How Restaurant Company Europe Masters ESG Regulations (Expert Strategies)

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About The Episode

Welcome to the Food Service Growth Show, the ultimate podcast for insights and strategies driving the food service industry forward. In this exciting episode, we have a special treat for you. Not just one, but two expert guests from the renowned Restaurant Company Europe (RCE) are joining us. We’re diving deep into the topic of how Restaurant Company Europe Masters ESG Regulations, bringing you expert strategies and invaluable insights that you won’t want to miss.

First, let us introduce our distinguished guests. We have Eric Maurits, the Director of Purchasing & ESG at RCE. Eric is at the forefront of integrating sustainability and ethical practices into the company’s operations. Alongside him, we have JacobJan van Duijvenvoorde, the CFO at Restaurant Company Europe. JacobJan brings a wealth of knowledge in financial strategy and management, ensuring that RCE not only grows but thrives while adhering to ESG principles.

Read The Interview

Carl: Hello, I’m Carl Jacobs and I’m co-founder and CEO of Apicbase. At Apicbase, we are building the world’s best food and beverage management platform. But in this podcast series, it’s all about finding answers on how to grow and scale your food service business. I’m talking to numerous experts and industry professionals who are passionate about building a healthy food service industry. Join me on this fascinating journey of entrepreneurship in food.

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to a new episode of the Food Service Growth Show. Today I have two guests with me. It’s Eric Maurits and JacobJan van Duijvenvoorde, and they are both working for RCE in the Netherlands.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. Um, before we go into the topic of today, I would like to ask you to introduce yourself to us and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you have been doing in your life.

Eric: Well, thank you, Carl, for your intro. My name is Eric Maurits. As you mentioned, I’m responsible for procurement and ESG within Restaurant Company Europe. I joined the business in October 2021, and before that I had a long history in contracted food service, which is also about food and beverages. But it’s a different type of sector, as you can imagine.

Carl: All right. Thank you very much, JacobJan. What about you?

JacobJan: Yeah. Thank you for your invitation, Carl. I’m JacobJan. I’m the CFO of the complete group. So RCE, in my role, I’m responsible for everything on finance, but also on facilities, IT data and working together with Eric on purchasing and ESG. Um, yeah. I have a different background than food service. I was before. When I started my career, I was a banker working for a Dutch corporate bank, mostly active within the M&A sector. So mergers and acquisitions. And I switched to the company in 2018. So working already for a few years now within RCE and its predecessors.

Carl: All right. And JacobJan, just a quick follow up question on that. How has the switch gone and how do you feel in this, in this new world?

JacobJan: I’ve learnt a lot. I think this is, um, it really has been an interesting journey, especially entering the food service market in 2018 and seeing everything happen. after was especially also around our company. But, I think it’s for everybody in life. It’s a good time to switch industries and to see things on the, on the other side, especially this industry as, as it is, it’s really coming down to details instead of the more high over and Excel figures. Its details are very important in this industry.

Carl: All right. And can you then maybe, you know, tell us a little bit about which details you’re talking about. Is it specific details or?

JacobJan: Like not specific details, but what, what I would mention or to say more generally in banking world, you can say, well, I look at this for let’s all wait for a week or let’s see how things evolve and then react. I think in this industry as it is hyper competitive, of course, you have to be always on the ball and really know what your guests want and expect and be. Everybody has to be fulfilled within the organization. That guest journey and guest experience is one of the most important things in this, this industry. And that that has to be part of your DNA and in every decision you will also make. And that is from a banking perspective. Banks don’t work with the word guest everyday or every day. When I have external parties here, they always talk about clients or consumers. That’s not the word we use here. Internally. We use the word guest. And that is a really different approach than seeing the guests we have as clients or consumers. So, that is something I would like to stress.

Carl: That’s a very interesting insight actually. It’s talking about guests. Indeed. And then it’s also about hospitality. So it’s being open and friendly to your guests. Of course.

