Cateys 2026: Sustainable Business Award – Levy UK & Ireland

This year’s winner has taken a comprehensive look at every aspect of its business, which serves more than 14 million meals a year across 60 iconic venues, including Aston Villa Football Club, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wimbledon.

 

As Levy UK & Ireland operates at such great scale, it understood how it could make a big impact. Food is the second‑largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, so the company realised early on that incremental change would not be sufficient to meet the scale of the challenge or its responsibility as a market leader.

 

The contract caterer launched a five-year transformation strategy to embed sustainability into every operational decision, at scale and with measurable impact. Its approach moved beyond short‑term initiatives, hard‑wiring sustainability into how menus are designed, food is sourced, teams are trained and performance is measured.

 

The strategy guided year‑on‑year menu changes as well as improving supplier standards, operational efficiencies and waste‑prevention initiatives across all venues, enabling consistent progress in complex, high‑volume hospitality environments.

 

Levy partnered with Foodsteps to measure emissions in line with the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain Standard, providing granular insight into where change would have the greatest impact. Take wild British venison as an example. The meat delivered 85% lower CO₂e per kilogram than farmed beef, but because guests are not as familiar with it and therefore less likely to order it, Levy used the ‘Deer We Go’ campaign, masterclasses and whole‑carcass butchery training, led by chef Brett Graham, to equip chefs with the skills to maximise yield, minimise waste, offer value and ultimately deliver on the plate for guests.

 

This along with other menu items, such as a 50:50 beef and mushroom burger with 33% lower emissions, meant it delivered a 71.5% reduction in absolute emissions from beef burgers (from 4,855 to 1,383 tonnes CO₂e), a 16.4% reduction in total meat emissions and a 7.9% reduction in dairy emissions between FY2019 and FY2024.

 

Levy moved 90% of its flour spend to Wildfarmed’s regenerative agriculture, and moved to plant-based desserts at more than 60% of its partner venues. It also removed beef from menus at the O2, which contributed to a 37% reduction in total emissions.

 

Other sustainable initiatives included tackling food waste, digitising event briefing packs – saving around one million sheets of paper annually – replacing plastic‑lined packaging with seaweed‑based alternatives and introducing 8.4 million reusable cups. As a result, judges said it showed a “great demonstration of sustainability and business success at scale”.

 

In addition, it has actively interrogated its supply chain, completing more than 20 supplier visits in 2024, leading to mandated changes including 100% cage‑free eggs, deforestation‑free soy, Marine Stewardship Council‑rated fish and a ban on air‑freighted fruit and vegetables. Meanwhile, collaboration with brewers has achieved per‑pint emissions reductions of 17%–79%. And to ensure buy-in, 20% of general managers’ bonuses are linked to sustainability KPIs.

 

The combined approach has clearly driven extra business, with Levy growing 65% between 2019-2024, proving that clients are choosing to partner with providers that can deliver measurable Scope 3 emissions reductions.

 

Levy’s journey demonstrates that large‑scale hospitality can lead on climate action while driving commercial success, creating value for clients, colleagues, suppliers, communities and the planet we all call home.

 

What the judges said

“A mature, well-structured submission that is a masterclass in food and packaging emissions reduction. Great work at scale.” Sue Williams

 

“Helping people understand the pluses of using venison is fantastic, and it was good to see an understanding of regenerative agriculture.” Gareth Rhodes

 

“Love to see the innovation happening at Levy, with a particular highlight being their work with venison. Rather than waiting around for the customer to change, it is taking action on menus anyway.” Juliane Caillouette-Noble

 

The shortlist

• Houston & Hawkes
• Levy UK & Ireland
• The catering team, Liverpool FC
• Montcalm Collection
• Royal Lancaster London
• The catering team, the University of Manchester

The judges

• Claire Atkins, Sodexo
• Juliane Caillouette-Noble, the Sustainable Restaurant Association
• Mark Chapman, Zero Carbon Forum
• Danny Pecorelli, Exclusive Collection
• Gareth Rhodes, FarmED
• Sue Williams, Positive Hospitality