Community is at the heart of what we do

We have been awarded the Sustainable Restaurants Association’s (SRA) highest rating of 3-stars.

To accelerate change towards an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector, the SRA works with businesses from across food service, as well as like-minded industry bodies, campaign groups and businesses that supply the sector through their signature programme, Food Made Good. This rating is the world’s largest and most comprehensive sustainability audit for Food Service Businesses. It allows businesses to take a 360° view of their actions, validate their hard work, benchmark against a broad community of businesses, and set goals for the future.

Ten key areas of sustainability are divided under three pillars – Sourcing, Society and Environment- reflecting the need to focus on the food that is sourced and served, as well as the impact that has on the people growing, rearing, cooking and serving it, as well, of course, on the planet.

Committed to Climate Net Zero by 2030

The climate emergency is the biggest challenge of our lifetime and food has a key role to play in global emissions. We are calling for a food revolution to fight for our planet.

We want to work with our partners to improve our business and be a catalyst for wider change. Our target is to reach Climate Net Zero emissions by 2030 in the right way, whilst remaining dedicated to helping people live healthier, happier and more productive lives.

Our vision is to match our passion and quality for food and service with our care for the planet. We are the first in the industry to publish a Climate Net Zero plan, which will help us to deliver our ambition to create a sustainable food system.

Climate Action Roadmap

We have the opportunity to enhance the wellbeing of and deliver services to make everyone’s day that little bit brighter.

We are committed to doing all of this responsibly. Nurturing our environment, positively contributing to the communities we inhabit, taking an active role in creating healthier food for healthier lives and ensuring we manage essential resources carefully, source sustainably and ruthlessly reduce waste.

Sustainability

After evaluating macroeconomic trends, insights from our team, clients, consumers and industry experts, we have developed a sustainability strategy which takes into consideration the forces that are impacting the global food system, our industry and our operations.

We have chosen to focus on the three priority areas where we can make a greater positive impact to both our business and wider society: health and wellbeing, the environment and our supply chain and the wider community. With targeted actions where we can make an enhanced impact.

Our sustainability pledges

Sustainable procurement

We always consider the social, economic and environmental impact alongside the typical price and quality considerations as we want to ensure a more positive impact in the wider world.

Find our about our procurement

Health and Wellbeing

Ways to be Well is our holistic health and wellness programme created with the planet in mind. It is based on the wellness pillars of nutrition, activity, mindfulness, mental health and sleep.

Ways to be Well website

Waste Knot

Over 7% of what’s grown in the UK never makes it to a plate according to WRAP. That is more than £1.2 billion worth of perfectly decent fruit and vegetables going to waste and landfill each year.

The squandering of nature’s bounty drives us crazy which is why we work with Waste Knot and their network of farmers to use unwanted large or small pieces of fruit and vegetables within our seasonal menus.

Waste Knot harvests all the fruit and veg that do not meet supermarket trading standards, due to them being overgrown or in abundance and repurposes them to a variety of our businesses that are more than happy to purchase them and use them in seasonal menus. This avoid the food from ending up in landfills.

With our on-going partnership with Waste Knot we will help wage this war against waste.

Find out more

FoodSteps

We are proud to have partnered with the FoodSteps.

Foodsteps uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions fromfood across its life: from production on the farm, to processing, packaging and transportation;through to consumption and end-of-life.

The A-E ratings categorise food according to its ‘carbon intensity’ (carbon emissions per kilogramof food produced).

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Partnerships with purpose

Our partnerships with purpose have enabled us to bring to life industry-leading initiatives, that not only align with our values but help minimise our environmental impact and 'do some good' in our communities, below are some of examples of our partnerships:

Carbon-free deliveries with Ernie

‘Ernie’ is a refurbished 1963 electric milk float developed by Hej Coffee that we use to deliver packaging and emission-free coffee beans across London. ‘Ernie’ provides a unique, fun, and environmentally friendly delivery option that is already making a difference to the coffee packaging waste problem.

Approximately 300 million single-use non-recyclable coffee bags are being produced and discarded every year in the UK. The Hej coffee round eliminates the need for single-use packaging by delivering freshly roasted coffee in reusable containers. Already in place at several sites, to date this incentive has managed to prevent over 15,000 single-use coffee bags going to landfill.

