MARCIA BARRINGTON
Back in 2009 when Marcia started her catering company, most businesses didn’t have sustainability initiatives in place. This is what made her enterprise so different. Motivated by the quantity of waste she had seen at large catering events, her company was hyper-aware of its environmental impact.
Now, using this experience and before that 8 years at the Divertimenti Cooking School, Marcia is a guest chef at Leiths School of Food and Wine and their go-to sustainability expert. She hopes to send the next generation of chefs into our industry with knowledge of the true cost of food and with essential skills to make an impact both inside and outside of the kitchen.
Last week Marcia shared with us some great tips for other catering companies and also some of the key lessons she teaches her students. Check it out below!
Tips to reduce the environmental impact of your catering company
Have an open dialogue.
How much plate waste is coming back to the kitchen? Is the portion size too big? Which dishes are favourites or less popular? These are the kinds of questions Marcia would ask her customers to reduce service waste. Having these open conversations with customers demonstrates a commitment to tackling food waste and her commitment to the cause.
Re-engineer your menus.
If you are preparing a dish for an event, how might prep waste be used for another dish on the menu? If a recipe needs 10 ingredients, can you recreate the same flavours by using less? Less is more and planning is key!.
Engage with other initiatives.
Check out Wraps hospitality food waste reduction campaign called Guardians of Grub. Speak to ToGoodToGo and other food waste collection apps. There are plenty of organisations out there to help chefs and catering companies avoid food waste. Still, the key is to cook with as much of your ingredients as physically possible and avoid excess prep, cooking, plate and service waste.
Go Electric.
To reduce emissions, Marcia opted to use electric vehicles to transport her food around London and keep operating costs down. Vehicle technology and longer life batteries for commercial vehicles are much more advanced and affordable in 2021 - you just have to do your research.
The New Curriculum
While it’s great to learn to cook professionally, running alongside practical cooking skills, Marcia advocates a need for more education and guidance to help chefs understand the impact their menu choices and food waste have on the food system. With food policy lacking, we need to collaborate and share experiences to show how the ingredients and suppliers we choose can influence others and change our industry for the better. The following are a couple of the key lessons Marcia teaches on her course and what she believes should be on every culinary curriculum.
The importance of choosing the right suppliers
Marcia advocates organic produce and working with (if possible) regenerative agriculture; encourages her students to build relationships with growers and farmers; and teaches what to look for when building a supplier list with good practices. She advocates supporting suppliers who have transparency and value their own supply chains, opting often to work with the most environmentally conscious who more often than not deliver outstanding produce.
To ask new employers the right questions.
Marcia advises her students to question potential employers when on trials. Ask what initiatives are in place to lessen a kitchen's environmental impact? Who are the food suppliers? Does the kitchen advocate cooking with the seasons? What measures are in place to reduce spoils, prep, service and kitchen waste? For businesses that haven’t already thought about these issues, these kinds of questions encourage change - especially in the midst of a staffing crisis!
Thanks Marcia!
