The Food Service Growth Show

How Restaurant Company Europe Masters ESG Regulations (Expert Strategies)

June 10, 2024 Apicbase Season 2 Episode 8
How Restaurant Company Europe Masters ESG Regulations (Expert Strategies)
The Food Service Growth Show
More Info
The Food Service Growth Show
How Restaurant Company Europe Masters ESG Regulations (Expert Strategies)
Jun 10, 2024 Season 2 Episode 8
Apicbase

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.

In this episode, we'll be covering a range of crucial topics:
✅ What is Driving the Impressive Growth Rate of RCE?
✅ What Are Scope One, Two, and Three Emissions in the Context of ESG?
✅ How ESG Compliance Can Drive Financial Gains?
✅ Guest Perspectives On the Switch to Plant-Based Dining
✅ Assessing Guest Price Sensitivity for Plant-Based Foods
✅ How Does RCE Measure and Manage Its Food Waste?
✅ How Does RCE Track Long-Term Sustainability Targets?
✅ What Does the Future Look Like for the Industry and RCE? 

In this episode, we'll explore the key factors behind RCE's remarkable growth. Eric and JacobJan will shed light on the strategic decisions and innovative practices that have propelled the company forward. From market positioning to customer engagement, you'll learn what makes RCE a leader in the food service industry.

Understanding emissions is vital for any business committed to sustainability. Our guests will break down Scope One, Two, and Three emissions, explaining their significance and how RCE addresses each category. You'll gain insights into the practical steps RCE takes to minimize its carbon footprint and promote environmental stewardship.

Moreover, ESG compliance isn't just about meeting regulatory requirements. Eric and JacobJan will discuss how adhering to ESG principles can enhance a company's financial performance. 
Nowadays, consumers are shifting towards plant-based options. So, our guests will share their perspectives on this transition and its implications for restaurants and customers alike. Discover how RCE is embracing plant-based options and the benefits this brings to both the business and the environment.

We all know pricing is a critical factor when introducing new menu items. We'll delve into how RCE assesses guest price sensitivity for plant-based foods. Eric and JacobJan will discuss the strategies used to balance cost and value, ensuring that plant-based options are both

Learn how our restaurant management solutions help your restaurant business keep costs under control.

✅ Subscribe and stay updated with new episodes:

👉 Spotify
👉 Apple Podcast
👉 Amazon Music
👉 Google Podcast

✅ Follow Apicbase on social media:

👉 LinkedIn
👉 Instagram
👉 Facebook
👉 Twitter

Show Notes Transcript

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.

In this episode, we'll be covering a range of crucial topics:
✅ What is Driving the Impressive Growth Rate of RCE?
✅ What Are Scope One, Two, and Three Emissions in the Context of ESG?
✅ How ESG Compliance Can Drive Financial Gains?
✅ Guest Perspectives On the Switch to Plant-Based Dining
✅ Assessing Guest Price Sensitivity for Plant-Based Foods
✅ How Does RCE Measure and Manage Its Food Waste?
✅ How Does RCE Track Long-Term Sustainability Targets?
✅ What Does the Future Look Like for the Industry and RCE? 

In this episode, we'll explore the key factors behind RCE's remarkable growth. Eric and JacobJan will shed light on the strategic decisions and innovative practices that have propelled the company forward. From market positioning to customer engagement, you'll learn what makes RCE a leader in the food service industry.

Understanding emissions is vital for any business committed to sustainability. Our guests will break down Scope One, Two, and Three emissions, explaining their significance and how RCE addresses each category. You'll gain insights into the practical steps RCE takes to minimize its carbon footprint and promote environmental stewardship.

Moreover, ESG compliance isn't just about meeting regulatory requirements. Eric and JacobJan will discuss how adhering to ESG principles can enhance a company's financial performance. 
Nowadays, consumers are shifting towards plant-based options. So, our guests will share their perspectives on this transition and its implications for restaurants and customers alike. Discover how RCE is embracing plant-based options and the benefits this brings to both the business and the environment.

We all know pricing is a critical factor when introducing new menu items. We'll delve into how RCE assesses guest price sensitivity for plant-based foods. Eric and JacobJan will discuss the strategies used to balance cost and value, ensuring that plant-based options are both

Learn how our restaurant management solutions help your restaurant business keep costs under control.

