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Social enterprise, CLARITY & Co., cleaning up in the quality mid-range hotel sector

Social enterprise, CLARITY & Co., cleaning up in the quality mid-range hotel sector

CLARITY & Co. is bringing its eco-ethical soap brands – BECO. and CLARITY – to the quality mid-range hotel market. As ever more establishments in the sector seek to align procurement strategy with consumer trends for sustainable, environmentally-friendly products with an impactful social mission, CLARITY & Co. is perfectly placed to meet these evolving needs.

CLARITY & Co. is one of the UK’s oldest social enterprises – having been founded in 1854 – and is dedicated to creating meaningful employment for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions through the manufacture of a range of quality washroom and household products. At CLARITY & CO., we see the greatness in every person, and we want people with disabilities to have the chance to show their greatness off in the workplace. After all, so many employers believe that people with disabilities can’t do the job of a person without disabilities. We are proof that they absolutely can. This was the belief of our founder, Elizabeth Gilbert, whose own blindness inspired her vision of work for all. We don’t see disability, we see workability because work lifts lives; raising self-esteem, increasing confidence and building independence. And at CLARITY & Co. that’s what we work for – every working day.

“It’s clear that many hotels feel it is important to place social responsibility at the centre of their ethics and that communicating this ethical stance to staff and clients is a key business strategy. One way they can do this is to offer products with purpose for use in their bedrooms and washrooms such as those made by people with disabilities at our semi-automated factory in East London. From Michelin star restaurants to swanky roof-top bars; co-working spaces to corporate offices, businesses across the UK are choosing CLARITY & Co,” explains Clem Hinchliffe, Business Development Manager, CLARITY & Co.

One such hotel is the 95-room Marsham Court in Bournemouth. Its Managing Director, Rosie Radwell, and CLARITY & Co.’s Head of Sustainable Growth, Camilla Marcus Dew, are cousins who have family members with a disability. The Marsham Court will be using CLARITY & Co.’s newest soap brand, BECO. in its washrooms. BECO. stands for Better Considered – better for those that use it, for those that make it and for the environment.  The BECO. foaming handwash saves 1760L of water per 5L container when compared to liquid soap and is a great recent addition to CLARITY & Co.’s offering. BECO. is also vegan and hypoallergenic, as well as being paraben and SLS free. In addition, every bathroom at the hotel will be using the refreshing CLARITY Juniper & Seaweed range.

The benefits of using CLARITY & Co. brands are quantifiable with every 5 litres of BECO. used generating an hour of work for people with disabilities, and with 5 litres of the CLARITY Juniper & Seaweed product generating half an hour. Each year, sales of CLARITY & Co. business, every-day and beauty products create 10,000 days of work, changing real people’s lives for the better. Of CLARITY & Co.’s 110 employees, 80% have a disability – so every minute counts. The Marsham Court Hotel has also generously offered to collaborate with guests to donate £1 to the charity’s core funds for every guest that checks-in and will use story board stickers on its bathroom mirrors to tell the story of how it is helping counter high rates of disability underemployment in the UK.

CLARITY & Co.’s Camilla Marcus-Dew comments: “Having relatives with a disability really brings home the importance of what we do in creating work for some of society’s most vulnerable. I want my relatives to have real opportunities for employment as they grow older – employment that will afford them the same sense of fulfilment and independence that others enjoy.”

Marsham Court’s Managing Director, Rosie Radwell, explains: “We are committed to using as many locally sourced products and sustainable practices as we can, so being able to offer our guests ethically produced soaps which also benefit disadvantaged people had huge appeal for us.”

In addition, CLARITY & Co. and biotech cleaning innovators, InnuScience, have recently announced a new joint venture.  It will see the InnuScience leverage its success and reputation in the hotel and catering sector to supply CLARITY & Co.’s soap brands, BECO. as their front of house hand soap brands of choice.

If your hotel or hospitality venue is interested in having CLARITY & Co. brands in your guest bathrooms and washrooms, please contact Clem at b2b@clarity.org.uk.

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