D&D London launches its eco-centric initiative, Mindful City!

D&D announced today for January its first group-wide world and wellbeing initiative, working across all its restaurants. As part of its new Mindful City campaign, in a move towards reducing group waste, it will be one of the first restaurant groups to enforce a group-wide ban on plastic across their bars. Londoners will also see most of the restaurants in the group focusing on promoting wellness and fitness for body and soul. From moderation, meditation and motivation, they will be hosting mindful menus, a speaker’s series in collaboration with Seedlip – The World’s First Distilled Non-alcoholic Spirits brand – as well as fitness classes that will encourage Londoners to be well this 2018.

The campaign will be symbolised by a sculpture installed outside the recently launched Fiume restaurant at Battersea Power Station. CORE has been created in collaboration between Creative Debuts, D&D London, and Belu Water. The sculpture represents the depth of values shared amongst all human beings at their core. “Made entirely out of glass water bottles, this installation aims to connect audiences, and bring attention to global water issues. Essential to all, water is life – and is at the core of all humanity.” – Calum Hall, Co-Founder, Creative Debuts.

The sculpture is made from recycled Belu glass bottles. Composed of at least 45% recycled materials, the bottles have the highest recycled content possible in clear glass in the UK. Belu donates 100% of its profits to WaterAid, helping the charity transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest communities by providing clean water, decent toilets and hygiene – an endeavour D&D supports by serving Belu mineral water across its sites and selecting WaterAid as charity partner for the Mindful City Campaign. D&D will also be supporting the charity by offering an optional £1 on every bill to customers throughout January until 13 February, as well as a hosting a Charity Bake off at Bluebird and a celebrity Comedy show at Old Bengal Bar. Any money donated through restaurant bills before 31 January will be doubled by the UK Government.

There will also be a series of events across D&D restaurants aimed at increasing awareness of wellbeing. These will include talks from campaign ambassadors such as Jasmine Hemsley, Andy and Ruari of 28 Days Sober and Ben Branson founder of Seedlip. There will also be healthy and sustainable menus served across D&D sites, with Plateau in Canary Wharf showcasing their first botanical brunch, and D&D’s fish restaurants Kensington Place and Fish Market serving sustainable ‘Blue Planet’ Menus. New Street Grill will focus on quality over quantity with their special Paleo menu that incorporates a proactive slant on provenance. Restaurants Coq D’Argent, German Gymnasium and Bluebird will be providing a holistic approach to wellbeing via a range of eclectic fitness classes tied into gourmet eating.

Veganuary will be an important part of the campaign, with The Chop Houses promoting a quality roast ‘carve your own cauliflower’ option as well as special vegetarian dishes across Francesco Mazzei’s restaurants Radici, Sartoria and Fiume. Mindful menus will even infiltrate behind the scenes at D&D, with ‘Meat-free Monday’ adopted for all staff meals. All meals will also be made using ingredients from restaurant kitchen leftovers. D&D will create a place for wellbeing, a well world; one well worth living in.

Des Gunewardena, CEO & Chairman of D&D comments, “As restaurateurs, sustainability and caring for the environment generally have been central to how we run our business for years. We are also now focusing on giving more choice to customers who want to eat more healthily by choosing vegetarian and vegan options. Last year one of D&D’s most successful initiatives was the launch of a weekly Vegan Brunch at Alcazar, our restaurant in Paris.”

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For press enquiries, please contact Claudia Light at Sauce Communications on claudia@saucecommunications.com or 0208 600 3600

Notes to Editors:

About D&D

D&D London is a group of luxury restaurants, bars and hotels based principally in London, but also with venues in Paris, New York and Tokyo. It was founded by Des Gunewardena and David Loewi (the eponymous D and D) in 2006, following a buyout of Conran Restaurants, which itself was established back in 1991. Today D&D London owns and operates 38 restaurants, with one Michelin Star, and an award-winning hotel. It has also been recognised as a leading business in caring for the environment.

Located in a beautiful Grade II listed building originally owned by the East India Company, Old Bengal Bar is the destination for drinks and bar snacks in the City and Shoreditch, offering outstanding cocktails, a superb menu and impeccable service in a fun, buzzing and glamourous setting.

About Creative Debuts:

Creative Debuts is a leading platform championing emerging artists and designers from around the world. Our aim is to make art more accessible and to tackle the hurdles faced by undiscovered creatives. We help to do this by showcasing and commissioning artists, selling unique artwork, hosting events, and connecting artists with businesses.

Find out more at creativedebuts.co.uk and follow us on social @CreativeDebuts

WaterAid:

WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 34 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or find WaterAid UK on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

• 844 million people in the world – one in nine – do not have clean water close to home.
• 2.3 billion people in the world – almost one in three – do not have a decent toilet of their own.
• Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That’s almost 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.
• Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.
• Just £24 can provide one person with clean water.
• To find out if countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, see the online database www.WASHwatch.or
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