlighten staff about the environmental credentials of liquor used in the bar.

“When we do team training, we’ll get Discarded in to talk to our team about how they make the vodka from discarded grape skins and how they utilise all of the waste,” says Allen.

In 2023, the brand launched Conscious Cosmo cocktails made with Discarded Grape Skin Vodka, Cointreau, lime and cranberry juice. They have proved a hit with customers – 67,637 were sold in 2023, and, at the time of writing, 12,808 had already been served in 2024.

“The Cosmopolitan is one of our top selling cocktails,” explains Allen. “Just from swapping the alcohol in one drink we’ve managed to be more sustainable with 80,000 serves.”

Discarded is also helping All Bar One rebrand its cocktail masterclass in March 2024. “We’re heroing the Conscious Cosmo and Banana Mai Tai,” explains Allen. “Everything for the new cocktail masterclass will be printed on seeded card that’s biodegradable or can be planted.

“They’re just little things. I wouldn’t say we’re revolutionising our drinks menu and making everything sustainable, but where we can we’re trying to put small changes in… having 48 bars and selling millions and millions of cocktails does make a difference.

“As a brand we probably do a lot more than people think. Most of the time we do it because we think it’s the right thing to do and because we want to make a difference.”

The Sustainability category at the MCA Hospitality Awards is sponsored by Pernod Ricard