Chefs on Fire IV

All festivals created by Lohad work on a five-year sustainability strategy for continuous improvement to their events (developed by the consulting firm Because Impacts). The strategy also applies to the 2026 São Paulo edition and focuses on seven areas of action: Responsible food, Energy and emissions, Water and sanitation, Materials and circularity, Mobility and transportation, Community and Reforestation.

Direct

• Responsible food: Lohad’s strategy has the goal of prioritizing local producers and ensuring local supply, working with chefs to develop low-waste recipes, set up composting and recycling stations and partnering with social institutions for food donations after the festival. In this edition, a ticketing app will be used to manage production needs in real time, and a partnership is planned with São Paulo’s Food Bank to donate the food left overs.
• Energy and emissions: The promoter aims to consume 100% of the energy from renewable sources, and reduce the GHG in 90% until 2030, by transitioning to efficient equipment, green batteries and through carbon compensation for the festivals’ emissions.
• Water and sanitation: The goals are to reduce the water consumption in 50% until 2023 and increase water reuse during the festivals. Low-flow toilets will be installed, with showers and taps that reduce the amount of water used, and a wastewater recovering system will allow the festival to re-use this water for cleaning purposes.
• Materials and circularity: The festival intends to reduce single-use plastic to zero, raising the recycling rate to 100% and turning the festival 100% circular until 2030, by using biodegradable tableware, offering composting and recycling stations for minimal waste and form external partnerships to monitor the festivals’ performance regarding the materials used.
• Mobility and transportation: Reduce in 55% the GHG emissions associated with people transportation and equipment use until 2030 and promoting sustainable alternatives for transportation and stay during the festival. 
• Community: The promoter believes in a festival in synergy with the community and accessible for all. Free tickets will be given to the local community which will grant them access to the festival and its responsible cooking workshops.
• Promoting the creation of green jobs: This loan will enable the creation of 420 direct and indirect jobs, of which 8 will be on the company’s permanent structure.

Indirect

• Reforestation for impact neutrality: The festival, being based on fire cooking, uses wood. For this reason, they plant trees more than equivalent to the amount of wood consumed at each event and aim to guarantee reforestation every year in excess of the wood purchased and consumed at the festival. To date, over 700 trees have been planted by the Chefs on Fire team in cooperation with Cascais Municipal Council for the Portuguese editions and 300 trees were planted with the Complutense University for the Spanish edition.

LOHAD was founded in 2019 by Gonçalo Castel-Branco, as a channel for sustainable creativity. The company, which currently has around 15 employees, is based in Lisbon.

The promoter creates sustainable entertainment events and positions itself as one of the main national players in the industry. It aims to continue to reposition national gastronomy as a cultural and social tool and to inspire people and companies to behave in a way that is better for their bodies and the planet.

In all its gastronomic projects, LOAHD tries to apply a simple structure as the basis for a larger conversation about who we are, the stories and habits that we care about and maintain - incredible food - that is good for those who consume it, for the community and the planet:

• Good for the community because they choose and promote local producers and stories.
• Good for those who consume, by trying to make customers fall in love with quality, what that represents, and educating them about the importance of their choices.
• Good for the planet because they present a varied diet with minimal environmental and social impact.

With the Presidential project, LOHAD was awarded the prize for best public event in the world (by the BEA Awards), the prize for innovative event by the National Tourism Awards (Expresso and BPI); with Chefs on Fire, the prize for best gastronomic event by the National Tourism Awards (Expresso and BPI); Event of the Year in 2021 by Time Out and Event of the Year by Mesa Marcada. Gonçalo Castel-Branco was, among other awards, classified as one of the 10 best Marketeers in the country by the Clube dos Criativos and honored by the Congress of Cooks for his "contribution to the growth and promotion of Portuguese gastronomy".