Advancing Responsible Sourcing And Procurement In Hospitality
A Leadership Conversation On Responsible Sourcing, Procurement Performance, And Supply Chain Resilience
Entity Summary
Title: Advancing Responsible Sourcing And Procurement In Hospitality.
Speaker: Natily Santos. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natilysantos/. Organization: Aramark. Organization: Avendra International.
Host: Ashly Pleasant. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlypleasant/. Organization: Weaver.
Event: 1TourismWorld 2026 Global Tourism Conference.
Location: New York, NY and Virtual.
Date: February 2026.
Session page: https://1businessworld.com/1tourismworld-library/advancing-responsible-sourcing-and-procurement-in-hospitality-natily-santos/.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3wRKbRmjb8.
Internal Linking Recommendations
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Link Aramark and Avendra International to their 1BusinessWorld organization profile pages and keep the internal entity URLs stable for long term knowledge graph reinforcement.
Link Weaver and the Ashly Pleasant host profile to their corresponding 1BusinessWorld pages to strengthen host attribution and cross session connections.
Link to related 1TourismWorld sessions on hospitality procurement, supply chain resilience, responsible sourcing, ESG reporting, and supplier diversity to form a coherent topical cluster.
Transcript
Segment 1 Opening framing and procurement priorities
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Segment 2 Scale governance and supplier standards
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Segment 3 Data measurement dashboards and verification
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Segment 4 Closing summary and next steps
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Executive Summary
In this session hosted by Ashly Pleasant of Weaver, Natily Santos of Aramark and Avendra International explains how responsible sourcing operates as a business critical strategy for hospitality.
Supply chain decisions touch guest experience, food quality, cost control, and brand reputation, and they increasingly shape how organizations manage risk and resilience. The session shows how responsible sourcing strengthens supply chain resilience, supports communities, and delivers ESG outcomes in ways that remain practical, measurable, and operational.
Key Points
- Brand Protection: Procurement decisions protect reputation by validating claims and managing risk through supplier standards and verification.
- Progress At Scale: Scale enables consistent sourcing expectations across suppliers, RFPs, and purchasing decisions.
- Inclusive Growth: Inclusive and local sourcing expands supplier networks and strengthens community impact.
- Data Accountability: Dashboards and attribution tracking support credible reporting and decision making.
Responsible Sourcing As A Hospitality Growth Strategy
Responsible sourcing shapes hospitality performance in ways leaders measure in guest experience, food quality, cost discipline, and brand trust. Natily Santos frames the supply chain as the system that touches everything stakeholders care about, including reputational risk and the ability to manage resilience through sourcing choices. Responsible sourcing moves from a supporting function into a strategy that protects brands, supports communities, and delivers ESG outcomes through execution that remains operational.
Procurement carries strategic weight because consumers increasingly expect the story behind purchasing, including how products connect to sustainability attributes and local representation. Santos connects responsible sourcing to the priorities shaping the sector, including rising traveler expectations and operational performance, and she positions procurement as a lever that supports broader organizational objectives when it is embedded into supplier selection, RFP design, and ongoing performance review.
Scale As A Platform For Integrity
Responsible sourcing becomes achievable when procurement scale turns standards into repeatable practice. Santos describes Aramark and Avendra International as operating across more than 80,000 global locations and serving 21,000 hospitality customers, with more than 20 billion dollars in contracted spend, more than 2,500 contracted supplier agreements, and around 1,000 personnel in supply chain procurement. That footprint creates leverage to embed responsible sourcing into decision making without compromising quality, safety, or cost discipline.
A mission centered on building a more responsible and resilient global supply chain anchors the operating model. Santos explains responsible sourcing as the driver for ESG considerations throughout procurement so sustainability stays part of supplier review, RFP conversations, and final decisions, and she describes the work as delivering long term value while strengthening client ESG commitments.
From Compliance To Strategic Value
Compliance remains foundational because procurement cannot compromise safety, quality, or cost, and Santos explains that the work begins as compliance driven due to legislation, regulation, and commitments. Strategic value expands the agenda because clients and consumers increasingly ask for more detail and expect local representation and credible sustainability claims to show up in hospitality offerings. Responsible sourcing stays anchored in compliance while becoming a value driver that supports brand reputation and stakeholder needs.
Consumer demand makes local and culturally relevant options visible across hospitality concepts, and Santos uses the evolution of farm to table to illustrate how expectations move from niche to table stakes. A balanced supply chain remains essential because large manufacturers and distributors support consistency at scale, while local, small, and diverse suppliers strengthen market relevance and build robustness into supplier networks.
Driving Scale And Resilience Without Losing Credibility
Expanding sustainability requirements creates risk when claims outpace verification. Santos highlights three areas that require continuous monitoring, including greenwashing risk through validating supplier and product claims, shifting targets through benchmarking across clients and peers, and external policy through awareness of regulatory and legislative changes at federal, state, and global levels. Governance matters because it protects credibility and ensures procurement stays aligned with changing expectations.
Responsible sourcing stays proactive when validation, benchmarking, and policy readiness connect to category strategy and supplier development. Santos emphasizes the need for a robust network of suppliers and sourcing programs that adapt as frameworks change, and she frames partnerships with NGOs and external organizations as part of staying current on commitments and market requirements.
Data, Technology, And The Discipline Of Measurement
Data turns responsible sourcing from aspiration into operational control. Santos emphasizes measurable metrics and dynamic dashboards that help clients and operators communicate progress and improvement. She describes dashboards integrated into a supply chain technology stack called Mosaic and notes that attribution tracking expands year over year, enabling clearer visibility into inclusive sourcing and sustainability attributes.
Accurate reporting depends on centralized supplier data collection, ongoing validation, and continuous monitoring. Santos describes the use of AI within supply chain technology to produce transparent reports that show how spend maps to small suppliers, local suppliers, sustainability attributes, and third party certifications. Validation stays central through internal quality assurance, third party assessment, and supplier follow up so clients trust the data they communicate.