✅ Subscribe and stay updated with new episodes:

👉 Spotify
👉 Apple Podcast
👉 Amazon Music
👉 Google Podcast

✅ Follow Apicbase on social media:

👉 LinkedIn
👉 Instagram
👉 Facebook
👉 Twitter

Hello, I'm Carl Jacobs, and I'm co founder and CEO of Apicabase. 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. Before we go into the topic of today, I would like to ask to introduce yourself to us and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you have been doing in your life. Well, thank you, Carl, for your intro. My name is Eric Maurits, as you mentioned, and 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 contract food service, which is also about food and beverages, but it's a different type of sector, as you can imagine. All right, thank you very much, Jakob Jan what about you? Yeah, thank you for your invitation, Carl. I'm JacobJan van Duijvenvoorde. 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. I have a different background than food service. When I started my career, I was a banker working for a Dutch corporate bank, mostly active within theM&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. All right, and JacobJan, just a quick follow up question on that. How has the switch gone and how do you feel in this new world? I've learned a lot. I think this is, it really has been an interesting journey, especially entering the food service market in 2018 and seeing everything happened afterwards, especially also around our company. But I think for everybody in its life, it's a good time to switch industries and to see things on the other side, especially this industry, as it's really coming down to details instead of the more high over and excel figures. Detail is very important in this industry. 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, like, it's not specific details, but 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 everybody has to be fulfilled within the organisation. That guest journey and guest experience is one of the most important things in this industry, and that has to be part of your DNA and in every decision you also make. And that is from a banking perspective. Banks don't work with the word guest 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. 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 a procurement and ESG. 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? Yeah, well, as you say, it's procurement, purchasing for the entire organisation, for all formulas, which includes food and non food, but also all type of service providers that we use. And there was a demand within the organisation to put more focus on ESG. 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 a big impact on how a company can work on the ESG topics. So it was almost a no brainer to realize that 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? RCE is a restaurant group, as you said, Carl, located in the Netherlands. In total, we have 72 locations in the Netherlands. These are spread out over the complete country. We have, I think, a lot of our guests and people know our brands more than RCE, and that's also really good because that is other places that they visit. So one of the brands we operate or formulas how we talk to is the formula called Loetje. We also operate a formula called Happy Italy. Also a formula that is called Beers & Barrels. And we have several other famous brands, but more locally oriented in the Netherlands, like De Vooruit Gang in Eindhoven or De Ebeling in the city Leide. We are organised that we have one service office in the Netherlands that is located in Amstelveen, which is a 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, etcetera, etcetera. The idea which is set up is that we think that the locations, as we, as a service offers, 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 surfaced to them so that they can focus on this guest journey and quality. In total, our group has 3000 employees working. And we have a revenue of approximately 200 million. Alright. If you talk about, let's say, the numbers of RCE, you're mentioning 200 million turnover. What's the growth rate of a business like RCE? And what's a healthy growth rate? Good question. I think what we. We have a bit of a history growing. What we maybe that's a little bit of a long story where a complete background is coming for. But when I started here, we had approximately 15 Loetje locations. And we now, last year, we opened the 36th Loetje location. So we more than doubled in, let's say, five, six year time. 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. So we were driven by the. We were focused on growth. And that was possible for us because we had that one service office that was also organised for growth. And we see that the demand or the ask of guests for formulas is still also growing in the Netherlands. That's why we can we say that like a little bit of a gravy, how it says correctly, we flattered out over the Netherlands, like Loetje is a lot about gravy, but we flattered out over the Netherlands to say it in a wrong english word. But I still see room 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. Yeah, but what can I say about the sustainable offer? I think it depends on what you want to achieve with your formula, where is room for growth with your formula and what you also can handle as an organisation. Keeping in mind that guest journey and guest 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's depending how you are organised and what you are wanting to do. All right, so next question Eric, 200 million. That means that you are with a bigger organisations 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. Can you tell us a little bit about the framework in which ESG is existing and why are we doing ESG? Well, we do qualify, as you say, within CSRD. So we have to report as of 2026, over the year 2025. 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 euro also means that you are buying a lot of stuff and you are doing a lot. So when we had 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. 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 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 buying more green electricity, by replacing our lease cars, by electrical cars instead of fuel cars, and by reducing natural gas. So this is a programme that we built over the next years, and that will make sure that we are in line with the climate agreement of Paris to reduce our CO2 emissions in scope one and two. And for the audience, what is scope one and what is scope two and what is scope three? Can we quickly explain a little bit? Yeah, sure, sure. Scope one is 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. Yes, all right. In scope three, you will find the CO2 emissions that are related to products that you buy and that are produced used by external companies. Okay. And you mentioned that only 15% comes from scope one and two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 85 is scope three. I think that is also typical for most of restaurants, in that a lot of, 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 you're 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 we have the advantage that we 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 also had time, because we were close by Covid, to also introduce all these systems into our restaurant. So we run on one platform, so our data quality is, we have data and we know what it is, so we can easily use that. And we started there already with Climax, which is a company which maps your CO2 emissions. 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, which elements are in what bucket? 