Eric, could you also talk a little bit about the responsibilities that you mentioned? It’s procurement and ESG. Um, why do you end up being also responsible for ESG? I believe that that’s the newest part of your role. and how did that come into being?

Eric: Yeah. Well, it’s, as you say, procurement purchasing, um, for the entire organization for all formulas, which includes food and non-food, but also all types of service providers that we use. And there was a demand within the organization to put more focus on ESG. And as you can see from a purchasing perspective, there is a big relationship also between ESG and procurement because it’s about sustainability, sustainable products, and purchasing has had a big impact on how a company, um, can work on the ESG topics. So. Well, it was almost a no brainer to behave that way to the procurement and purchasing departments.

All right, before we go into that part of the ESG topic, I would like to also invite you to introduce the company you’re working for, RCE. Where is it standing for? And do we know any of the brands and where does it come from?

JacobJan: Yeah. So RCE is a restaurant group, as you said. Carl is located in the Netherlands. In total we have 72 locations in the Netherlands. Um, these are spread out over the complete country. Um, I think a lot of our guests and people know our brands more than RCE. And that’s also really good because those are the places that they visit. So one, one of the brands, one of the brands we operate or formulas, how we talk is the formula called Lucia. We also operate a formula called Happy Italy, also a formula that is called Bears and Barrels. And we have several other famous brands, but more locally, oriented in the Netherlands. So, like, the Ferrari in Eindhoven or, diva in the City Leader.

We are organized that we have one service office in the, in the Netherlands that is located in Amstelveen, which is city near to Amsterdam, in which we perform, with the people here at the service office, all the, let’s say back office, between brackets related activities for all our locations, which include purchasing, HR, finance, IT, etc., etc. and the ID which is set up is that we think that the locations as we as a service offer also are, but the location should have all their time and attention pay for the guest journey and the quality at the locations and all the other things have to be serviced to them so that they can focus on this, guest journey. And quality in total is that our group has 3000 employees working, and we have a revenue of approximately 200 million.

Carl: Right. Um, if you talk about the, you know, the, let’s say the numbers of, of RCE, you’re mentioning, 200 million turnover, what’s the growth rate of, of a business like RC and what’s a healthy growth rate?

JacobJan: That’s a healthy, good, good question. I think we have a bit of a history, growing what we are, maybe that’s a little bit of a long story where our complete background is coming from. But when I started here, we had approximately 15 Lucia locations, and we opened the 36th Lucia location. So we more than doubled in, let’s say 5 or 6 years, time. Um, in addition, we also acquired one of the formulas that we now operate that is Happy Italy, which we acquired in 2021, which added then another 18 locations to the group. Um, so we were driven by the fact that we were focused on growth and um and that was possible for us because we had that one service office that was also organized for growth. And we see that the demand for the gas for formulas is still also growing in, in the Netherlands. That’s why we can say that like a little bit of a gravy is correct, we let it out over the Netherlands like, like Lucia is a lot about gravy. But we flooded out over the Netherlands to say it in a wrong English word. but I still see room for, for further growth in the Netherlands. But as you can also see in our name, we have a bigger ambition than only the Netherlands. And that is what we hope to do in the future.

Future? Yeah, but what can I say about sustainability. I think it depends on, on what you, um, what you want to achieve with your formula. Where is room for growth with your formula and what you also can handle as an organization? Um, keeping in mind that that gas journey and gas and quality should be on the level that that you want it to be. So that would be my answer. It’s not a specific number. it depends on how you’re organized and what you are wanting to do.

So, next question, Eric. 200 million. That means that you are with a bigger organization, in the Netherlands specifically also in food service. This probably means that you are also part of the most stringent European regulations according to ESG. Um. Can you tell us a little bit about, you know, the framework in which ESG has, you know, is, is existing and what are we doing with ESG?

