Sourcing Professionals Achieve Sustainable Seafood Sourcing Goals at Hilton (Part 1)

With a mission to be the world's most hospitable company, Hilton has welcomed more than three billion guests in its more than 100-year history. As a global leader in the hospitality industry, Hilton aims to halve its environmental footprint and double its social impact investments by 30.

Tomohiro Oi oversees supply management for the Japan, Korea and Micronesia region (JKM) of the global chain, which operates more than 122 hotels in 6,700 countries and regions around the world (as of October 2021). With 10 years of experience in procurement for various industries in the United States, we spoke with Oi about how he is working to achieve Hilton's sustainable seafood goals.

When I first took office, the percentage of companies procuring sustainable seafood was less than 1%

--Please tell us briefly about your job.

I am in charge of purchasing and procurement for all JKM hotels. We operate 14 hotels in Japan and 4 in Korea, and JKM has a total of 7 franchised hotels. I oversee the procurement of everything used in the hotels, including guest rooms, restaurants, food and beverage services, banquets, and facility-related items.

--You are currently working to achieve sustainable seafood sourcing targets as part of Hilton's global commitment. What was the situation at JKM when you joined Hilton three years ago?

Hilton had already made various global commitments, but the official seafood goal was created in May 2018, about two months before I joined Hilton in July.

The first thing I was asked to do after joining the company was to communicate with the general managers of each hotel. I focused on that for the first three to four months. It's often said that the first 3 days of an American president are crucial, and it's the same thing.

In October, I met with the general manager of Hilton Osaka, who also serves as the food and beverage strategy manager for the JKM region, and he started talking about sustainable seafood. "By December 10, we will aim to increase more than 2022% of our seafood procurement volume to sustainable seafood," he said.MSC,ASC"We have to achieve our goal of making all our products certified by the EPA." At the time, the amount of certified products purchased was 0.5% or 0.6%... less than 1%, so we started to ask ourselves, "What should we do about this?"

--What was the situation for Hilton in the US and Europe?

I think the number is probably quite high in Europe and the United States, as ideas about organic and sustainable products are becoming more prevalent there.

This 25% target is a global goal, so if America, which has a large number of hotels, achieves it, it feels like we will almost reach it. However, if the proportion of sustainable seafood used decreases in areas where hotel openings are accelerating, such as China, it will ultimately affect the global 25%, so each region is working hard to achieve it.

Information sharing and objective data are the keys to improvement

-- So when you joined Hilton, you were faced with these kinds of challenges.

Yes. I have worked in procurement for a variety of industries in the United States, but I had never actually done food procurement before, so I started by researching what sustainable seafood is.

What do I have to do? Why am I doing it? If I don't understand it myself, there's no way other procurement staff will understand it either. So, I studied quite a bit at first.

At JKM, the rate was less than 1%, so we had to decide what kind of sustainable seafood there was and whether we could buy it or not. As you all know, at that time, certified products were very expensive. Still, there were some products, such as smoked salmon, that were cheaper if you bought a large amount, so we had to consider various options.

Among all of this, I thought the most important thing was to share all the information. I thought the biggest problem was that people didn't know. So, in order to give the chefs, such as the executive chef and head chef, the information, I disclose all the information, such as what products are available and how much the price difference is.

Timothy Soper, who is now the president of JKM, has been really proactive in communicating with us. I will be issuing reports on sustainable seafood sourcing. The next most important thing to me after sharing information is to have objective data.

Whether the data is everything or not, if we don't chase the numbers, people won't understand. By telling them, "Your hotel's procurement rate is this percentage," I think it also creates a competitive spirit in each hotel, making them think, "Ours is less than other hotels." After all, numbers are persuasive.

Bottom-up through the efforts of chefs

-- In just three years, JKM's sustainable seafood procurement rate has risen to nearly 3%. How did this dramatic change come about?

I think the biggest factor in the change was that the chefs gradually came to understand the initiative and said, "Let's do it," and made an effort. In order to make an effort, they needed information about what kinds of fish were available, what fisheries they could buy from which fisheries, and at what price. And by sharing information such as "Even within the Hilton, other hotels use different fish," things gradually changed.

