Two national shortlistings for catering department

Posted 9 March 2020

Harper Adams University’s Catering Manager David Nuttall has been shortlisted for two national awards.

The Public Sector Catering Awards (formerly the Cost Sector Catering Awards) are open to individuals, teams, companies and organisations including contract caterers operating in a public sector environment.

The shortlist announced on March 4 places David Nuttall among five finalists for each of the University Catering Award and the Sustainability Award.

David said: “It’s a fantastic achievement for the department to be recognised at these prestigious awards. Huge amount of effort from all the team goes into providing the best ethical service we can for all our customers.”

Both shortlistings revolve around the Catering Department’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint while operating four outlets across the campus, including a refectory for 400 catered students, as well as catering for internal and external functions.

“Reducing the environmental impact of our operations has been a key focus for the department and has included removing single use cups, reducing food waste and sourcing meat directly from our farm,” explained David, who is set to act as an expert witness and a council member for the climate commission of HE & FE leaders. The group will report back to the UN climate change summit in Glasgow, in November 2020.

Further efforts in sustainable catering include sending all food waste to the Severn Trent Anaerobic Digestion plant, to be convereted into renewable energy and fertiliser; the use of drinking water from on-campus boreholes – with the water treated on site; and efforts to use local, fairtrade or MSC certified ingredients wherever possible.

The Public Sector Catering Awards winners will be revealed on April 16.