Gaucho was criticised by the modern slavery charity for not having paid a £60,000 invoice for carbon offset work it carried out in 2024. In its response, the steakhouse group said that it was ‘not aware of any agreement or formal arrangement’ [with Not for Sale] at any time’ although it did acknowledge that Gaucho ‘did provide some support in 2024 under the previous CEO’.
In a statement, Martin Williams, who led Gaucho from 2019 until last year, refutes this, saying that he had personally emailed new Gaucho CEO Baton Berisha ‘and another board member’ on 20 June this year ‘to inform them of the relationship, confirming that the board of directors had approved a charity partnership with Not for Sale’.
Williams’ statement says: “I pointed out that this partnership had been reflected on Gaucho’s menu since 2021, its SSR and B Corp applications, in numerous press releases and had received press coverage and awards for the initiative.”
Williams also says that the response by Gaucho Restaurants that Not for Sale had a ‘personal relationship with the former CEO of the business’ is incorrect, instead describing it as ‘an approved and transparent business relationship’.
A statement published by Not for Sale supports this. It describes its relationship with Gaucho’s parent company Rare Restaurants as a ‘formal institutional partnership, governed by written agreements’, and insists ‘it was not a personal arrangement, as current management has suggested’.
“The current Chairman (David Campbell) and CEO (Baton Berisha), have every right to change the emphasis of a sustainability strategy within the company, however, the reported quotes are factually incorrect,” Williams says.
“One of my proudest achievements”
In his statement, Williams describes Rare Restaurants’ Sustainability Strategy as one of his ‘proudest achievements’ while he was at the helm of Gaucho.
“One of the proudest achievements of my ten-year tenure as founder and CEO of M and five years’ leading Gaucho as CEO was the purpose we gave our people which achieved industry leading levels of engagement in our team.
“This was achieved in no small part, by a five-year Sustainability Strategy, which we created in 2021 and was approved by the Rare Restaurants board.
“The Sustainability Strategy included the commencement of a ‘Sustainable Steaks’ policy, which offset the carbon footprint, of our beef by commencing a reforestation programme in partnership with the ‘Not For Sale’ movement, founded and led by David Batstone and CEO Mark Wexler in South America, with the purpose to make Gaucho steaks ‘Carbon Neutral’.
“This project was not simply ‘carbon credits’ or offsetting; what made it a wonderful, holistic scheme was that the reforestation programme took place in the Amazon, working with indigenous tribes who were in danger of (and had historically been victims of), modern-slavery and trafficking.”
He adds that Gaucho and M Restaurants planted 54,399 trees, covering 54.91 hectares ‘capturing 13304.37 tonnes of CO2’ in 17 different tree planting initiatives, in 14 different countries. Since 2016 an annual event named ‘M is not for Sale’ raised further pledges and donations.
Further criticism
Earlier this week Gaucho was criticised by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) for making reference to its Food Made Good Standard on its website despite the organisation saying that the rating was no longer valid.
A statement from an SRA spokesperson says: “I want to clarify that our relationship with Gaucho ended in November 2024, and Gaucho’s two-star rating in our Food Made Good Standard has not been valid since the same date.
“In October this year, our team was made aware that their website’s Sustainability page still made reference to the Food Made Good Standard and included their report and logo as if they were still actively certified. We have since been in touch to ask them to remove all references to Food Made Good from their website and have been assured that this process is underway.
“Our ethos and our Food Made Good Standard certification are firmly rooted in transparency and tangible action, and the certification is designed to ensure that greenwashing is not a factor, requiring both a rigorous evaluation and submission of supporting evidence and documentation.
“Our purpose is to drive real, positive change through the hospitality sector; we stand firmly against greenwashing.”
In its response to Not For Sale’s claims, Gaucho also said that it was "not a UK charity and have not provided any financial information to us or evidence for how they have previously used funds".
It said that it has decided to transfer its support to other charities and reviews this each year going forward. “Now and in the future Gaucho will only act with and through UK registered charity organisations.”