Breaking Bread: Analysis Shows Significant Events Sector Impact.

A recent impact report, undertaken by the team behind pioneering Bristol tipi village Breaking Bread and authored by Pauline Bourdon, has highlighted the socio-economic and environmental impact of the project within the local events and hospitality industries.Breaking Bread launched in July 2020 and with events organisers Team Love collaborating with some of Bristol’s most established hospitality venues, The Pony & Trap, Pasta Loco and The Pipe and Slippers.The outdoor dining experience on Bristol’s iconic Downs saw the creation of multiple restaurants and a pub garden, all within a stunning tipi village and in complete adherence to the governmental guidance on hospitality and events.Throughout the three months of Breaking Bread’s operation, the project provided work for over 100 events and hospitality industry workers. Working with a supply chain of around 50 organisations - 36 of which were directly based in Bristol - across the food, drink and events industries.One of the most illuminating statistics of the report however, is that by taking these 100 staff out of the furlough and Universal Credit process, Breaking Bread saved the government an estimated £220,000 through direct employment.In addition to this salaried staff and freelancers were paid £486,000 and direct spend with local contractors and suppliers sits at £561,000.Tom Paine, of Team Love, explains: “Contractors and suppliers are essential members of the ecosystems that make our industries. Without events and pubs operating, the pandemic had a huge impact on these businesses.”“From our surveys we can see that 78% lost between 60 and 99% of activities due to full lockdown restrictions while 22% of them lost all their contracts. By July when restrictions were relaxed, 77% of our contractors recovered up to 40% of their prior work and contracts, with Breaking Bread making up 66.7% of that regained activity.”Sustainability also played a huge factor in the project. Within the report the team highlighted that of the 16.4 tonnes of CO2 the event emitted, was entirely balanced through global tree planting and land protection initiatives. With the team choosing to work alongside Ecolibrium to achieve this.Stringent waste management policies saw general waste handled by experts Bristol Waste and food waste managed by Geneco - where waste was sent to an anaerobic digestion plant to be processed and into renewable energy sources and agricultural bio-fertiliser.Breaking Bread also provided a significant boost for the city's residents. 37,000 people visited outdoor restaurants on Bristol’s famous Downs, with Breaking Bread selling out tables for its restaurant and pub gardens months in advance.Breaking Bread is slated for a return in Spring of 2021. As part of its return the team will also be introducing The Team Canteen, as Tom explains:“The Team Canteen is a new venture within the existing framework of Breaking Bread. We have set it up as a CIC so from a hospitality standpoint it’ll provide food education and training opportunities. Then from an events perspective we will space up to the Bristol culture scene. So venues, acts, bookers, promoters, it’s really a space for them to make use of.”Penny Warner, production lead for the project added.“Whilst the collaboration came around because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all partners agreed that it was crucial that the operations benefited not just those directly involved but also other partners and people across the city.  We realised that in order to evaluate our impact but to also understand how to improve in the future, we had to collect as much data as possible about the project"“This report is just the start of how we plan to operate our events in the future, tracking our environmental, community and economic impact so we can put in a process of continual improvement. We’re all passionate about producing experiences which also offer benefit to our city of Bristol, reducing food poverty and creating opportunities for our customers to engage with community projects in a meaningful way.”To see the full report please visit:  https://www.breakingbreadbristol.co.uk/impactreport