- Melco held the “Melco Sustainability Culinary Competition 2024” and a related sharing session.
- The events aim to promote ethical and sustainable culinary practices among its team members.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment hosted a culinary competition, “Melco Sustainability Culinary Competition 2024”, and a sharing session in November at Studio City, aimed at promoting ethical and sustainable culinary practices among its team members.
The competition attracted the participation of 30 chefs from Melco’s integrated resort properties, including City of Dreams, Studio City and Altira Macau. Divided into 15 teams, participants competed in categories including Western cuisine, Chinese cuisine and desserts, using sustainable ingredients and cooking methods to craft their dishes. The judging panel, comprising three Melco chefs and members of the sustainability team, evaluated entries based on taste, presentation, ingredient selection and the chefs’ understanding of sustainability concepts. Gold, silver and bronze prizes were awarded in each category.
To further educate team members on the latest trends and best practices in ethical and sustainable dining, Melco invited MICHELIN Two-Star and Green-Star Chef Richard Ekkebus, Culinary Director at The Landmark Oriental, Hong Kong, to share the principles and practices that guide his culinary approach, highlighting the importance of sourcing ingredients locally and minimizing waste.
Calvin Soh, Vice President, Culinary for Melco, remarked, “These events are important to share best practice in ethical and sustainable cooking. They support Melco’s sustainable sourcing strategy to encourage local procurement and create demand for products that have sustainability attributes, as well as building capacity and awareness of the social, ecological and biodiversity impacts in sourcing.”
Melco said its ongoing commitment to promoting sustainability in the dining industry is implemented through various initiatives. These include prioritizing the purchase of internationally certified products, offering sustainable seafood at 97% of its restaurants in Macau, sourcing 100% cage-free eggs across all its properties in Macau, Manila and Cyprus, transitioning to sustainable alternatives for takeaway containers and utensils, implementing the NORDAQ water filtration system, and utilizing on-site composting machines to process food waste.