We believe in local, seasonal food that doesn’t cost the earth

Sustainability has been a buzz-word for the last few years but at Kate’s Kitchen we make a real effort to fully involve our staff and place it at the heart of our daily business.

We believe we can do well by doing good.

Reducing waste, choosing suppliers carefully, avoiding plastic, and recycling everything are just a few of the ways we are trying to make a difference. 

We offer high-quality catering with a low environmental footprint

We work responsibly with all of our clients and suppliers to ensure that the very best service is provided with minimal impact on our surroundings.

We are proud to have been part of the Bristol Good Food 2030 Action Plan

The way all of us produce, buy, cook, eat and throw away food in Bristol is important. It impacts our health, our communities, and our economy, and contributes to the climate and ecological emergencies the planet faces today.

By taking action for good food as a city, we can build a food system that is good for Bristol, and lead other cities in the UK and across the globe in co-creating a food system that’s good for everyone. Check out the Action Plan that we are part of. https://bristolgoodfood.org/action-plans/

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We are proud to have been part of the successful application for Bristol as a ‘Gold Sustainable Food City’ 

In May 2021 the UK partnership programme, Sustainable Food Places awarded Bristol a ‘Gold Sustainable Food City’ (only the second city in the UK to achieve this).  We are delighted with this award because it recognises the positive work undertaken across the city’s food system and brings about the potential for positive change for Bristol’s communities. Check out their website – https://www.goingforgoldbristol.co.uk/how-are-we-doing/organisations/

This award is a positive example of the whole city rallying together and taking action.  But there is still some way to go.  We intend to continue to be part of this collective energy calling for food that is good for people, communities and the planet.  We are proud to be involved in Bristol’s growing ‘good food’ movement where the aim is to buy better, with a focus on food equality.  Our aim is to contribute towards a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable food system for the city and its citizens.  

We believe that food matters 

We pledge to operate as a sustainable business, to involve the community as much as possible, and to reduce our food waste.

Where possible we distribute surplus food and focus on fresh produce and support local gardening projects.  We are determined to continue improving when it comes to the food we buy and make.  We want to do all we can to support a joined-up and holistic approach to food in the city.   

We are always looking at ways to develop a wider range of plant-based menus. We create menus that look to promote good health and wellness.  Nutrition is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle – as sustainable caterers the health of our diners is central to our menus.

Kate’s Kitchen shows it’s possible to offer quality catering and carefully considering its environmental footprint. Here are some of the simple and effective steps we take at Kate’s Kitchen:

Sourcing local, organic produce and cooking with the seasons

By buying locally and organic whenever possible, and cooking with the seasons, we can reduce the food miles of our business, help protect our soils and develop closer relationships with local suppliers in order to source the best products. We do this by:

  • Creating menus based on the season.
  • Meeting and having a relationship with all our local suppliers.
  • Our dried goods such as flour, oats, sugar etc are sourced from Essential Trading – they have a ‘no air freight policy’ on all their goods.
  • Ensuring all our meat is free range and local. Beef, pork and lamb is pasture fed.
  • Buying organic produce when possible – all our fruit is organic on our working lunches.
  • Sourcing as much of the produce we use as possible from local suppliers.

Reducing transport and carbon emissions

Carbon emissions has a massive negative impact on the environment. As a business we do the following things:

  • All our transport vehicles are 100% electric, and our electricity supplier is Ecotricity.
  • In 2022 we had 34 solar panels installed at our head office kitchen.
  • We cook with 100% electric (supplied by Ecotricity), using induction hobs and electric fan ovens.
  • All our lighting is LED.
  • 80% of our workforce cycle or walk to work.
  • We work with local suppliers to reduce food miles.
  • We are installing solar panels in our unit, reducing our electric usage.

Encouraging a vegetarian diet

  • Offer a 10% discount if all vegetarian or vegan menu options are selected.
  • Ensure half of our offerings are veggie or vegan.
  • Add pulses, lentils and vegetables to our meat dishes to reduce meat consumption.

Reducing food waste

Food waste is a huge problem in the catering sector, but there are lots of ways to tackle this. We:

  • Educate and train kitchen staff on what can be reused.
  • Redistribute surplus food to homeless charities.
  • Put any food that cannot be consumed into our food waste recycling, which is used to generate renewable energy

Reducing other waste

Packaging is also a big challenge for caterers, and we try hard to reduce the single-use products we use. We do this by:

  • Offering clients reusable containers rather than cling film as much as possible.
  • All our cardboard, plastic, tins, paper and food waste gets recycled.
  • Talking to our suppliers to ensure they use minimal packaging.

Other bits we do to help

  • We have planted one tree per employee – part of Replant Bristol project.
  • All our food is made on site with care, love and attention.