Sustainability Within The Events Industry Through Tech
NOQ had the privilege of attending the European Tour’s Scottish Open, whilst enjoying the moment with the top golfers in the world.
NOQ is a self-service ordering solution used at events and festivals and across various sectors of the hospitality industry. NOQ is tackling the hugely topical issues around queue management and food wastage whilst simultaneously enhancing customer experience.
Our bespoke solution results in increased revenues, reduced operational costs, reduced time and food wastage, improved transparency, and the ability for our partners to understand their customers. Consumers, on the other hand benefit from more efficient service, reduced queues, and the ability to truly enjoy the moment.
While the events industry is vast and generally regarded as a large carbon emitter, many organisations, such as A Greener Festival, Vision 2025, Julie’s Bicycle and Ecolibrium to name a few, have been leading the way in tackling these issues and reducing the carbon footprint of events and festivals for years now, and we want to play our part. At NOQ we believe that sustainability is a critical part of being a responsible business and are continuously working towards becoming sustainable.
Having worked on over 300 events and festivals since the summer of 2020, we are helping our partners achieve greener impacts through our app and support services.
Food Waste
The NOQ food & drink ordering platform allows customers to place their orders digitally either in advance, or from anywhere within the event, as opposed to queuing physically.
By giving customers the ability to pre-order their meals in advance of the event, vendors can mitigate the issues around excess supplies which are usually thrown away if unused. Through NOQ’s system, vendors know exactly what and how much to purchase. This system was recently adopted by Village Screen at their drive-in events, where customers were requested to order their wood-fired pizzas in advance of each event. On the day of the event, only non-perishable items were available for purchase.
While with on the day ordering at the European Tour’s Scottish Open earlier this summer, NOQ partnered with the concession group &Munch and their Director Vanessa Gilpin said “The NOQ app allows caterers to manage F&B orders meaning that they can prepare food as the demand comes. Being able to better determine the busier & quieter times of service means that food is not over prepared and there is less wastage”.
Additionally, the NOQ app allows vendors to notify customers when they’ve run out of stock on a particular item making it a more satisfactory and transparent tool. Often it is the case that customers are queuing up to purchase a specific item, only to find out that it isn’t available, and NOQ mitigates this issue.
Sustainable Products
Although the industry is shifting towards the use of sustainable products, there’s still room for improvement. NOQ recently collaborated with Fringe By The Sea, who were “committed to minimising their impact on the environment” – vendors at the event had to use sustainable materials such as plastic free containers, recycled paper and non-plastic cups such as those used by Hickory across all the bars. At Chickenstock Music Festival, another festival the app was used at recently, the organisers were working towards minimising the use of plastic cups at the bar and this was achieved through having event branded reusable cups available for purchase on the NOQ app and although some customers opted not to purchase the reusable cups, a large percentage of attendees did and others brought their own cups. Additionally, aside from the craft beers, lagers and ciders, most other drinks were canned, greatly reducing the use of plastic.
Prior to every event that NOQ attends, we now from experience, recommend that bars stock canned and/or bottled beverages instead of heavily relying on draught beverages; this not only results in a more sustainable product but also speeds up the service time and therefore further enhances the attendees’ experience.
Green Giving
Through its use of tech, NOQ has the ability to amplify the green causes that established organisations are supporting. In addition to allowing customers to purchase food & drinks in a seamless manner, the NOQ app can also partner with events and organisations to promote donating to a green cause through its existing payment system.
A simple yet dynamic feature on the app prompts customers when finalising their purchase to round-up their total and donate the additional funds to one of the supported causes if they should so wish or input a specific value that they would like to donate. The foundations and trusts to which consumers can donate are agreed in advance with the event organisers and relevant stakeholders, to ensure they are aligned with the events’ vision.
Aside from the three key examples NOQ is focusing on in regard to sustainability, the company is continuously developing new features and working on new ideas that can further enhance both its product and its impact within the industry.
NOQ is proud to be a member of and working closely with NCASS, AIF, AFO, NOEA and more recently Ecolibrium, gaining a deeper understanding of the events industry and its needs and acting on these insights through the use of tech, to improve sustainability where possible.
