Creating Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems

In this podcast, Nicola Gryckza informs our listeners about equitable and sustainable food systems in the hospitality industry and how she became, in her words, “a change-maker, dreamer and social entrepreneur”.

 As co-founder and leader of the Social Gastronomy Movement (SGM), Nicola connects communities globally to drive equitable and sustainable food systems. Her background includes pioneering solutions to combat food waste, advancing educational content for underserved communities, and consulting in the social enterprise space. 

The Social Gastronomy Movement cultivates connections, collaborations and partnerships that strengthen our individual and collective capacity to co-create an equitable future, inclusive society and healthy planet. SGM advocates for positive changes in local food systems so that together we move towards global progress creating a new ecosystem for change.

With experience at the World Economic Forum, TIME Magazine, and Gastromotiva, Nicola brings a unique multi-stakeholder approach to her work. With a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management, and an Entrepreneurship specialization from the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, a Masters in International Negotiation and Policy Making from the Graduate Institute, and an MBA with a specialization on social enterprises, her passion lies at the cross road of grass root activism and policy making, especially in fields of food, agriculture and education. 

Since 2016 she has started to work with innovative solutions to stop the vicious circle of food waste, such as a food surplus product line, online educational content for underprivileged communities and tech solutions to scale impact globally, involving the powerful convening power of chefs. 

Most of her career was in the development world, continuously focusing on solutions through a multi-stakeholder approach. She started her career at the World Economic Forum, working with Strategic Partnerships and later within the Latin American Centre for Regional Strategies, and has since worked for TIME Magazine, as the CEO of Brazilian social enterprise Gastromotiva  during the internationalization and expansion, as well acted as a consultant in a variety of areas. 

She sits on the board of social organizations such as Catalyst2030 in Holland and Mater Foundation in Switzerland, while actively coaching and supporting young women and social entrepreneurs around the world. Most recently she is also an entrepreneur in residence for the prestigious the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne / EHL Group.

Nicola has become a motivational speaker and consultant at renowned organizations and events such as IADB, FAO Latam, WFP, WEF and SxSW among others.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This episode is brought to you by Swiss Hospitality Guild, the reference in training for hospitality professions and leading authority in hospitality training. SHG is renowned for its excellence in preparing professionals for the hospitality industry. Their training programs have produced top-tier candidates who have achieved notable success, winning medals at prestigious competitions like Swiss Skills, Euroskills, World Skills, and the AICR World's Best Receptionist Contest. To learn more about SHG in this podcast, get in touch with Jidio Marcato, the founder of SHG, and the producer of this show by emailing welcome at SwissHospitality Guild.com. Today we are welcoming Nicola Grishka. Welcome, Nicola. It's a pleasure to have you on our podcast today. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Hi, Crystal. Thank you for having me on your podcast, and I'm excited to share some of my stories and reflections about the industry. So I am originally Polish, but have lived a little bit around the world, so definitely a cultural cocktail. And nowadays I call myself a social entrepreneur because these have been my most recent endeavors. And I'm also an entrepreneur in residence at Ecole Helière de Lausanne.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Great. So Nicola, can you describe your educational and career path and explain how you became an entrepreneur and now the entrepreneur in residence at uh EHL Group?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

I have somewhat of a different and maybe not straight-lined path, but it all started making sense a few years ago. So I did graduate from EHL in 2007, the bachelor's program, with actually a specialization on entrepreneurship. And then I went out and worked for an organization called the World Economic Forum, which sort of embedded the multi-stakeholder vision of actually solving today's challenges. So really bringing all of the different stakeholders of the systems we're trying to change to the table in order to find a solution. So that sort of framed me from like the hospitality mindset, then the multi-stakeholder approach. And from there, I actually worked again at that point random, but eventually made sense in media. So on the writing side. So really that storytelling element and seeing yet another angle of how you can drive change. And so from there, I um went back to the World Economic Forum and was working on the policy side. So that's where I decided I actually needed a bit of a more policy background. So my second studies was a master's from the graduate institute in Geneva, uh, focusing on policymaking and international negotiations. So that allowed me to dig deeper into that. And it was specialized really very much my role at the REF again was on Latin American policymaking and government. So that was the role, which eventually, through different circumstances, did bring me to Latin America. So we moved to Brazil, and a few months in is where I would say was my sort of changing point of my career or of sort of an outlook on the world. And so that's really living in Brazil, an emerging economy where poverty inequity comes in very much a real flavor. And so I always say that stepping out of my house, I was so uncomfortable to just see poverty, hunger. I was just looking it in the eyes while working with policymakers on a very high level, and I just saw this absolute disconnect between the two worlds. So that's where I say that was one of the first times where very much I took the decision based purely on my heart and maybe not so much on my mind at that point, which to the discontent of my Polish mother, but like structure and predictability. Here I stepped out of everything that was structure, a good salary, a structured organization, a big brand, into the absolute unknown. And so that's where I would say that's where I became a social entrepreneur. And so a decade later, I've started and worked in the social gastronomy field quite a bit. So from a local organization working on culinary trainings to then very much stepping into a more systemic lens, but still in that what we call social gastronomy space. So that would be a little bit of my path in how that very much moment that was very significant in Brazil very much changed my outlook, but also the direction of what I was doing and giving my gifts and talents to.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure we could have an entire podcast about that experience. That would be really interesting. You had a kind of epiphany there, I imagine.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

