WE ARE AN ETHICAL, ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS BUSINESS WHO CARE DEEPLY ABOUT OUR TEAM, THE ENVIRONMENT AND DOING THE BEST JOB WE POSSIBLY CAN THROUGH SUSTAINABLE CATERING.
Sustainability and a commitment to minimise the environmental impact of location catering sits at the heart of our business and informs everything we do. Sustainability, fairness, quality and fun are our core values which we embody through every aspect of our organisation. From how we treat our staff & customers; across our sustainable catering supply chain and throughout our working practices we hold those values as true.
We can provide the carbon value of every dish as standard, taking into account associated food miles, provenance of indredients and production method.
All of the meat we use is ‘Tractor assured’ all of the eggs we use are free range. Where possible we source locally from our extensive database of suppliers across Wales and the UK. Our wide network has been developed over the last 10 years and is made of people we know and trust and are assured of their farming practices. We engage with local suppliers so we are able minimise the food miles, diesel and oil consumption in our transportation which has a knock-on effect to the environment.
Our service goes above and beyond exceptional quality food and seamless logistics. We work in collaboration to minimise the environmental impact of your project, presenting options that work for your unique event and location, and to fit your budget. We believe in sharing our knowledge and deep understanding of sustainable catering to find a solution that works for you in making your food provision as sustainable as possible.
If you want to learn more about how to make your shoot or event more sustainable, download our free Sustainable Catering Guide and Checklist, for everything you need to know, and the questions to ask when selecting a catering provider.
We are proud of so many things that make The Occasional Kitchen unique. We are the only location catering provider in the UK to voluntarily pay to offset carbon emissions and we are the only sustainable catering provider to the TV & film industry who is a member of The Real Living Wage Foundation. We believe in fair payment for our staff, and as a result we have the best, most loyal and experienced team in the business.
It goes without saying that we use no single use plastics, all of our food is freshly prepared by our team of chefs and nothing is packaged or processed. All of our meat is tractor assured, all eggs are free range, and we use locally sourced and ethical produce from our wide network of growers and producers wherever possible.
We have a variety of compostable and sustainable serve ware options such as veg ware, Bagasse or reusables and the cleaning products we use, where possible, are environmentally conscious brands. This is not tokenism – it’s who we are. We have robust waste management practices in place for the disposal of waste, recycling of waste or redistribution of surplus food.
We use absolutely no single use plastic in our sustainable catering business and minimise food wastage. Any surplus is redistributed to local food banks and waste is disposed of via carefully selected partners for green composting solutions. The Occasional Kitchen currently offsets 30% of the carbon we produce and are on track to achieve our goal of 100% carbon offset by 2026.
In terms of energy consumption, we work closely with our clients to look at generator versus battery power, and source staff locally to reduce fuel and energy impact of travel and accommodation.
We’re passionate about the wider positive societal impacts through sustainable catering and support many charities and community initiatives.
During the Covid pandemic the team behind The Occasional Kitchen established charitable endeavours to support struggling people in Frome, Somerset and for the NHS in Bristol. These were operated entirely not for profit.
“Feed Our Key Workers” was a scheme we offered entirely for free to the NHS in Bristol, where we operated a socially distanced, subsidised canteen for staff, for 9 months in order to support those health care heroes in a time of crisis. No profit was taken for this venture – it was privately funded for very personal reasons to support to those people struggling through exceedingly difficult times.
Following news reports that children who would normally qualify for free school meals, were being provided with sub-standard food during the Covid pandemic, The Occasional Kitchen took action. We established a business to feed children who qualify for free school meals, during the holidays.
Always.Cooking provides food to holiday camps throughout Wiltshire, through the FUEL programme. Serving up to 2000 meals per day from a central base, the food is nutrient dense and of exceptional quality. The project continues to this day and is operated entirely not for profit.
Throughout the life of the business, The Occasional Kitchen has been proud to support several charities, food banks and local environmental projects some of which are featured below with links to their websites:
