Ofwat grants Whitbread self-serve licence

Ofwat has granted UK hotel, restaurant and coffee shop giant, Whitbread, a self-supply licence for water and sewerage services.

Ofwat senior director of strategy, planning and policy John Russell (pictured), said: “For a large, multi-site business like Whitbread, opting to become a self-supplier offers a range of benefits such as: reducing administration costs, cutting out the margin that goes to others in the supply chain and having more control over the service they get.”

Whitbread senior procurement manager, Sean Lavis, said: “Self-supply will enable us to build on the efficiency works already undertaken, while driving cost and consumption control in the next phase of our water management strategy”.

Whitbread brands include Premier Inn, Costa Coffee, Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre.