Sustainable Restaurant Association backs climate-friendly foods

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has launched a new initiative called Foodprint to help restaurants and foodservice companies to use more eco-friendly ingredients.

“Realising the environmental costs and potential benefits of the food we buy is key to building a great restaurant business fit for the future,” said SRA CEO Andrew Stephen.

“In recent years we’ve seen a move towards menus that are greener, including more vegetables and, significantly, reduced environmental impact. And while some operators like Zizzi, Leon and Wagamama are reaping the reward, the pace and depth of change has been insufficient.”

To speed up progress the SRA has teamed up with the Cool Food Pledge, run by the World Resources Institute, which aims to see foodservice operators slash their food-related emissions by 25% by 2030.

The SRA added that operators using Foodprint would be able to measure and track the “climate impact of the food they serve” and “support and inspire them in developing plans to sell delicious dishes with smaller climate footprints” and “promote their achievements as leaders in a growing movement.”

Cool Food Pledge director Daniel Vennard said he was “really excited the SRA is working with the UK’s smaller food service operators to join this movement of serving tasty food while slashing food-related emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.”

The initiative was also backed by Professor Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City, University of London. “If we’re going to fix climate change, we have to fix food and that means drastically changing the amount and quality of meat we eat,” he said.

“Chefs and menu-creators have the power and responsibility to shift our eating habits away from meat and dairy and towards more veg-based options. The SRA’s Foodprint programme is a very welcome initiative to help shift the sector at scale towards more planet-friendly menus and positively influence the eating habits of the nation.”

The SRA said several had already succeeded in selling more veg-based dishes, including Leon, which has increased sales of their vegan and vegetarian meal by 21% and 18% respectively, and Wagamama, which has enjoyed a 60% rise in the proportion of customers choosing a vegan option.