Creature comfort
Ethical food has been on supermarket shelves for several years, but contract caterers are now finding a growing demand from clients. Banning shark's fin soup and cod, using wildlife-friendly farms and food that follows the RSPCA's Freedom Food guidelines are just some of the ways in which they are being asked to support the ethical food movement.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was made aware of the ethical aspect to catering through pressure from staff at its headquarters in Bedford, who wanted only tuna caught in a dolphin-friendly manner used in the staff restaurant where Catering Partnership has the £200,000 contract.
"Our staff are conservation-minded on a wider plain than simply the issue of birds," says David Waller, head of ethical services for the RSPB. "There is a general move to try and encourage people to think more about the environment and we want to do this ourselves and make the minimum impact on our surroundings. We're gradually building an ethical policy but we have to balance idealism with what we can afford."
Other steps taken by Catering Partnership at the request of the RSPB include the introduction of other white fish as alternatives to cod, which is now considered an endangered species, a ban on all wildfowl, and the use of free-range eggs, turkeys and organic foods where possible. The staff restaurant serves 80% of the 460 people on-site, with an average lunchtime spend of £1.63 on main meals such as roasts.
For the first time the society has given Sunderland farm on the island of Islay permission to use its logo as an endorsement of the ethical way the cattle are farmed. Beef from the farm is now served in the staff restaurant, where customers are prepared to pay an 10% extra for it.
The society made the endorsement because the farm, which adjoins an RSPB reserve, has a field-by-field management plan enhancing all forms of wildlife, with low use of chemicals, and follows an animal welfare scheme. Livestock travel only 10 miles to the abattoir and the local butcher lives next door to the farm. As well as 120 cattle, the farm has 700 ewes and the RSPB is considering using the lamb in its staff restaurant, although Waller admits it would be too expensive to sell on a regular basis.
Going 100% organic is another of Waller's aims, but he faces the usual problems of high cost and the fact that 75% of organic produce comes from abroad, which contravenes the RSPB's aim of buying locally where possible. "It's a slow process, but we keep trying to keep the balance, working at it quietly rather than tub-thumping," he says.
Another charity looking at the ethical side of food is the new RSPCA headquarters in Horsham, West Sussex, where Sodexho gained the three-year catering, cleaning, vending and security contract worth £250,000 last September. A contractual condition was that it used the Freedom Food RSPCA welfare labelling scheme set up in 1994 to help improve animal welfare standards. It provides stockists of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products which meet the RSPCA's welfare standards. Until recently, Freedom Food was aimed mainly at supermarkets, but the society now wants to provide a framework for caterers to help them source products.
"Only a few of the suppliers in the Freedom Food scheme are on our nominated list," explains Joan Carville, operations director for South region. "One or two of our existing suppliers were willing to help us, but the majority were not. We had to take most Freedom Food companies on specially and operate on a cash-on-delivery basis, which goes against the grain of the company. It also means we can't offer the client the same discount, but the RSPCA realises this and accepts it. This is a first for us and personally I'd like to try to put it into other units, but companies are driven by cost, and not ethical policy."
People, too
It's not just animals that consumers are concerned about. The ethical treatment of people in food production is also being addressed through the Fair Trade movement. Fair Trade tea, coffee and chocolate are being used by a large number of contractors.
Charlton House launched Coffeeworks 18 months ago as a total Fair Trade option to regular coffee bars. Uptake has been slower than expected, but three Foreign Office sites recently went over completely to Fair Trade products. Fair Trade teas and coffees have been introduced at the RSPB alongside regular tea and coffee: "Fair Trade products are 15-20% more expensive, so we try not to dictate policy but offer alternatives," Tony Coombes, Catering Partnership's operations manager, says.
Eurest, part of the Compass group, provides Fair Trade coffee for all staff drinks stations at the Reading headquarters of its client, Worldcom. Says Worldcom UK facilities manager, Marjorie Kenny: "It is important to us as employers to provide organic and Fair Trade produce for staff where we can. The coffee we use through Eurest at points across the building, is not only of very good quality, but we can be sure that producers have been treated fairly during the manufacture process."
Eurest also provides bean-to-cup organic coffee in Worldcom's 400-seat staff restaurant, but Fair Trade coffee has not always hit the spot. At Wessex Water's operations centre in Bath, where Avenance does the catering, it was given the lowest rating by a tasting panel and not used. However, Avenance looks carefully at all suppliers. Its butcher is EC-licensed, so all produce is farm assured, although this does not necessarily guarantee the animals' welfare.
Menus are planned around the season to use locally grown produce. The weekly special is a dish using either organic or free-range ingredients. "We are continually developing our menus and aim to offer more free-range and organic foods and, where possible, more Fair Trade products," says catering manager Mary Turner.
One of the more unusual ethical bans was made by Birmingham-based Redcliffe Catering, which outlawed shark's fin soup from its Banqueting specialist Chinese menu in protest at the wasteful and often cruel methods of finning.
But while most contractors would like to support ethical food, the cost is often too high for customers. As one contractor says: "Ethical and organic food is at the same stage vegetarianism was 20 years ago. Let's hope demand and awareness bring costs down."
Contacts
Catering Partnership
Tel: 0116 2642000www.catering-partnership.co.uk
Contracts: 60
Turnover: £7.5m
Staff: 360
Sodexho
Tel: 020 8763 1212www.sodexho.co.uk
Contracts: 3,800
Turnover: just over £1b
Staff: 55,000
Gavin Doyle, Sunderland Farm, Islay
Tel: 01496 850483
E-mail: info@farmingforbirds.com
Web site: www.farmingforbirds.com
RSPCA Freedom Food
Tel: 0870 444 3127
