Green Kitchen Standard

We've created the Green Kitchen Standard, which recognises caterers that are making positive steps to sustainably manage their energy, water and waste. 

For customers this means eating somewhere that you know are going further to ensure they minimise their environmental impact. Caterers must prove their environmental credentials and provide a clear point of difference to set their service apart from the rest, which can mean cost savings as well as aligning with energy, water and waste requirements of the Defra Plan for Public Procurement and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Take a look at some of our award holders.

Some of the many key benefits in achieving the Green Kitchen Standard include

Bulb  Enhancing reputation
• Provides comprehensive and credible reassurance to customers, staff and stakeholders
• Demonstrates a commitment to sustainable catering across a wide set of criteria

Thumbs Up  Delivering efficiencies
• Provides critical input to evaluating current operational and environmental practices
• Helps identify opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs

Wind Turbine  Facilitating compliance
• Supports compliance with procurement requirements and helps in tendering for new and existing contracts
• Offers an independent verification standard that aligns with Defra’s Balanced Scorecard

Meeting the standard

We understand that all catering operations are different, so the Green Kitchen Standard has been designed to be flexible and only assess areas a caterer has control over. Caterers are assessed on a points based system. There are some mandatory standards for caterers to meet and a variety of other steps to be taken to score points to meet the standard. Find out more.

Did you know

Did you know? From 2017, all of central Government will commit to use the Plan for Public Procurement’s Balanced Scorecard when procuring catering. The wider public sector, such as schools and hospitals, will be 'encouraged and expected' to use the Balanced Scorecard. The Green Kitchen Standard will help you to meet the mandatory criteria for resource efficiency and should ensure a score of good or higher. If combined with our Food for Life Served Here Award, which focuses on food provenance and supply chain, this new scheme is the first and only to provide a ‘one stop shop’ verification that aligns across all areas of DEFRA’s Balanced Scorecard. Find out more about Food for Life Served Here.