The guide, launched today at Caravan Covent Garden, is aimed primarily at chefs and catering managers and offers practical advice on food preparation, designing healthier meals and menus, and supporting customers to make informed choices.
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It also covers areas including portion sizes, ingredient swaps, healthier cooking methods, calorie labelling, high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) restrictions, nutrition and health claims, and how to avoid misleading or unauthorised claims.
Healthy menus under pressure
UKHospitality said the guide had been developed to give operators accessible support at a time when demand for nutrition and healthy eating continues to increase, while businesses continue to face cost, labour and regulatory pressures.
The trade body said the resource would be particularly useful for SMEs that want to make progress on healthier menus but may not have in house nutrition expertise or the capacity to develop their own guidance.
Speaking at the launch, UKHospitality chief executive Allen Simpson said hospitality was “at the cutting edge” of the nutrition debate, with operators having to respond to changing consumer habits while still protecting the role of eating out as an experience.
He said the guide was designed to offer practical advice on how businesses can improve nutrition “without sacrificing” the demand for hospitality experiences.
“Hospitality businesses have made huge strides to support healthier eating,” he said.
“As a sector, we continue to adapt our offering to support an increasingly health conscious consumer, while maintaining our high standards of delicious food and memorable experiences.
“Our new guide supports those efforts. Crucially, it gives SMEs a go to guide that can support them to make progress across menu and dish design, at a time when resource and cost pressures may have prevented them from doing so.
“I’d like to pay tribute to the members on our Nutrition Group, who have driven this work forward and developed a fantastic resource for hospitality operators.”
Developed by nutritionists
Wan Mak, chair of UKHospitality’s Nutrition Group and head of nutrition and dietetics at Sodexo UK & Ireland, said the guide had been developed by the industry to support operators of all sizes.
Speaking at the launch, she said the guide had been shaped around public health, consumer expectations, regulation and the role hospitality can play in supporting healthier communities.
She said the guide was intended to be practical, simple and grounded in evidence based science, helping chefs and catering managers with menu development, customer choice and regulatory compliance.
A panel discussion at the launch event explored the challenge of making healthier food appealing to customers without making dishes feel restrictive or overly labelled.
Speakers noted that consumers increasingly expect nutrition information, but can be put off when dishes are marketed too explicitly as healthy, vegan or vegetarian.
Diane Camp, food intelligence director at Sodexo, said one of the key challenges for operators was creating nutritious dishes that still feel enticing and relevant to different customer groups.
Sarah Healey, senior company nutritionist at Mitchells & Butlers, said there was often a gap between what customers say they want and what they actually buy.
She said customers often request healthier options in insight work, but this does not always translate into sales, particularly where calorie labelling can lead diners to equate lower calorie dishes with healthier choices.
Caravan founder, chef and director Miles Kirby also addressed the launch, he stated healthier dishes had become an important driver of lunch and breakfast trade, but noted that customer behaviour changed in the evening, when diners were more likely to see eating out as an occasion.
Simpson said this showed customers were making different decisions at different dayparts, with some seeking healthier options at lunch while viewing evening meals as more of a treat or experience.
- The UKHospitality nutrition guide is now available to download, here.