In 2022 the university set in motion a fresh approach to our catering strategy, looking at expanding our offerings whilst embracing more sustainable choices, creating and offering more diverse food options and looking for opportunities to work more closely with the local community through our supply chain.

This approach applied to both our retail units and in Halls catering.

Broadening product range

Already we have made some significant changes to broaden our product range – opening Saijokai (our in-house pan-Asian food concept) and The Filthy Vegan (a small local company) and expanding our franchise options with Subway, Costa and Starbucks.

We have also joined the Too Good to Go initiative to support reduced food waste and have introduced more variety and plant-based options to our Halls menus via the food concept ‘Menus of Change’.

Kosher offer

This year we are delighted to be able to offer Kosher food to our Jewish students in our Halls of Residence as part of our expanding food options. We have partnered with the local Chabad of Nottingham, Rabbinical couple Rabbi Mendy and Brocha Lent, who have set up a commercial kitchen on their home grounds. Mike Lear (Food and Beverage Manager) along with chefs Matthew Carroll and Ashley Collishaw are working with Brocha’s recipes and preparing Kosher food once a week for our Halls.

We hope to be able to expand the Kosher food offer to the PuriTea concept on the Portland Food court. PuriTea is our new in-house brand offering delicious speciality hot and cold teas. 

We were runners up in the UK Udine Food Awards with PuriTea, who also sell freshly decorated doughnuts, homemade subs, salads and a selection of Kosher retail lines.  Our next step will be to introduce some of Brocha’s Kosher recipes at PuriTea.

Sustainable choices

Using additional funding, we have invested in more crockery to reduce disposables, such as in Portland Food Court and on Jubilee Campus.

We have also used this funding to drastically reduce single-use items, such as baking parchment and clingfilm in Halls, replaced with reusable silicon baking sheets and lids.

To encourage staff and students to think more about the sustainability of their food choices, we have also introduced carbon labelling in Halls, Saijokai and Mama’s.

We undertook a Food Made Good rating and achieved two stars, to recognise all the progress we have made in sustainability, which captures our ambitions to source more locally and seasonally, provide more plant-based options, reduce waste and be more efficient with our energy and water usage.

Community

We are proud to introduce “Change Please” to Hallward Library and the Aspire café at Jubilee.  By buying this coffee bean we will be supporting a local branch of the charity, where 100% of their profits go into giving people experiencing homelessness a living wage job, housing, training, onwards opportunities and a fresh shot at a life – all made possible by your support when you buy a coffee.

Earlier this month we announced the investment we are making to refurbish and refresh our catering units across campus.

We are also exploring what we can do to make our spaces more accessible to our staff and students with neurodiversities.