Eric: Yeah. Well, we do qualify, as you say, um, within CSD. So we have to report as of 2026 over the year 2025. And we said it would be good to start early because you can push this backwards all the time, but you have to start some time. And, having a revenue of €200 million also means that you are buying a lot of stuff and you’re doing a lot.

So when we have the opportunity to look at data and we have an external platform that facilitates us, it’s called climax that shows us our scope one, scope two, and scope three CO2 emissions. Um, we also saw that 85% of our total emissions was within scope three. So within the purchasing part of what we do. So when we started to make a plan, it made sense to look at the low hanging fruits and see, well, if we want to achieve reductions, what would be the best start? And um, in scope three, it’s quite complicated and we can come back to that maybe a bit later as well. In the podcast and in scope one and two, we saw we could fairly easily also achieve some early successes by, um, buying more green electricity, by, um, um, replacing our lease cars with electric cars instead of fuel cars and by reducing natural gas. So this is a program that we built over the next few years, and that will make sure that we are in line with the climate agreement of Paris, um, to reduce our CO2 emissions in scope one and two.

Carl: And for the audience. What is scope one and what is scope two and what is scope three? Can we quickly, you know, explain a little bit?

Eric: Yeah, sure, sure. Um, scope one is um, mainly all the fuel and natural gas we buy. And in scope two, you will find all the electricity that we buy. So that’s what we also use when we run restaurants. That’s what we directly consume.

Carl: Yes. All right, all right.

Eric: Three, you will find the CO2 emissions that are related to products that you buy and that are produced by external companies.

Carl: Okay. And you mentioned that only 15% comes from scope one and two.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So 85 is scope three. I think that is also typical for most restaurants in debt. I think maybe for a lot of companies, not specifically restaurants, it’s all around scope. three. But maybe to add also to what Eric is saying, I think what is really important before your, your, your starting with this strategy is that you have your data platform in shape so that you know what there is and where you can formulate a strategy on. And that is something, yeah. We had the advantage that we, yeah, have become part of a combination of companies that we did an assessment regarding which systems we want to use through the complete company. And we, um, also had time because we were close by Covid to, to also introduce all these systems into our restaurants. So we run on what platform. So our data quality is, is we, we, we have data and we, we know what it is. So um, we can easily, um, use that. And we started there already with climax, which is a company which maps your CO2, CO2 emissions.

JacobJan: We already started with this company in 2021 collecting all our data. So we had a good view on this scope one, two and three with which elements are in what bucket. Um, and this is of course a journey. So this is something which we do now and it’s still you have to be working on this on a continuous basis to further improve, improve this. And this is especially I think Eric can also comment on that. What we see on scope three to further bring this or to, to further map this, map this out. And that is what we are, we are now, we are now doing and trying to to get a better view on the specific elements in scope three. We have it on a high level, which is quite dense already, but we want to have it on a more on a, on a better level, with these new parties bringing, adding this data to us to our platform. Yeah.

Carl: Um, and of course. Somewhere in Europe. People make the decision that you have to comply with ESG ruling at a certain point in the beginning, I guess you’re kind of, ah, do we need to buy or is this something that is driven by your own organization?

JacobJan: Yeah, I think it’s what I, um, always, or I always say is that for a long term strategy for your, your company, you can say it’s the word ESG, but it says it’s more better to talk about sustainability, sustainability or being there for the longer term. Um, if you want to, um, you have to embrace it instead of pushing it away because it gives you a reason for existence, for in the future, for a reason for existence, for the world in the future. To make it a more philosophical question. So it’s essential, I think, to have a clear view on how your organization contributes to the different elements of ESG. And, um, not saying it is, something you, you, you have to or of course it is in the future. It is something you have to do, but you have to embrace this, like to be a part of every decision process you make in your organization. And we as RCE are still in the starting phase.