So, Nicole, I noticed that you describe yourself as a change maker, dreamer, and social entrepreneur. Can you elaborate on that, please?

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yes, I'll start with the social entrepreneurs concept. Because maybe some people and in different cultures it looks very different. So some people would just call it entrepreneur, and others want to distinguish the social element because what where is social entrepreneurs to solve a social challenge or a societal challenge? So you really focused on people first, planet, and profit, of course, is one of the elements that often gets overseen when we talk social entrepreneurship. But we are looking to actually be self-sustainable, so it's beyond being a non-for-profit. So I really, you know, emphasize that it's really social entrepreneurship and not just philanthropy of where where I am navigating. And then, of course, to solve our societal and planetary issues or challenges, we must be dreamers because there is so much happening in the world that would really discourage us. And so by being the dreamer and believing in possibility, that gives me motivation and optimism to just keep doing and keep rolling. And Changemaker, I think we should all be changemakers and step into that role. So I want to lead by example, being a change maker, both in my contribution through the work I do, but also on any interaction that I have in my life, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Absolutely. It does. Can you explain to our listeners what social gastronomy and the social gastronomy movement is and why it is important?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Sure. So we've had many debates about that since sort of working with this term of social gastronomy. The way that we've defined it is that social gastronomy is using food as a tool for social change. So very broad. I always remember as well one of the interviews we've done with Alain Ducasse. It was actually a series of different chefs where we asked what social gastronomy meant to them. But Alain like really struck me because he said, well, actually, social gastronomy is gastronomy. We just disconnected from it. We just forgot why we're cooking and that love element at the center of it. And I thought that was really meaningful because it is. Like if we think about our kitchens and the food and for recipes, like there's a spark in people's eyes. People connect on a deeper level, on a very much emotional level. And so that's what gastronomy and food should be. But sometimes, you know, it became about competition and being the best and actually not making just a business out of it. So there's so many elements where we disconnected from this social element. And so I think these two things of using food as a tool for social good or for social change, and that reminder from Alandicas that gastronomy by itself should be social at its heart. And so why is it important to actually bridge this disconnect? So if we are disconnected from that origins of gastronomy, then it is important to sort of just state it, social gastronomy, so that people really think about it, pause, and maybe think of how we can get back to that and what are different models out there that exist that are leading by example. So I think that's one of the pieces. And secondly, because food systems forgot about the equity at its center. It became profit-driven and we again build different models around it. But I think what we need to get back to is that equity in the food system. So I think it's very much on these two levels. I think why it's important.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Nicole, if we look at the larger hospitality industry, what opportunity and responsibility does the industry have in social and environmental matters?

SPEAKER_02 8:09

So of course I would consider the gastronomy world being one of the big drivers in the hospitality industry. But of course, there are different outlets as well included. And when I look at hospitality overall, it's a tremendous opportunity. It's one of the biggest employers in the world. It's around the world, it's a globally connected network, but acting in local communities. So it really brings all these different elements of today's society. And I think the hospitality industry has to actually, what I've been observing, go from being very much reactive to that responsibility when it comes to social and environmental responsibility to being proactive. And I think that we need to move away from the notion of sustainability because sustaining something is just good enough. It's that reactive approach of say, you know, like patchwork, you know, like just being net zero. So, no, we need to be net positive. We actually need to regenerate our communities and our planet and give back more than we receive for things to function. Because that's our natural ecosystem works this way. And so I do think that the responsibility and my encouragement for the whole industry is stepping away from that reactive to proactive, from sustainability to regeneration, from net zero to net positive. So we are all these different kinds of concepts, right? That I could tap into. But that's where I would really hope for this powerful industry to make an impact and really shift the paradigm.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

And do you think the hospitality industry can go beyond what we currently see happening?

