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Nottingham City Hospital serves three meals a day to 1,000 bed patients and 100 day patients; it also has a 250 seater restaurant and 5 coffee shops.
How they took part in British Food Fortnight in 2005...
Set themselves the challenge of sourcing locally for a month over the Fortnight while still fulfilling menus that are agreed and printed months in advance.
How they sourced regional food and drink...
To find suppliers of meat, vegetables and dairy for the promotion:
Obtained a list of local suppliers from the Hospital Caterers Association www.hospitalcaterers.org and Meat and Livestock Commission www.mlc.org.uk
Sent each of them a copy of the menu and an invitation to pitch for the business. As a result they ended up sourcing from a selection of new and old suppliers.
And now:
Relationship with the local dairy has been maintained post the promotion.
Currently finalising plans with a butcher so all the meat will be from the East Midlands.
The next step is to look for local vegetable suppliers.
How they promoted it...
Promotion was minimal because most menus and point of sale had already been printed.
New menus will mention the fact that the hospital runs sustainable menus.
Newspaper coverage in local Evening Post, Nottingham Post, HCA and Caterer & Hotelkeeper.
Coverage in the local paper arranged by the new dairy supplier.
What they achieved...
Positive feedback all-round, particularly from patients.
Sourcing milk locally has been a cost neutral exercise: savings have been made because milk is bought in litres and not pints (yet for the same price) and there is less wastage as the reduced time from teat to table means that it has a better shelf-life.
Entry into Hospital Chef of the Year 2006 was, uniquely, a Sustainability Menu and it won the silver medal. Additional press coverage received as a result.
Improved staff morale as the hospital chefs have enjoyed being challenged mentally in the kitchen. They could do what they were doing before blindfolded. This freshens everything up.
Looking to the future: the hospital is about to merge with another resulting in increased demand for local produce and the potential, therefore, of making more savings through bulk purchase.
Lessons learnt:
Cheaper than expected.
Include a Chefs Special on the menu to add flexibility to both the food and ordering process.
Use phrases like seasonal veg on menu as this means you can take a variety of different stock from different suppliers.
Be open-minded when thinking about using local suppliers.
Dont be put off by prices that initially may seem higher. Buying large volumes of produce can make the whole process affordable.
Think about the long lasting impact on the local economy and environment by offering a sustainable menu.
“Its proved cheaper than what we were paying before.”
Perry Lewis, Nottingham City Hospital |
