Restaurants, cafés, and food service companies certified under the World Sustainability Organization’s (WSO) Sustainable Restaurants standard must now make at least 30% of their menu offerings plant-based to earn or keep their certification. More than 500 restaurants worldwide currently hold the certification, which the WSO issues through its Friend of the Earth and Friend of the Sea programmes.
The plant-based threshold is one of two mandatory conditions in the revised standard. Certified operators must also source all animal proteins from producers who do not use cages, crates, or ongoing tethering, and who meet the standard’s slaughter criteria. Lever Foundation, an NGO that works with food companies across Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America on expanding plant-based offerings, worked with the WSO on the revisions.
The WSO has also updated its companion Sustainable Tourism Facilities standard, which applies to hotels, resorts, and other tourism providers. Under the new criteria, these operators can qualify by making at least 30% of menu offerings plant-based, by meeting the same animal protein sourcing rules applied to restaurants, or by reducing food waste by 30% from their existing baseline. Hotels and resorts therefore have an alternative route that restaurants do not.
The update follows the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), which published its first Food and Beverage Standard in July. That standard requires at least 30% of main dishes to be plant-based for operators seeking GSTC certification. Two certification bodies serving the hospitality sector now use the same figure as a pass-or-fail condition, so menu composition affects whether a restaurant or hotel can display the label at all.
Ribbin Nichapa, Corporate Engagement Manager at Lever Foundation, said, “Pairing meaningful animal welfare requirements with a strong plant-based foods benchmark is exactly the kind of standard needed for true sustainability.”