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 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 further map this out, and that is what we are now doing and trying 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 better level with these new parties adding this data to our platform. And of course, somewhere in Europe, people take the decision that you have to comply with ESG ruling at certain point in the beginning. I guess you're kind of, do we need to, or is this something that is driven by your own organisation? Yeah, I think it's what I always say is that for a long term strategy for your company, you can say it's the word ESG, but it says it's more better to talk about sustainability or being there for the longer term if you want to. You have to embrace it instead of pushing it away, because it gives you a reason for existence in the future, for a reason for resistance for the world in the future, to make it a more philosophical question. So it is essential, I think, to have, have a clear view on how your organisation contributes to the different elements of ESG. And not saying it is something you have to, of course this in the future, it is something you have to do, but you have to embrace this to be a part of every decision process you make in your organisation. 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 organisation and also for the future and I think also for a lot of company, because it helps you also in decision processes and it also, from a financial point of view, it's also an interesting process to take, because it can also help you getting 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 is difficult or it is difficult to understand, but I would say let's start with our simple approach, like being really practical, making a gap analysis, seeing what the most low fruit is you can easily and start with it because it brings you a value and that would be my advice. Yeah. And I hear you say that you're combining, let's say, the philosophical point of view. Who do we need to be in the future with the practicalities of how we can gain from this? So I hear you say low hanging fruit. Can you tell us a little bit about the low hanging fruit that you changed, let's say, to make a game? 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 difficult actually, 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 your reduces go through. We have been successful last year by introducing a plant based steak as well in our restaurants. So we do see there are alternative solutions to meat and fish 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, not only because it reduces CO2 emissions, but also it's a moral duty almost being a big Horeca change to look after food waste. And of course, adding on to this sustainability and more sustainable products are very relevant to include as well. Yeah. And talking about the customer journey or the guest journey. Sorry, wrong word. Guest journey. You're mentioning moving from meat to plant based items. Do you see that the guests also makes that change? And is he prepared to leave that nice juicy steak for plant based food when they come to your brand? I think there is. What I would say is that within every group there was one person ordering a plant based date. I think that is growing to two persons per group, maybe. But of course, what we. I find it's always difficult to be like pushing the guests toward an item that is something we would. The guest is leading. So they make their 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. They want to eat and plant based is there a certain item in, but also looking at people becoming more conscious on the amount they eat. So also adding sizes to your menu card is also something we already introduced within our restaurants. We do feel there is an increasing interest still in plant based foods. If you look over the last four or five 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 three or four years. And we feel this trend line will go up still in the near future. And is the guest, is he prepared to pay more or the same or less than for the existing, let's say, offering? I think it's broadly. It all depends, of course, how you price your items. Of course. What I see is that. I would say it's on the same level they are willing to pay. Yeah, that's what I would say. I think they spend money for a good night out so to say. They want to have a good meal in a nice restaurant. And I think they really are not very price conscious on plant based foods. Plant based, yeah, I would say in general, I think, and especially also Dutch people. And to say something about Dutch people, and I can say they are always and especially also myself, I always you're price sensitive, or maybe it's better to say your value, you're value driven, I think. I don't think a lot of guests are. 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 get a good value for the money you spend and it also matches your expectations, you're still willing to spend something in the restaurants industry, but also talking about maybe for the complete restaurant industry, it's still a difficult market where we came out and we're still a little bit in our inflationary environment. 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. You also do have to do your grocery, you also have to pay your rent amount for your house or 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. 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 good value. And it's then the complete experience. So it's also the restaurant where you're in, our employees that give you a good experience and give you service and are really trained on bringing that value to your plate. And also, of course, what you eat has to be of a good quality that you expect. So it's a complete package. All right. I heard Eric also mentioned waste. Waste is something that you have to look into. Do you have any idea or do you want to share about the waste a group like RCE produces and the measures you take to reduce that waste? Yeah, well, we are currently looking into the kilograms that are reported by the waste collectors that we use. And we 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 a direction, and this is now more or less around 25%. 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 guests, for example, because I think also. So the total kilograms of waste could change over time because you will have less waste in total as well. But this is the way we currently look at it, and you see differences per formula as well. So Loetje has more waste, from a percentage point of view, than Happy Italy for example. Do you see that declining or growing still within? Maybe not so much in RCE? Yeah, but it's a general thing like do you see this? Is this, are we wasting more as human beings going to restaurants, or are we more, let's say, understanding and try to eat our plate? Let's say, basically, because sometimes we just don't control it. 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 on that, yeah. But I don't have the hard, solid numbers to put. That is 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 build on that thesis that we now say, and that is something we try to do within our organisation, really. Of course, your thesis or your feeling is important and that's always part of how we are experience 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 completely make this. Yeah, you can influence it sometimes relatively easily. For example, with Loetje, 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 slice 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. 