Gather & Gather, Mitie’s catering business, has secured the maximum possible Three Star Sustainability Champion rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA).
On its first accreditation in 2014 Gather & Gather had achieved a Two Star rating and has now seen its score move up by 11% in the past twelve months to meet one of its key sustainability objectives – achieving the coveted SRA three stars.
Since the Gather & Gather rebrand in 2012, sustainability has been a priority for business, underpinning its core values and its commitment to integrating a sustainable culture. The business committed to achieving the maximum three-star rating to ensure it had the independent accreditation to back its argument that sustainability was not about bland corporate sentiment and PR spin, but actually ingrained into the day-to-day operations of the business.
The results of the detailed assessment by the SRA across 14 key areas of sustainability bear this out. Gather & Gather did particularly well in the critical measurement of healthy eating and treating people fairly, (employee welfare) scoring 100%. The business also scored highly in community engagement (99%), waste management (87%), water efficiency (100%) and use of workplace resources (81%).
Specifically, Gather & Gather has implemented projects to reduce waste, maximise recycling and increase its commitment to charitable programmes such as Life Water’s Drop 4 Drop campaign.
The new three-star rating vindicates the hard work of Gather & Gather’s Sustainability Working Group (SWG) and the team’s overall commitment to an ethical approach to food service. It also recognises that is not just possible for a sustainable business to be a commercially viable business, but it can deliver outstanding food and gain the respect and support of its customers, peers and their respective end users as well.
“We have pursued this target relentlessly since creating the Gather & Gather brand and this totally backs up our arguments and proves that our vision for the food service sector and our own food values are on the right track,” said Allister Richards, Managing Director of Gather & Gather. “The SWG team has done a brilliant job since our first SRA rating and I think we’ve proved that sustainability has to be a core value for everyone in the food service sector.”
Managing Director of the SRA, Mark Linehan said: “We take the very greatest pride in our members who are committed to continuous improvement and then implement positive changes to achieve it. Gather & Gather is an outstanding example of this – introducing a number of initiatives across all areas of the business, most notably in the company’s efforts to reduce waste, support the community and treat staff fairly.”
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For further information, contact:
Lauren Hepburn, Investor and Public Relations Manager, Mitie Group plc
T:+44 20 3123 8720 E:lauren.hepburn@mitie.com
John Telling, Corporate Affairs Director, Mitie Group plc
T:+44 20 3123 8673 E: john.telling@mitie.com