So it’s still really basic, but I see the potential, what it has for our organization and also for the future. And I think also for a lot of companies because it helps you also in decision processes. And also from a financial point of view, it’s also an interesting process to take, too, because it can, can also help you get things more clear and to make the right choices also from a practical and financial point of view. And, I think a lot of people see it, it is difficult or it is um, difficult to understand, but I would say let’s start with our simple approach, like being really practical, making a gap analysis, analysis, seeing what the lowest fruit is. You can easily start with it, um, because it brings, it brings your value and, and that would be my advice.

Yeah. And you, I hear you say that you’re combining, let’s say, the philosophical point of view, you know, who do we need to be in the future with the practicalities of how can we make how we can gain from this? Um, so, so I hear you say low hanging fruit. So, can you tell us a little bit about the low hanging fruit that you change, let’s say, um, to make a gain.

Eric: Well, well, when we started to look at scope three and where we could make a difference, we of course saw that we are buying and selling a lot of meat. And meat has an impact on CO2 emissions. So this is an area that we have to touch also in our plans. And it’s actually difficult because we are famous for selling meat. So it’s the core of your business. So you have to be very careful how to address this topic. And we are in the middle of that.

So we don’t have the ideal solution. But this is where this area really needs some attention. Also when you reduce scope three, we have been successful last year by introducing um, a plant based steak as well in our restaurants. So we do see there are alternative solutions to meat and fish. Um, by looking at a more wide offer, in your product range on the menu, selling more plant based products. And of course, being a restaurant chain, food waste is a topic that we really have to look into. Um, not only because it reduces the CO2 emissions, but also it’s a moral duty, almost, um, being a big hawker chain to look after food waste. And of course, adding on to this sustainable sustainability and more sustainable products, um, are very relevant to include as well.

And talking about the customer journey or the guest journey. Sorry. Wrong word. Guest journey. Guest. You’re mentioning moving from meat to plant based items. Do you see that the guest also makes that change? And is he prepared to leave that nice juicy steak for plant based food when they come to your brand?

JacobJan: Um, yeah. We think there is what I would say is that within every group there, there was like one person ordering a plant based diet. I think that is growing to two persons per group. Maybe. But what? Of course, what I find is, it’s always difficult to be like pushing the gas towards an item. That is something we would like the guest to lead. So they make their own.

Own my own choice. What they would like to eat? I think what Eric is saying, what we say, we broaden the options that we have available for our guests so that everybody can make his own choice, what they want to eat. Plant based if there’s certain, an item in. But also looking at people becoming more conscious of the amount they eat. So also, adding sizes to your menu card is also something we have already introduced within our restaurants. And we do see that there is an increasing interest still in plant based foods. If you look over the last 4 or 5 years, you see the percentage of people that eat plant based or vegetarian food is still increasing. I think I saw an article last week that showed it was an increase of 16% over the last 3 or 4 years, and we feel this trend line will go up still in the near future. Yeah.

Carl: And as the guest, is he prepared to pay more or the same or less than for the existing, let’s say, offering?

JacobJan: I think broadly it all depends, of course, how you price your items. Of course. What I see is that it, I would say it’s on the same level they are willing to pay. Okay. Um, yeah, that’s what I would say. I think they spent money for a good night out. So to say they want to have a good meal in a nice restaurant and they I think they really are not very price conscious on, um, plant based foods.

Yeah plant based foods, I would say in general, I think and especially, also Dutch, people had to say something about Dutch people and I can say it, they are always, and especially also myself. I am always price sensitive. Or maybe it’s better to say your value, your value driven, I think. I don’t think a lot of guests are, um. Of course, you have to be careful to say something about this, but it’s all driven. If you have a good experience and you, you get a good value for the money you’re spent. And it also matches your expectations. You’re still willing, um, to, to spend, to spend something in the restaurant industry. But, but in, in also talking about um, maybe for the complete restaurant industry. It is a, it’s still a difficult market where we came out and we were still a little bit in our it’s an inflationary environment when people are really thinking, if you have a certain budget which you can spend on restaurants, but also on other items, when a lot of the, the you also do have to do your grocery, you also have to pay your, your, your rent amount for, for your house or your, the gas, the gas for your car. Then your budget, which is available for spending on extra items is, of course, not unlimited. So you have to be really careful about this.

