Nolan Team Takes First Place at Hospitality Sustainability Competition in Dubai

By Alli Romano

Three Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration students won first place at Dubai’s 2024 Sustainable Hospitality Challenge (SHC) on October 2, 2024, for their innovative idea to transform food waste into renewable energy, which would help live-fire restaurants improve sustainability and reduce fuel costs.

Emma Doherty, Francine Aclan, and Roodabeh Elavia, Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH) students, earned the Overall Winner and the Most Investible Award for their concept, PYRO, an electric, kiln-like machine that converts food scraps into biofuel for cooking.

“We’re solving pain for our immediate targets, restaurants, but PYRO has broad targets for sustainability and saving money,” Aclan explained.

PYRO utilizes pyrolysis technology, converting organic waste into reusable byproducts after being heated at high temperatures without oxygen. PYRO would transform organic food waste into biochar, a renewable biofuel that can replace wood in live-fire cooking in grills, pizzerias, steakhouses, and barbecue joints. That could lower fuel costs and improve environmental sustainability.

Food waste and sustainability are growing concerns in the hospitality industry, and the team is committed to improving conditions. As the Cornell Nolan School team developed PYRO, they collaborated with Cornell’s agricultural and engineering experts. The university operates several large pyrolyzers that convert waste into biochar for fertilization, and they surveyed professors, engineers, and doctors on applying the technology to the food industry.

“Once they had an idea about using biochar as fuel and if it could replace wood, the business plan came together very quickly,” said Bradford Wellstead, senior lecturer in the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

While PYRO’s target customers are live-fire restaurants that use wood for cooking, the creators envision scaling up for hotels, restaurant groups, resorts, and entertainment outlets. Aclan said the device could also benefit communities that rely on wood for heating and cooking, offering families a low-cost, sustainable alternative.

The Nolan School team met in Wellstead’s real estate development course last year. Wellstead has assembled teams to compete in SHC for the past three years. All three moved on to the finals, and two went on to win.

In past competitions, students were asked to design sustainable experiences, but the 2024 competition offered a new twist: develop a product to foster sustainability in hospitality.

That product focus deterred some students, but Wellstead said Doherty, Aclan, and Elavia were all in. During brainstorming sessions, they gravitated to ideas that utilized renewable fuels and identified the potential to adapt pyrolysis for hospitality.

“I am really proud of this team; they embraced the competition, dug into their values and beliefs, and they were the last ones standing,” Wellstead added.

While the women share a passion for sustainability, they have varied backgrounds and professional interests. Doherty is a veteran of restaurant management; Aclan has worked in human resources; and Elavia hails from Bombay, India and has deep experience in hotels. Aclan said their diversity strengthened both their partnership and project.

“The magic in our team is how diverse our backgrounds were and how it translated into a diverse product that’s not just tacking social sustainability, environmental sustainability, governments, and policy,” Aclan said. “Creating something that can help all of those things made for a holistically amazing product.”

The team put their MMH training to work throughout the competition. Marketing, finance, and operations courses helped them design the product, craft a business plan, and prepare for the SHC competition.

“In hospitality, we are very hands-on by nature, so to make a marketing plan or an income statement for a product you’re passionate about and believe in, that’s the best experience to apply your education,” Doherty noted.

Elavia said the research stage was the most challenging aspect, and the presentation was thrilling to develop and practice.

“It will be a highlight of my experience here,” she said.

As the SHC winners, one team member can visit NEOM, a sustainable development in Saudi Arabia and attend the 2024 World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit in Perth. Doherty traveled to Perth and presented PYRO at the WTTC Investors’ Nest, a Shark Tank-style competition, providing another platform to showcase their product and meet with investors.

Doherty noted that each stop is an opportunity to network with investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. “We continue to benefit from all the consulting and connections we made from the competition,” she said.

And they aren’t done yet. The team plans to enter the SC Johnson School of Business’s upcoming Cornell Hospitality Business Plan Competition in April 2025 during the Hotel Ezra Cornell conference, where the winning idea will earn a $25,000 prize.

“We’re focused on getting the name out and building and cultivating relationships with investors,” Aclan said.

While Doherty, Aclan, and Elavia plan to graduate in December, PYRO will live on.  They are building a prototype and website, and Doherty plans to work on PYRO full-time for several months. Aclan will join Hilton in HR consulting. Elavia is searching for a position in hotel sustainability, and both will support Doherty.

“Our next step is turning it from a project into something real,” Doherty said.