New qualification for sustainable caterers
The Nationwide Caterers Association have introduced the first ever online ‘sustainability in catering’ training course. The training has been created by the Sustainable Restaurant Association in partnership with the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), and accredited by City & Guilds. As major sports venues and music festivals are increasingly taking the sustainability of their food seriously and expecting caterers to respond to this, it makes business sense for all UK venues and festivals to make it a pre-requisite for their caterers to undertake sustainability training. This training scheme "provides the necessary reassurances for venues and festivals to match their values with those of customers". Event organisers are being increasingly asked to consider the environmental impact of their events, from waste going to landfill to energy and water usage. The industry is being asked to take responsibility for the overall impact their businesses have, including that caused by traders at events.In September 2012 the SRA and NCASS jointly launched the first ever online training course for sustainability in catering. They believe this is the most convenient and effective way of providing help and advice to the entire industry, at the lowest cost possible to the end user. The training course is designed to raise awareness of the three core areas of sustainability:(1) Environmental practices(2) Sourcing food(3) Social responsibilityAnd here's the good bit - all UK festivals who decide to ask caterers to provide evidence of the sustainability training will be awarded the SRA Festivals Partner status and receive free national PR. Sunrise Celebration are the first UK festival to agree to support the SRA/NCASS sustainability training and recommend the training to potential caterers at their event. While it is not compulsory for caterers to complete the course, it will be recommended and should help them to succeed in the tender process. Sunrise Festival are therefore well on their way to receiving SRA festival partner status, awarded by the SRA to festivals that make completion of sustainability training compulsory for all food vendors.It only costs £50 for SRA or NCASS mobile caterer members to be accredited. For non-members the accreditation costs £95 and takes two hours to complete. There are reductions for bulk bought courses.Once completed, participants must successfully complete a test before receiving a sustainability certificate that can be displayed in their unit. If you would like to trial the training or find out more please contact the number or email address below to sign up for sustainability training today. For more information please call +44(0) 0121 603 2524 or email Mark Laurie at mark.laurie@ncass.org.uk .