Carl: I remember value for money. That’s very important. It doesn’t really matter what’s on the plate. It needs to be valuable. It needs to be good. Yeah. All right.

JacobJan: And then the complete experience. So it’s it’s, also the restaurant where you’re where you’re in the, the, our employees that give you a good experience and give you a service and are really trained on, on, on bringing that value to your plate. And also, of course, what you eat has to be of an, of a good quality that you expect. So it’s the complete package.

All right. I heard, Eric also mentioned waste. Waste is something that you have to look into. Um, do you have any idea or do you want to share about, you know, the waste a group like RCE produces and the measures you take to reduce that waste?

Eric: Yeah. Well, we are currently looking into the kilograms that are reported by the waste collectors that we use, and we, um, have a KPI, an internal KPI that shows the kilograms of organic waste compared to the total kilograms of waste that we collect. So this gives us a direction and this is now more or less around 25%. Um, I’m still not sure if this is the right KPI, by the way. An alternative would be that you measure the kilograms of organic waste per thousand gasses, for example, because I think also, um, the total kilograms of um, waste could change over time because you will have less, um, waste in total as well. Um, but this is the way we currently look at it. And you see differences per formula as well. Um, so Russia has more waste, from a percentage point of view than happy Italy, for example. Yeah.

Carl: Are there do you see that declining or growing still within maybe. So much in RCE, but it’s a general thing. Like, do you see this is… Are we wasting more as human beings going to restaurants, or are we more, let’s say, understanding and trying to eat our plate? Let’s say basically, because sometimes we just don’t control it.

Eric: Yeah, I think it’s a bit wishful thinking, maybe, but I do feel it might be a bit less than we did. I agree with that. Yeah, but I don’t have the hard, solid numbers to prove what exactly I would like to add. I’m keen to say it from a more general view, but I don’t have the data to, to offer to build on that thesis that we, we are now saying and that is something we, we try to do within our organization. Really. Of course your thesis or your feeling is important and that’s always that’s part we are an experienced business. But every decision has to be built around the data we see from our platform and also be added to that decision. So I can’t completely make this. Yeah. And you can influence it sometimes, relatively easily.

For example, with Lucia, it’s quite common to offer a few slices of white bread with the steak. And it’s very simple to ask, do you want to have some slices of white bread with your steak instead of just serving them? Also to people that really don’t want them, or we offer doggy bags with happy Italy. So if there are some leftovers from pizza or pasta, people are happy to take it home. And it’s just those small things that will help. Absolutely.

Carl: Yeah. Yeah. These are very interesting actually. And actually it does even make the experience better because you ask extra questions to your guests. They can decide whether or not they want it or not. So that’s very interesting.

Eric: And I heard a story last week from a colleague of BSM barrels, one of our other formulas where they serve snack platters. And people that order the snack platter don’t have an understanding. Is this enough or not? For a group or or 6 or 8 people, and the people that serve in the restaurant say, well, no, this is enough for you. So don’t order more and this might not be very commercial, but it’s a way of showing waste is important. So don’t order too much. We have to throw it away and that’s a waste.

Carl: Yeah, yeah. Of course you’re not just after the money of the customer. Do you really want to do this in a sustainable way? Of course. Right. That’s very interesting actually.

Let’s say let’s move forward, as you say, you’re in the, in the early days of this, um, how are you going to measure these, these advances? What are the KPIs that you set yourself and how do you want to reduce those?

Eric: Yeah, we do have KPIs now on, CO2 emissions. Um, of course, both for scope one, scope two and scope three, and we measure them in different ways. So in an absolute number, does it go up or does it go down. But also compared to the number of days we operate and also compared to the number of guests. Because if we grow as a business and we add restaurants, you will see that the absolute number will go up. And I think that that’s not the right way to look at it.