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Yes, absolutely. So that brings me back to that reactive versus proactive approach. And I think that's where for me I'm very passionate about the concept of regenerative hospitality, where we actually work with local communities, where most of the profits actually stay within the local or the regional context, where it is more about co-creating, not just coming in with a concept of at work somewhere else and implementing it, mass tourism. So I think that regenerative hospitality concept, and I can bring a few examples of such that I've I've already worked with, and one that I particularly love, just for the listeners to get an understanding of what I mean with regenerative hospitality or community-based hospitality, is a project in the Peruvian rainforest. They basically joined forces, so it's a joint venture with a local Amazonian rainforest community. And they have shared responsibility, they have shared decision making. They obviously needed to work with a lot of capacity building. And there's a whole plan that moving by year 15, the entire project would be community held. So actually, it's not those investors, but it would be community held. There would be obviously some, I mean, there's governance structures behind that. We don't need to go into detail. But I think that is a beautiful example of motivating, leaving local capacity, bringing local resources, and actually having an authentic experience. Because I don't think, again, the world is going towards these experiences as well. So it also makes sense for the profit. So it comes back to good for people, good for planet, good for profit.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

What do you think new leadership looks like? And what role does sustainability and social responsibility play?

SPEAKER_02 11:09

I think bringing back to this shared responsibility model, I think leaders in the hospitality industry can actually bring new models of how we work. So the new leadership for me isn't top-down. The new leadership is shared responsibility and shared leadership with local communities, but also with the staff. Like if I now, you know, hospitality again, gastronomy, like a lot of the restaurants that we work with at the movement, for example, are looking at new models because there's also a great staff shortage. So there are amazing concepts, I mean, um, around the world, I could name a few, that actually make their employees shareholders. So everyone has that shared responsibility and also is working towards one goal. So these kind of models, I think, really are going to dominate the industry moving forward. And I think it takes a big step in terms of leadership and how we operate our organizations. So, specifically speaking about an industry that has a staff shortage, I think was a beautiful moment to transition and look at some of these models that actually exist out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And how can systemic change be implemented using decentralized models?

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I think systemic change really is again coming back to my notion of regenerative hospitality, working with local communities, working with the local producers. So if we start thinking of our, let's say, hotel being at the center. So that's why I do think that the industry plays such a crucial role because that hotel works with local vendors. That hotel works with local communities for that are employed, that are the staff, that is the teams that are working, they work on a global level with actually promoting certain values. So I think for me, it's really the systemic change is by starting with the micro models that we create locally so that that can inspire larger scales. So if a hotel then starts sourcing locally, seasonal, leading by example, giving a local flavor as well to what they offer. Sometimes we just bring these international flavors, but it's really that locality into the hotel works well with the staff and actually brings in that awareness building through the hotel. So it becomes like an educational center by itself. And so I think that's where we can trigger then systemic change because we're at the center of the food systems and the overall hospitality system in a way.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

I think that most people would agree that the corporate world, politicians, and people in general have been dragging their feet when it comes to sustainability and social responsibility. Are there ever moments, Nicola, where you feel unhopeful or perhaps cynical about the necessary changes that need to occur?

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Every day. And man, that's where my notion, looping back to your one of your first questions of being a dreamer, needs to come back in. So we do need to continue dreaming because otherwise we would just step into discomplete despair, right? And so what I hold, how do I step into that dreamer's position? Are two things. One, that I look at models, leaders, examples that are doing magic. So that really are doing great things. On the other hand, step by step, because you know, Rome wasn't built in a day. So let's not sometimes, as much as I think systemically and big, at that point of despair is sometimes just getting what can I do today? And then going step by step, and you'll see when you when if you curate the people around you, they'll come along. And so I think these two things, like taking a step back, step by step, and looking at people that are doing amazing things, so these beacons of hope.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

We all know that profit drives business, and in most cases, it is the number one concern for most CEOs. I mean, let's be honest, businesses are beholden to their shareholders, and this does not really create a positive sustainable environment for change. Do you think that the current capitalist model is the root cause of the alarming unsustainable social and political situation that the world now finds itself in?