In particular, the head chef of Hilton Tokyo Bay at that time was in tune with this program and helped us a lot. Hilton Tokyo Bay has also obtained MSC and ASC CoC certification, and the cumulative total for 2021 was 62.6%. The numbers at Hilton Tokyo, where he was transferred, are now also rising significantly.

-- So the sourcing of ingredients varies greatly depending on the chef's wishes. Do chefs at Hilton have the discretion to make their own decisions?

Yes. We all have the same goals as a company, but the executive chef of each hotel manages the budget and has the decision-making power. Certified products are a little expensive, so chefs have their own ideas about how to cover the cost. For example, changing the way they serve the food or controlling the amount of food that is wasted. I think one of the reasons it went well was that we received bottom-up suggestions on how to increase the amount of sustainable seafood we purchase. The goal will not be achieved unless it is actually considered and implemented by the people on the ground.

At first, the chef's idea was to use certified products instead of the fish on the menu, but we suggested, "No, we might not be able to find certified products, and even if we did, the price might just go up. How about creating a new menu?" Then, some hotels started to say, "If such certified products exist, let's try creating a menu using them."

-- Thinking about creating new menu items using sustainable seafood that you can source?

That's it. It's a reverse approach.

Sustainable seafood dishes (Photo courtesy of Hilton)

Communicating with the fishing industry in pursuit of sustainable seafood

--What challenges did you face when purchasing sustainable seafood?

The number of sustainable seafood species was small. When I joined the company in 2018, there were few BXNUMXB products and only a limited number of fish species, so there was a discrepancy between what seafood companies wanted to sell and what hotels wanted to buy, making procurement difficult.
By talking with people we have close relationships with in the fishing industry and expressing our desire for larger quantities of MSC and ASC certified products, the numbers began to increase little by little.

-- So in response to Hilton's request, suppliers increased the number of certified products.

That was the case before COVID-19. Since we rely on imports for certified products, it is quite difficult now during the COVID-19 pandemic.

--Are there any challenges when using Japanese seafood, such as Edomae fish?

Certified domestic products are limited in number and not cheap. However, "using local ingredients" is also one of Hilton's goals. Therefore, we want to use local ingredients as much as possible in each hotel, and we would like to move forward with this as one of our goals, but if those ingredients are certified products, there is nothing better.
At present, the project is aimed at certification.FIP,AIPMany fishermen are still in the process of implementing these measures, while others have not yet reached that stage, so I would like to be able to better communicate the expectations of end users like Hilton and the value that comes from certified products.

In October 2021, HiltonSeafood LegacyとUMITO PartnersWe signed a memorandum of understanding for a collaborative partnership with them. Both companies are close to the perspective of the fishing industry, so we would like them to share various information with the hotel and be able to communicate with the fishing industry. We once had the opportunity to visit a fishing site. We will continue to plan various events together, such as seminars for employees.

--So you will also be proactively using domestic FIP and AIP seafood.

Purchasing from suppliers who are working on certification and improvement projects also falls under responsible seafood sourcing. First, we will achieve our goal of 25% certified products, and then I think that will be the next step.

We visited Kaiko Bussan, which is conducting a sea bass Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in Funabashi, Tokyo Bay.

Read Part 2>>>

Tomohiro Oi
Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1967, he moved to the US as a university student in 1986. After graduating, he stayed in the US and worked in sales for several years before returning to Japan to join Hilton in 24. He oversees procurement operations, including team organization and supply management, and is responsible for the procurement policies and plans for Japan, Korea, and Micronesia. He also supports global initiatives. He is responsible for improving procurement functions, streamlining operations, and training procurement team members, and is implementing strategic initiatives including sustainable procurement practices.

Interviewed and written by: Chiho Iuchi
After working for the Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (now the Japan Finance Corporation) and the English newspaper The Japan Times, he became a freelancer in 2016. He was a lecturer in the English Newspaper Production Planning course at Hosei University from 2016 to 2019. He writes articles mainly about culture and technology in both English and Japanese.