Plastics
Single-use plastics, banned early
We were one of the first catering businesses to ban single-use plastics from our events, and the same rule travels with every delivery. If it only gets used once, it does not get to be plastic.
Sustainability
Thirty-five years of doing this properly
Sustainability, community and connection have sat at the heart of this business for 35 years, long before anyone asked caterers about their footprint. This page sets out plainly how we source, cook, pack and deliver, and where we are still pushing.
The numbers behind every order
35 yearswith sustainability, community and connection at the heart of the business
90%of our suppliers within three miles of our East London kitchen
100%electric delivery fleet on every morning run
2030our target for a zero-waste operation
Six commitments we cook by
These are not this year's initiatives. Most of them have been running for a decade or more, and every delivery that leaves the kitchen is shaped by all six.
Suppliers
Local, and loyal to it
90% of our suppliers sit within three miles of our East London kitchen, and many of those partnerships have run for 30 years. Local sourcing means traceability, better quality and fewer road miles under every menu.
30 yrsour longest supplier partnerships
Surplus
Surplus feeds people
Through our partnership with Plan Zheroes, surplus food is donated rather than binned. Over the past two years that has meant thousands of meals for people across London.
1000sof meals donated across London
Serveware
Compostable for a decade
We have served on Vegware biodegradable and compostable serveware for 10 years. Hackney Council composts it along with our food waste, and the compost goes back into local green spaces.
10 yearson compostable serveware
Delivery
Every run is electric
Our delivery fleet is 100% electric, and orders go out on a single consolidated round each morning rather than a stream of one-off couriers. Lunch lands before midday without a tailpipe in sight.
100%electric delivery fleet
Menus
Seasonal, Fairtrade, organic
Menus are built on fresh seasonal ingredients only, with Fairtrade-certified partners and organic produce from ethical suppliers. When a season ends, the menu changes with it.
A closer look
Three miles, thirty years
Nine out of ten of our suppliers are within a three-mile radius of our East London kitchen, and many have worked with us for 30 years. That closeness buys traceability, quality and a fraction of the CO2 of a national supply chain, and it makes sustainability a shared project: our fish supplier, for one, shreds and recycles the polystyrene its deliveries arrive in so the packaging goes round again instead of to landfill.
Seasonal only, cooked that morning
The menu is built on fresh seasonal ingredients only, from Fairtrade-certified partners and organic produce grown by ethical suppliers. Chefs cook each morning against the orders actually in, so what lands on your desk was in the pan a few hours earlier and almost nothing is made on the off-chance. When a crop finishes, the menu moves on rather than the food miles going up.
Nothing wasted, nothing plastic
Single-use plastics were banned from our service years ago, and for the last decade orders have gone out on Vegware compostable serveware that Hackney Council composts with our food waste for local green spaces. Surplus food goes to Plan Zheroes, which has turned it into thousands of meals across London over the past two years. And the whole lot travels on a 100% electric fleet, one consolidated round, delivered before midday.
The road to zero waste by 2030
The goal is a zero-waste operation by 2030, with a net zero ambition behind it. Plenty is already done; this is the honest list of what is left.
This year
Keep the count honest
- Weigh and log food waste at the end of every week, delivery orders included
- Move the last packaging lines onto compostable or recyclable fibre
- Publish our supplier list, three-mile radius and all
Next year
Take the flames out
- Begin eliminating open-flame gas from our kitchens
- Extend returnable trays to every standing weekly order
- Report waste and fleet figures publicly, good months and bad
By 2030
Zero waste, full stop
- A zero-waste operation across the kitchen and the delivery round
- Kitchens running without open-flame gas
- Every line compostable, returnable or recyclable, with single-use plastic staying banned
The 2030 goal is a commitment we track in the open. We publish progress as we make it, the slow parts included.
Ask us where anything comes from
After 35 years, most of our suppliers are on first-name terms. If you want to know how a dish is sourced or how your order is packed, just ask and we will tell you straight.
Get in touch