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. And I heard a story last week from a colleague of Beers&Barrels one of our other formulas where we serve snack platters, and people that order a snack platter don't have an understanding, is this enough or not for a group of six or eight 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 it's a waste Yeah, yeah. Of course, you're not just after the money of the customer. You really want to do this in a sustainable way of course. That's very interesting, actually. And moving forward, as you say, you're in the early days of this. How are you going to measure these advances? What are the KPI's that you set yourself and how do you want to reduce those? We do have KPI's now on CO2 emissions, 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. I think that's the right way to look at it. We look at waste, as I just explained, so the amount of kilograms of organic waste. We also look at the sales mix ratio, so we know how much meat we sell today compared to fish and compared to 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 number of plant based products that we offer on our menus. So it's different streams that have to help to reduce those CO2 emissions. All right. In general, we defined several KPI's that are monitored over time and where we set up eventually a target level where we want to be in 2030. So it's really a journey. Yeah, you have to start. And that's something what Eric was also saying, especially, I think finally, all this regulation will also come down to more, not only the larger companies, but also the medium sized and smaller companies. And I would say be open for it and embrace it because it will not go away. That's where you can better make the best out of it and it really helps you. What I just also said. And ESG is not only about environment, so we have the habit to focus on environment, but of course, we also measure work related injuries, employee turnover, food safety. So there are many more KPI's within 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. Yeah. And which one of all of the ESG topics is the most difficult one? Is that the scope three procurement part or is it the social part? That's hard to say, Carl. It will be difficult to get scope three 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 robust programmes internally to make sure that people want to work for you, they want to stay with you, they can develop themselves within your organisation 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, let's say, deflect you from running operationally the business, because you could say, of course it's all a benefit of the people and environment. So we embrace this, that nobody discusses that you should do this. But how much weight does this bring into a business? I think it has to be in your organisation, otherwise you have like a separate or separate department running ESG. That doesn't work. It should be also into the organisation. You have ESG as a department bringing the framework and managing it, but it should be in your organisation. 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 make it part of the process. So it's a 3000 people thing. Eventually it's a 3000 people workforce that works on ESG, but that's correct. But we started in the management team. So for all the ESG topics, I have a counterpart within the management team. So HR related, it's our CEO that also looks after the HR function. 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. All right. Okay. 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 We're still in the beginnings so I would definitely say we are still learning every day on this, on this topic. But at least you have a direction and we have a direction and we have a framework that we work in. That's already quite an achievement. To finalise the conversation, I'd like to ask you one question out of the box, both of you, and that's always the same question. It's where does the hospitality industry go? What are the trends for the next years? Where do we need to look? And what will bring the future to the hospitality industry and to RCE? It's a lot of questions for the last question, Carl! It's look into the future. Yeah, look into the future. The glass of ball and saying where the future will go to now. What I would say is that what I just touched upon, we come from a really difficult time from COVID and I think a lot of the restaurants are still suffering from these restrictions. And also we have seen a strong inflationary environment hitting every line in your P&L for a restaurant. If it's on purchasing, is it on employees, is it for rent, is it for energy? So it's been a really tough time. And that is still not over. I think that there is some easing, there is some normalisation, but it's still, I think, looking at every detail and really focusing on your operations and businesses and especially then on your 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 reservations. People want to have more secure, want to know that they are able to go somewhere. We see a lot of impact. Of course, the moment of the week where people want to. Want to have an experience that is becoming more dense into specific moments of the week. And that also household budgets in this inflationary environment. So these are all the items you have to cope with and have to deal with running your restaurant. And I think this will more easily normalising this year, but that will not be, that will be not next month, that will take another year. I think we 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 twelve months in 223, so there was no full year available before that. I think that is still also what we are doing here. From a more macro perspective, I think that you still will see that formulas not saying that I think there is 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, etcetera, 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 attracts, restaurants together attracts more guests, because as a guest you don't want to have the same experience every week you look 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 to absorb all the costs of how you can help, absorbing costs that we have seen into our business model. That is something I think that will become more and more what we see more and more in the future. For our end, we said this year we're looking for new locations, but we also will look a lot a part of this year strategy is focused around really having this guest journey is continuously working and to make that good for every formula that we have and especially unlocking we have a lot of data, but we think we can still unlock more data regarding our businesses to help make decisions better to enhance this guest journey. And I think we can learn a lot from other segments within the restaurants 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, will make better forecast planning. We will have better planning for personnel, we will have better planning for purchasing, which will also reduce, of course, food waste. It further professionalises the business. So that will be our focus for this year. I think a lot of the markets will be shifting too. All right, thank you very much for these insights. Eric, what about you? How do you see the industry evolve? Well, it's difficult to add something to! Sorry for that. More conscious people on having meals that are probably with less meat or more plant based. This will increase over time. So changing behaviour with the guest? Yeah, yeah, that's what we will see. And of course, technology and optimization will help the business to become more and more professional over time. All right, 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 building RCE further. Thank you very much. Okay, thank you. Our pleasure. Thank you. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Bye.