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Norse Group catering team continue taking steps towards sustainability
Norse’s catering team are one of Cool Food Pro’s original pilot sites, joining the project back in 2022. They’ve long shown a commitment to providing healthy and sustainable food, being awarded Food for Life Served Here certification in 2010 and continuing to be part of the programme. Since then, Norse – which are based in Norfolk and Suffolk – have taken ongoing steps towards sustainability.
Norse have shown a growing commitment to serving healthy and sustainable food over the years. They have a long-standing relationship with the Soil Association, holding Food for Life Served Here certification for several of their sites. It was through Food for Life that they were introduced to Cool Food Pro, signing up for the calculator in May 2022.
Since then, Norse have adjusted their menus to reduce red meat content and introduce more plant-based protein. They’ve also cut food waste. The company were already sourcing seasonal and local food but can now track the impact of this using the calculator.
“When the Cool Food Pro calculator became available to us at Norse, we felt this would be a great way to be more environmentally friendly with our practises and track how we can improve this across our business,” says Craig Neale, Norse’s Head of Catering.
The catering company have been entering baseline data into the “easy and efficient” Cool Food Pro calculator for a few years. They’ve saved an impressive 76.6T. CO₂e, the equivalent of 50 houses' complete energy consumption for a year or driving 381,000 miles in a diesel car.
“The calculator has given us ideas about what we can do to reduce our carbon emissions, and it provides an easy way to track our savings,” says Craig. Results from the calculator are used in the tender process for reviews with clients to demonstrate the company’s commitment to sustainability and to share with customers, keeping them informed.
Norse currently uses the calculator at 10 of their sites, with plans to expand its use across all 130 of their sites, which cover schools, colleges, care homes and businesses.
We were one of the first users of the Cool Food Pro calculator. It’s enhanced our catering in ever-evolving ways.
More case studies
Littleport Community Primary School joins Cool Food Pro to reduce food waste in their dining hall.
Littleport Community Primary’s menus are managed by Norse Catering who are dedicated to reducing plate waste through actions applied to mains and sides. All while continuing to provide a great lunchtime service to approximately 200 students a day
Brooke Primary School joins Cool Food Pro to increase awareness on the food waste reduction in their dining hall.
Brooke Primary School’s catering is independently managed by the school’s principal chef, which, with the support of the staff and the Cool Food Pro Calculator, is working on their environmentally friendly journey by implementing meat-free Mondays and tackling food waste from the dining hall.
Student caterers at Walsall College attend sustainable food workshop
Students at Walsall College, in the West Midlands, recently enjoyed an interactive workshop about sustainable food. The session – from the Soil Association and Cool Food Pro – encouraged these future caterers to think about food that’s good for people and planet, from the very start of their catering careers.