Hej Sustainability Report 2022

Find out more

Off the Streets

This pioneering traineeship is designed to give young people their first step into hospitality, with those who successfully complete the 10 weeks placement given the opportunity to join Restaurant Associates via a Barista Apprenticeship.

In collaboration with HEJ Coffee, Catch 22, Step 22 and Off the Streets, our kick start program host cohorts aged between 16-24. To date over 12 people have successfully completed the course and gained employment offers within the business.

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Refettorio Felix

Refettorio Felix serves meals to vulnerable people in a home-from-home environment and turns 1,280 kilos of food, that would otherwise be destined for landfill, into delicious lunches. Over 1,000 vulnerable people benefit from the services of the centre each year.

Restaurant Associates have assisted Refettorio Felix for over four years by donating excess food supplies and volunteering at the centre, we have also supported Refettorio Felix in designing ‘Step Up to The Plate’ which helps individuals at the centre to learn more about nutrition, cooking and also encourages a pre-employability programme for those potentially interested in working in hospitality.

The programme includes modules on culinary skills, health and safety, barista and front-of-house training, as well as CV writing and interview skills.

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Fare Share

We are proud partners of Fareshare, the biggest food bank operation of its kind in the UK. FareShare operates a national network of charitable food redistributors, made up of 18 independent organisations. They take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to more than 10,500 frontline charities and community groups.

As part of Compass Group UK & Ireland we continuously assist this incredible charity through food and beverage donations from our venues. Last year alone we donated over £500,000 in food donations.

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The Outside Project

The Outside Project is a homeless and crisis shelter as well as community centre that assists people from the LGBTIQ+ community who feel endangered or are homeless.

Restaurant Associates has partnered with Hej Coffee to create the ‘Caffe Queero’ blend that does more than taste good. With every bag sold, a percentage of the profits goes to this remarkable charity.

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Foodinate

Foodinate is a multi-award-winning social enterprise, tackling food poverty and homelessness in the UK. Restaurant Associates have teamed up to make sure every Blend 53 coffee sold gives a little something back to the local community, on a national scale.

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OLIO

OLIO connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. This could be food nearing its sell-by date in local stores or, even on a domestic level, spare home-grown vegetables, bread from your baker, or the groceries in the fridge that could go to waste.

OLIO is successfully used in several our sites nationwide, allowing us to better manage our food waste and whilst helping our communities at the same time.

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The Felix Project

A food redistribution charity in London fighting food waste and hunger.

They rescue good, surplus food from the food industry that cannot be sold and would otherwise go to waste. The food is high-quality and nutritious, including a great proportion of fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, salads, meat and fish. They collect or receive food from over 539 suppliers, including from some of our Restaurant Associates sites. This food is then sorted and delivered to almost 1000 front-line charities, primary schools and holiday programmes in London. That way, food that would have gone to waste is reaching vulnerable people, homeless, people with mental health or those who simply cannot afford to buy regular, healthy food.

Find out more

Dignity at Work

Our commitment to fairness and inclusion runs through all that we do. We want to attract and retain a workforce that reflects and represents diverse communities. We want to ensure that as a business, diversity and differences are actively celebrated and alongside this, we are fully committed to eliminating discrimination.

Real Living Wage

Restaurant Associates is a proud member of the Living Wage Foundation, and we promote the Real Living Wage through their Recognised Service Provider scheme.

Paying a Living Wage makes a positive difference to the wellbeing and dignity of our colleagues, to our client’s reputation in their communities, to customer service and as a critical enabler for a fairer society, helping increase social mobility for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Mental Health First Aiders

We have made a commitment to ensuring that our teams have real tools to enable them to support themselves and each other.

Mental health and mental wellbeing are a real focus for our community, and we have several schemes to assist our associates with mental health issues alongside certified mental health first aiders in each site.

Equal Opportunities

Our Equal Opportunities Policy covers the nine protected characteristics of the UK Equality Act and is designed to ensure that current and potential employees and workers are offered the same opportunities regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

You Matter

Our “You Matter” campaign is putting mental health front and centre of our conversations, with the ambition to create a culture of openness and acceptance around mental health, as well as provide the tools to support each other's mental wellbeing.

Get In Touch

We are humble and respectful of the timeless values of fantastic food, passionate people and a desire to add value. We believe that together, we can create great things.

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