Ana Neno is a Key Accounts Manager for the HORECA industry in Portugal with the innovative start-up, Too Good To Go. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Global Hospitality Management from Les Roches Marbella.
Ana Neno’s optimism and passion for making people feel happy, welcome, and at home was the perfect fit for her current professional journey with Too Good To Go. The innovative hospitality start-up’s core mission is to inspire and empower people to take action against food waste. Through its mobile ‘marketplace’ app, Too Good To Go has set out to contribute in every way they can to build a global food waste movement by connecting consumers with businesses that have surplus food at risk of going to waste.
“By reducing our waste of the world’s food resources we can have a direct impact on the environment and greatly reduce CO2 emissions, water consumption, soil erosion, and nutrient depletion while slowing the destruction of rain forests for farmland.”
The company’s social responsibility initiatives are combined with its contribution to an environmentally sustainable economy. According to Ana, “Not many people know, but food waste reduction (from farm to plate) is the number one solution to combat climate change. By reducing our waste of the world’s food resources we can have a direct impact on the environment and greatly reduce CO2 emissions, water consumption, soil erosion, and nutrient depletion while slowing the destruction of rain forests for farmland.”
Before joining Too Good To Go, Ana was focused on her true passion: Luxury Hospitality. Her other passion, making the world a better place for all, gave her the initiative to take on a social challenge that still directly forms part of the hospitality industry. Sustainability has always been of interest to Ana as well, and Too Good To Go checked all the boxes. She clearly enjoys the opportunity to use her experience in luxury hospitality to play an active role each day in connecting Portugal’s high-end HORECA sector (Hotels, Restaurants, and Cafeterias) with people and organizations in need of food.
Ana’s work revolves around connecting Too Good To Go’s four main pillars. She brings hospitality businesses together to find solutions to reduce food waste by giving them the opportunity to add revenue while gaining exposure to new customers and becoming a contributing player in a more sustainable economy. This is achieved through the critical role of education, another of the company’s main pillars. The consciousness of food waste is critical to teaching the next generation how to value resources and protect the planet. The role of schools and universities like Les Roches is more important than ever to ensure people are educated on food waste. The company’s third pillar, public affairs, is focused on raising public awareness both in Spain and Portugal, as well as internationally. Ana and Too Good To Go want to drive this change and help transform current practices that will move the world closer to a sustainable food system. These efforts then have a direct effect on their fourth pillar: Households. The contributions and example set by the hospitality industry will inspire people to take action in their own homes.
After graduating from Les Roches Marbella in 2014 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Global Hospitality Management with a specialization in Events Management, Ana worked with The Lowell Hotel (New York) as Assistant Front Office Manager. Following her venture abroad, she returned to Portugal and worked in Lisbon with the Bairro Alto Hotel as Sales and Events Coordinator, Myriad by SANA Hotels as a Groups & Events Coordinator, and finally, she was a Cluster Sales Executive with Altis Hotels before taking on her current role as Too Good To Go’s Key Account Manager for HORECA in Portugal.
Since working with Too Good To Go Portugal, Ana points out how the experience opened her mind “to a whole new world: HORECA. At Les Roches Marbella we studied high-end luxury hospitality and that prepared us for all these future innovative sectors that we are not expecting when we began. My plan is to keep growing in the HORECA sector. I intend to continue building on my network of industry contacts and to keep learning each day.” Ana recalls how her experience during morning roll calls with Mr. Djeebet during her first year at Les Roches Marbella helped her to establish the discipline, punctuality, and drive needed for the challenges she has faced in her career since then. Of the experience, she says, “I remember at first I did not understand exactly what it would mean in the future and today I’m grateful that it was one of the first simple things we learned in LRM: be on time and be passionate about your work!”
While Ana remains dedicated to helping people and businesses come together to fight food waste and make a positive change in society, far down her path, she envisions culminating her career in hospitality with a small, luxury, sustainable, and very exclusive boutique hotel or guest house. One thing is for sure, Ana Neno is on the right path.
