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Challenge your assumptions: how LCA reveals the true impact of packaging

By Barbara Nebel, thinkstep-anz. Demand for more sustainable packaging is rising across the food sector. Consumers want to buy ‘greener’ choices. Retailers are tightening expectations. Regulators are increasing scrutiny. For food brands, the focus is on avoiding costly packaging changes, protecting market access and making claims that can stand up to scrutiny. Decisions on packaging changes are not taken lightly. But what is perceived as environmentally friendly is not always the option that reduces impact. Paper can feel like the safer choice. Compostable packaging can sound like the lower-impact option. Plastic is often assumed to perform poorly from an environmental perspective. In reality, packaging impacts are rarely that simple. Packaging impact is easy to misread Packaging choices affect more than waste. They can influence transport emissions and food waste too. Looking at recyclability or compostability alone can miss the biggest impacts. For example: Heavier packaging can increase transport emissions across Australia’s long supply chains. Compostable packaging may not deliver benefits if there is no collection or processing infrastructure to support it. Packaging that reduces shelf life can increase food waste, which can outweigh the impact of the packaging itself. For food brands, this matters. Packaging is not just a wrapper. It is part of the whole product system. How Life Cycle Assessment helps With retailers, regulators and consumers scrutinising environmental claims, assumptions aren’t just risky – they threaten market access. This is why evidence, rather than intuition, is essential. This is where Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) comes in. It is a tool that measures environmental impact across a product’s full life cycle – from raw materials and manufacturing to use and disposal. It considers inputs like energy, materials and transport, and outputs like emissions, waste and pollution. LCA answers the crucial question: Which packaging choice reduces environmental impact when the […]

A taste of what’s next: Perspectives on the future of restaurants

In the years ahead, diners may start to experience their favorite restaurants in entirely new ways. Restaurant recommendations may start to come from consumers’ preferred gen AI platforms, human servers might get a helping hand from robotic food runners, and AI-powered recipe testing could catapult culinary innovation to greater heights. In these five videos, McKinsey experts examine how shifting consumer tastes, emerging technologies, and experimental formats could redefine the restaurant of the future. It’s the future. What’s on the menu? John Moran: We’re going to see more culinary innovation in the next ten years than we have in the past ten, 20, or even 50 years. Alex Rodriguez: We’re already moving to a space where it’s not about chicken, per se; it’s protein. Right now, it’s protein everything. As people continue to lean into science and health metrics, and into what they’re looking to get out of their diet, I could see it becoming less about a specific type of protein. It will be about protein in general, including a focus on the source and how clean and effective it is. Consumers may increasingly start speaking in those terms. Katharine Mattox: What will change is how people taking medications eat. So much of dining at restaurants is about this indulgent, away-from-home moment and shared experiences. Simply saying that goes away because the quaility of food consumed decreases is too simplistic an assertion. Still, some chains out there are playing around with a GLP-1-focused menu, which may include more protein and smaller portion sizes. John Moran: If you think about the trade-off we’ve always seen, where people want healthy food that tastes good, we’ve tended to prioritize the good-tasting part over the healthy part. There’s an enormous opportunity for authentic ethnic cuisines. A lot of people are experimenting with what they call “better […]

Lita in Marylebone announces new Culinary Director, retaining its Michelin star

London – Lita is delighted to announce the appointment of Kostas Papathanasiou as its new Culinary Director, ushering in an exciting new chapter for the neighbourhood restaurant. With a stellar background, including experience in some of the world’s most respected kitchens, including The Fat Duck, The Ledbury, The Social Company, and Restaurant Frantzén, his career has been shaped by an uncompromising respect for ingredients, technical precision and a deep appreciation for thoughtful, ingredient-led cuisine. At Lita, Kostas’ vision builds naturally on the restaurant’s existing identity – modern Mediterranean cooking with a strong focus on seasonality, simplicity and live fire. While rooted in classical technique, his cooking is instinctive and contemporary, and his skill has seamlessly enhanced the dining experience through an evolving menu that reflects his own culinary voice and creativity. Kostas has been quietly leading the kitchen since November 2025, working closely with the team as the restaurant continues to grow and refine its offering. The restaurant proudly retained its Michelin star in the recently released Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2026, a testament to the consistent excellence Chef Kostas has brought to the kitchen.