We look at waste, as I just explained. So the amount of kilograms of organic waste, um, we also look at the sales mix ratio so we know how much meat we sell today compared to fish and compared to, um, vegan products. And we do want to change the sales mix ratio over time. So that’s what we will measure as well. And we also measure the numbers, the number of plant based products that we offer on our menus. Those different streams, um, that have to help to, to reduce those CO2 emissions. All right. In general, we defined several KPIs that are monitored over time. And, um, where we set up, eventually a target level where we want to be in 2030. So it’s, it’s really a journey.

JacobJan: To start and that’s something that Eric was also also saying, I think finally all this regulation will also come down to not only the larger companies but also the medium sized and smaller companies, and I would say be open for it and embrace it. But because it will not, it will not go away. That’s why you can better make the best, best out of it. And it really helps you. What I just also said is that an ESG is not only about the environment. So we have the habit to focus on the environment, but of course, we also measure work related injuries, employee turnover, and food safety. So there are many more KPIs within the ESG area, especially for our sector. The s or the social component is that it’s a people’s business. So this should be actually the first thing that should be around everywhere.

Carl: Yeah, yeah. And which one of all of the ESG topics is the most difficult? One is the scope three procurement part. Or is it the social part?

Eric: Um, that’s hard to say. Um, it will be difficult to get scope three, um, reduced significantly over time. So we are really looking into what would be best for us as a business. And also on the s, you need some very, um, robust programs internally to make sure that people want to work for you. They want to stay with you, they can develop themselves within your organization, and they also screen this out externally. That RCE is the best company to work for. It’s not done by a simple action that also needs a big plan, including communication plans both internally and externally.

And if you would be a little bit, let’s say, critical about all of this, how much does this, um, let’s say, deflect you from running the business operationally? Yeah. Because you could say, of course it’s all for the benefit of the people and environment. So we embrace this that nobody discusses that it is that you should do this. But how much weight does this bring into a business?

JacobJan: Yeah, I think it should um, it has to be it has to be in your organization. Otherwise you have a separate, or separate department running ESG. That doesn’t that doesn’t work. It should also be incorporated into the organization. Of course, you have ESG as a department. Bring the framework in place and manage it, but it should be in your organization. So that is correctly what Eric is saying. He runs the complete ESG strategy and program, but actually is working with the operations lines to begin to make it part of the process.

Carl: Um, so it’s a 3000 people thing.

JacobJan: It is fine. Eventually it’s a 3000 people workforce that works on ESG. But, um, um, that’s correct. But we started in the management team for the ESG topics. I have a counterpart within the management team. Yeah. So HR related, it’s, um, our CEO that also looks after the HR function, um, for communication. It’s our marketing communication director for food waste and food safety. It’s the operational directors. So it’s very important to make it a common approach. Um, yeah. All right.

Carl: Okay. Um, thank you very much for that. This is very insightful. I think, there’s a lot being said about ESG, and, I don’t know if many businesses are as far as you are already, because you say you’re still in the beginnings, but.

JacobJan: We’re still in the beginning. So I would definitely say we are still learning every day on this, on this topic.

Carl: But at least you have a direction and you know where you’re going.

JacobJan: And we have a framework that we work in.

Carl: So that’s already quite an achievement.

You know, to finalize the conversation, I’d like to ask you one question. Out of the box, both of you, that’s always the same question. Where does the hospitality industry go? What are the trends for the next few years? What do we need to, where do we need to look? and what will bring the future to the hospitality industry and to RCE?

JacobJan: It’s a lot of questions for the last question, Carl.

Carl: It’s looking to the future.