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Um I don't think it's for a root cause, because people, humans, have managed to corrupt many systems in the past. I myself come from a communist, not background, but my country was under communist regime, and that actually didn't work either. If I look at concepts such as the kibbutzes in Israel, for example, that also doesn't work. So there are no perfect models out there. I think it's in human nature to try to maximize and drive profits or to find a way around a system that in theory on paper would be good. So that I don't think it's necessarily capitalism, because there are examples, again, these beacons of hope that I that I mentioned before, people that lead by example. And I want to name someone that I very much admire is Paul Pullman with Unilever. So we're stepping a little bit out of a hospitality industry. But that is really someone that within our system reframed an entire multinational company to not only think about profits and the shareholders, and yes, there was the pressure, but he managed to just, you know, top down, bottom-up, transform the entire organization where they would really look at people, planet, and profit in a very much integrated way. So it wasn't a CSR initiative or anything. It was just literally putting it at the core of how they operated. And so he showed that it's possible in a context that's almost impossible, right? Which is a multinational across the globe with so many nuances. So it is possible. And there are other examples like that. But I think United took out the most complex one, maybe, where he really proved the world that within the system we have, we can still do our work.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Can you give our listeners examples of what businesses can do to make concrete, long-lasting modifications to benefit profits, planet, and people?

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Um, yes, and maybe let's go back how when I feel in despair to your question, taking those little steps. Because I think it's not about dramatically changing from one day to the other everything we do or that that organizations do. But I think maybe let's start with baby steps. Let's start with the people, starting to invite the internal stakeholders as much as the external ones, so it could be the local communities, for an open conversation. What is the role of our institution here? What is the contribution? What is seemingly to be a bottleneck? So really just a facilitated conversation of listening, what people have in their minds, linking it to the different leadership models, more decentralized leadership models. I think that's a very much first step to just, you know, like having people heard. And then I guarantee there'll be so much input and information that for leaders to really digest and see what would be the right path, who do we want to invite to the table, and then maybe exploring that shared leadership of actually, you know, this innovation path from the bottom of the organization or outside of the organization. Nowadays we have so much collective intelligence out there. So just opening the space for that to come in, I think would be a wonderful first step. And it just starts with the dialogue and listening. So I think that would be a concrete invitation for many leaders in the hospitality industry to start that conversation. I bet many haven't had that open and very much vulnerable conversation. And then when it comes to planet, for example, I think one of the things I'm very passionate about and have worked with a lot is around food waste and circular economy. So that is something, again, like oof, what I see happening in the industry is just tremendous. And that partially is consumer-driven. However, I've also seen groups that have really stepped up and said, this is how we go about it. And so just, you know, bringing in some, looking at different solutions that are out there that might be from AI just weighing your food waste or to looking at your purchasing, revisiting, like nowadays, that is a topic that's been quite digested, thank God. And I still don't see it implemented in the majority of the players. And so I think start with that. Start with a food waste that you have in the kitchen. And then of course, maybe you know, just like revisiting again, we're purchasing the procurement side of things. Think, where am I purchasing? Who am I purchasing? Do I know my suppliers? How am I supporting my suppliers? Are we sticking to what the consumer necessarily is demanding, food at all times, or am I educating the consumer that maybe, you know, we should there's a local magic and seasonality and all of that? Because that comes, you know, like there's a lot of chefs that have actually stepped up in the last maybe, you know, six years becoming those superstars, leading that dialogue. And I think if we can on a large scale in the industries bring this awareness programs to life, I think that would be of tremendous impact. So I think these were just like two of the things that I think are sort of low-hanging fruits for entry points.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Nicola, you brought up a point that I think is really interesting. You're talking about, you know, what's important is to educate people. But what I've noticed today is that there are a lot of people that are educated about sustainability that do want to see more responsible hotels, restaurants, we want to see more local offerings. We don't want to see strawberries in the month of December. But I also get this feeling that although we have a lot of educated people, on the other side, we have a lot of very, very uneducated people that don't care about this and that want those strawberries and could care less where they come from. It's this attitude, you know, I've got the money and I want whatever I want. How do we deal with this divide? And we're seeing this divide more and more in lots of other areas as well.