Asia’s protein buyers still trail global best practice

Asia’s largest food retailers, manufacturers, restaurant chains, and hospitality groups remain behind international better practice on sustainable and responsible protein sourcing, but progress is accelerating across the region. The APB100 is a benchmark based on investor-backed priorities – assessing how 100 of Asia’s largest listed protein-buying companies — headquartered or operating across Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam — manage environmental, social, and governance risks embedded in meat, dairy, poultry, and seafood supply chains. Collectively, the companies assessed represent more than USD500 billion in market capitalisation and sit at the choke point of Asia’s protein system, where procurement decisions shape production standards, risk management and food-system outcomes. The companies assessed include some of Asia’s most recognisable food and retail groups. These include China Mengniu Dairy, Yili Group, Yonghui and Yum China (Mainland China); AEON, Seven & I Holdings, Meiji, Nissin and NH Foods (Japan); CJ CheilJedang, Lotte and E-Mart (South Korea); Charoen Pokphand Foods and Thai Union (Thailand); Jollibee, Century Pacific Food and San Miguel Food & Beverage (Philippines); Vinamilk (Vietnam); and Hindustan Lever, Nestle India, Jubilant, Devyani, DMart, Westlife Foodworld (McDonald’s India) (India), among others. Scores are improving, but the baseline remains low Now in its second edition, the benchmark shows clear momentum since 2023 — but also highlights that most companies remain at an early stage of credible implementation. The average overall score increased from 9% in 2023 to 16% in 2025, with around 80% of companies improving year-on-year. More than half of comparable companies moved up at least one performance tier. However, no company reached the top two performance tiers, underscoring a persistent gap between sustainability commitments and on-the-ground execution. A growing group of leaders is emerging The number of companies in the leading Tier 3 group more than […]

The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops: Asia Pacific’s Notable Winners

The second edition of THE WORLD’S 100 BEST COFFEE SHOPS 2026 with DaVinci Gourmet announced its global rankings at CoffeeFest Madrid 2026, revealing a reshaped coffee landscape for the Asia Pacific region. This definitive list of the world’s best specialty coffee shops saw Australia deepening its leadership with seven coffee shops in the global ranking, Taiwan with four, returning favourites such as Singapore’s Apartment Coffee maintaining its 2025 ranking, and Malaysia’s Story of Ono climb one level up. Australian newcomer Only Coffee Project Crows Nest clinched 4th position followed by Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters in 5th. Returning to the list were Proud Mary Coffee and Coffee Anthology, joined by newcomers Beta Coffee and Single O. The blend of returning icons and new entrants underlines Australia’s ongoing influence on global café standards. In Asia, Apartment Coffee in Singapore and Story of Ono in Malaysia took 6th and 8th place respectively, with The Republic of South Korea, Japan, China, and The Philippines securing placements in this year’s Top 100 rankings. See the full list at The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops The list confirms the emergence of new global capitals of quality coffee, as well as the consolidation of an increasingly diverse and innovative international coffee community that includes The United States, which leads the ranking with nine selected coffee shops, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East. “Congratulations to all 100 ranked coffee shops. The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops 2026 with DaVinci Gourmet is the global benchmark celebrating the cafés shaping the future of coffee, and as a leading beverage solutions brand, DaVinci Gourmet is proud to stand alongside it as the global title partner,” said Eloise Dubuisson, General Manager, Food Service Brands, Kerry Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa. A GLOBAL EVALUATION PROCESS The ranking is produced through a mixed system combining the evaluation of more […]