JacobJan: Yeah, yeah. Looking to the future. The black. Yeah. The glass ball is saying where the future will go now. Um, um, what I would say is that, um, what I just. Special one. We come from a really difficult time from Covid, and I think a lot of the restaurants are still suffering from these, the, these restrictions. And also we have seen a strong inflationary environment, hitting every line in your, your PNL, for, for a restaurant if it’s on, on purchasing is it on employee is it for, for rent. Is it for energy? So it’s been a really tough time. And that is still not over. I think, um, that there is some easing. There is some normalization, but it’s still, I think, looking at every detail and really focusing on your operations and businesses and especially then, on, on your guests and guest journey. What I see is that also on the guest side, we see that a lot of people also changed after Covid. If we look at our data, we see that we see a shift from reservations or from walking to to reservations. People want to be more secure, want to know that they are able to go, to go somewhere. Um, we see a lot of impact, of course, at the moment of the week where people want to have an experience that is becoming more dense into specific moments of the week and that, um, also household budgets, in this inflationary environment, have a role. So these are all the items you have to cope with and have to deal with, running your restaurant.

JacobJan: And I think this, this will more easily, more easily or more will be normalizing this year. But that will not be the case next month. That will take another year. Yeah. Um, I think we, um, as the restaurant group or maybe all restaurants, you’re still adapting to this new situation because it’s still new. We just had the first year of 12 months in 223, so there was no full year available before that. So, um, I think that that is still also what we are doing here. Um, from a more macro perspective, I think that, um, you still will see that, um, formulas. Um, not saying that I think there’s still enough room in the market and we will see a lot of new restaurants also opening, which I do hope so, because that’s also where new innovation, new etc. come, maybe comes from. but you see that I think formulas in general will grow also in Western Europe, what we have seen in the UK and US market. But there’s still enough room for other restaurant operators. And I will always say restaurants attract restaurants together and attract more guests. Because as a guest, you don’t want to have the same experience every week. You look too to difference, but maybe also restaurants will because of this situation we’re into, I think, a lot of restaurants also now, restaurant groups are collaborating or working together, also looking at to, to absorb all the costs of how you can, how you can help, absorbing costs that we have seen into our business model.

JacobJan: Um, that is something I think that will be, will become more and more, what we see more and more in the future from, for our end, we set this year. We, we’re still looking for new locations. but we also will look a lot a part of our, our this year strategy is focused around, really having this guest journey, is continuously working and to, to make that good for every, formula that that that we have and especially unlocking we have a lot of data, but we think we, can still unlock more data regarding our businesses and to help make decisions, better to enhance this guest journey. And I think we can learn a lot from other segments within the restaurant industry, looking at maybe the QSR segment where you see, I think that data data is becoming more and more part of all or already is more and more part of their decision process. But that is what we will also focus on as a restaurant or a casual dining restaurant company. And this of course will help forecast planning. We will have better planning for personnel. We will have better planning for purchasing, which will also reduce, of course, food waste. So it further professionalizes the business. So that will be our focus for this year and think a lot about the markets.

All right. Thank you very much for these insights. Eric, what about you? How do you see the industry evolve?

Eric: Well, it’s difficult to add some things, but sorry for that already. No, no.

Carl: I mean, you could.

Eric: Agree there will be more conscious people on having meals that are probably with less meat or more plant based. This will increase over time.

Carl: So changing behavior with the guest. Yeah.

Eric: Yeah, that’s what people see. And of course technology and optimization will help the business to become more and more professional over time.

These are very valuable insights. JacobJan, Eric, thank you very much for your time at our podcast, and I wish you the best of luck in the near future and building RC further. Thank you very much.

Eric: Okay. Thank you. Our pleasure. Thanks!

Carl: Thank you very much. Goodbye. Bye bye.

Guest & Host

Eric Maurits

Dir of Purchasing & ESG
RCE

JacobJan van Duijvenvoorde

Chief Financial Officer
RCE

Carl Jacobs

Co-founder & CEO
Apicbase

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