Pubs recognised among 2019’s most eco-friendly foodservice businesses
The SRA’s 20 most sustainable businesses
- Artizian Catering, boutique workplace caterer in London and south-east
- The Assemblies Limited, three-site restaurant group in Bristol
- Bouygues at 2 Marsham Street, catering in government building, London
- cafe-ODE, south Devon seaside café
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- The City Farm Café, Bristol city farm café and events space
- Cookery School at Little Portland Street, London
- Farmstand, mostly plant-based restaurants in Covent Garden and Canary Wharf, London
- FoodSpace, workplace caterer with 15-sites across Ireland
- Lucky Beach Café, Brighton beach restaurant
- Redroaster/Lucky Khao, Brighton café by day, Thai barbecue restaurant by night
- Overends Kitchen Restaurant, restaurant on family estate on edge of Dublin
- University of Plymouth
- Poco Tapas Bar, Bristol small plates restaurant
- Relæ, Copenhagen Michelin star restaurant
- Riverford Field Kitchen, organic restaurant on the eponymous Devon farm
- Thyme, Cotswold destination with hotel, restaurant and pub
- The Wheatsheaf, Chilton Foliat, organic pub in Wiltshire
- Where the Light Gets In, Stockport loft restaurant, regarded by some as the UK’s coolest
- Woods Hill Table, New England restaurant with own organic farm
- Young’s Pubs, 150-site pub group
The not-for-profit organisation announced both the finalists for its Food Made Good Awards as well as the Top 20 Food Made Good Sustainable Businesses of the Year, with a number of pubs and operators featuring in both.
Comprising a workplace, university caterers, a city farm café and two beachside restaurants, alongside green representatives from the pub trade, the top 20 list recognises foodservice businesses scored in 10 fields under the headings of sourcing, environment and society.
The highest scoring business from the top 20 will be crowned Food Made Good Business of the Year on 5 November, when the 2019 Food Made Good Award category winners will also be revealed.
Pub prizes
The operator of 150 pubs, Young’s, has not only been listed among 2019’s 20 most sustainable businesses for its riverside pub scheme to replace plastic cups with glass ones, but is a finalist in two of the awards’ sourcing categories for celebrating local and seasonal produce as well as responsibly sourcing fish.
Cotswold destination Thyme – which features a hotel, restaurant and pub – and the Wheatsheaf in Chilton Foliat, Wiltshire, join the operator on the SRA’s 20-strong list, with the latter shortlisted for prizes recognising its sourcing of more veg and better meat as well as its efforts to cut food waste.
The Wiltshire pub has been lauded after taking Sunday roasts off its menu due to meat, vegetable and energy wastage and cutting plastic use by making its own crisps and barring condiments in sachets.
Additionally, London pub – the Roebuck pub in Borough – has been shortlisted for new award ‘One planet, one plate’ for eco-friendly dishes. Meanwhile, Deri Reed, chef-owner of family-run, café-restaurant and bar the Warren in Carmarthen, Wales, is among the finalists in the chef of the year category.
What’s more, pub giant JD Wetherspoon has been shortlisted for two awards in the SRA’s society category for its fair treatment of staff and for taking responsibility to feed people well.
Recognising ‘climate threat’
“The whole world, and kitchens across the UK, are waking up to the climate threat,” according to the SRA’s president Raymond Blanc OBE.
“The Food Made Good Awards are the perfect platform for shining a light on those kitchens and the teams working in them, that are using incredible creativity and taking risks to help their customers make food choices that are good for them and the planet.
“Every chef and restaurateur will take inspiration from this shortlist of dozens of inspiring ideas and initiatives successfully implemented by their industry colleagues.”