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah, and that's an excellent point. And I think there's just something that comes to my mind is twofold, actually. One example, such as Danielle Hahn. So that is someone that is at the top of his career, the restaurant, 11 medicine, has all the awards possible, actually, at the moment he decided to change things was when he was 50 best number one, he had his Michelin star. So all these things that, you know, like you define success for a gastronomic food outlet nowadays. And he said, I have a responsibility, which is actually following the planetary diet. So being actually wanted to switch completely to vegan offering. And um, he knew that he would lose some of his consumers, but don't care, just like you said before. And he said, This is my responsibility. I'm gonna be bold, I'm gonna go for this. And he, you know, like worked on this for months to transform in a restaurant, the menus. Obviously, it needs a certain creativity and getting the team on board. So talking about, you know, shared responsibility. So there's all of that work that went into it, and he just didn't know what that would mean, how it would be received. There's actually some of his suppliers that said, if you ever want to bring back, you know, animal protein, you can't work with us, you know, like so, really like the fear reaction, right? So talking about education, but and he still did it and it worked. And so for me, it's these cases. Yes, he lost some consumers, and but he's making a statement. So I think more and more we see people making these statements. Here I'm talking about somebody that you could say, ah, yeah, but that's just fine dining. But you have these kind of examples as well in smaller institutions, smaller outlets, where people just say, I have a bigger responsibility, and that might mean that I'm losing right now a little bit on the profit. It might mean right now that I'm losing clients. And I believe that that is the only way forward. And I think that links me back to Paul Palm and it's exactly what he did. Of course, there was that tension point, and you lose. And so it's just like it's a risk we, I believe, have no other option to but to take. And when people Will eventually get on board. Like nowadays, I know very few hotels like taking it to the very basics of hanging up your towel. Back in the days, it wasn't the case. If it became, you know, it's optional, you can do it or not. I don't know many consumers, like it's actually really well adopted. So it's just almost like time will then get people to adoption and accept. And so I think if we have more of these industry bold movers, it's almost nodging our consumer in a certain direction. So it's education leading by example, and maybe you know, as well, that was a radical example I gave, but we can also educate on a more soft level of just, you know, bringing in some of the small changes.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting you talked about the towels because recently I've stayed several times in Radisson hotels, and Radisson actually offers a way to educate their clients by offering them a little extra something when they don't need the housekeeping to come in each day, which when I travel, we really don't need that. We can use our towels over again. We don't need anybody to make our bed or clean the room. We're perfectly fine with that. And if you have the option of telling the hotel, no, I don't need anybody. And yeah, we were offered a lovely bottle of wine or uh I can't remember, oh, an upgrade. We were offered an upgrade. So you're right. I think these are small incremental steps, but the clients can be educated, but I think there has to be, you know, everybody has to kind of be on board.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Yeah, absolutely. It becomes a big cultural change, both internal and external, right? And cultural change takes time, cultural change is difficult and painful. So I think it's um for those like Daniel Hamm that will pull off the bandit really quick. There will be radical, very painful change, and others that just like do it very softly. We all have our ways and need to understand as well our customers, both internal and external. Because again, bringing it back to the staff shortage, people are looking for purpose, people are looking for the impact actually. And so I think there's just, you know, a lot of reflection, a lot of change coming for our industry. And I'm grateful for it. Must change, sometimes accelerated by things like COVID, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Nicola, before we say goodbye to you, do you have any inspiring words for our listeners?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

I don't know if inspiring. I can't guarantee for that. But definitely one of the things just looping us back to the beginning, everyone can be a change maker. Even if, you know, hotel guests, you know, we're all hotel guests at some point, even if we're hotel owners, restaurant owners, or employees, we can all be paid out of a change. So it doesn't need to be just top-down. So if you're working in an institution, start bringing these nuances and these reflections and not maybe leadership in the right direction. Or if you're a consumer and a client at a hospitality outlet, start asking for it. Start questioning if there's, you know, foie gras on the menu. I mean, if enough people question, then we can sort of just like pivot towards the right direction. So I think just with nuance, my last words would be like everyone is a change maker. So don't think others will bring the change, just bring the change yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Excellent. Nicola, thank you so much for joining us today on our podcast. We really uh appreciate your message and uh your insights.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Thank you so much, Crystal.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

SHG is renowned for its excellence in preparing professionals for the hospitality industry. Their training programs have produced top-tier candidates who have achieved notable success, winning medals at prestigious competitions like Swiss Skills, Euroskills, World Skills, and the AICR World's Best Receptionist Contest. To learn more about SHG in this podcast, get in touch with Aidio Marcato, the founder of SHG, and the producer of this show, by emailing welcome at SwissHospitalityguild.com.