St John’s shines in restaurants awards

St John’s has been granted Two Stars in the Sustainable Restaurants Association Awards 2015, making it the first College to achieve this award in Cambridge.

The Sustainable Restaurants Association (SRA), which celebrates everything that is good about the food-service industry and the people in it, awarded St John’s College an impressive Two Star rating in their annual award celebration. The College is the first in Cambridge to receive this award, and the 7^th within the University sector.

The Sustainable Restaurants Association, whose President is leading chef Raymond Blanc, is a not-for-profit organisation that helps restaurants to source food more sustainably and to work closely with the local community, and has approximately 4000 members throughout the country. The organisation’s Sustainability Rating system helps diners to identify restaurants that match their sustainability priorities, with restaurants graded One, Two, or Three Star ‘sustainability champions’ depending on how they rate across 14 key areas, including environmental efforts, sourcing of food, cooking, and staff training.

St John’s joined the Sustainable Restaurants Association last summer, and according to Catering and Conference Manager Bill Brogan, becoming a sustainability champion was a great achievement for the College – especially as it managed to achieve Two Stars for its first SRA rating.

“It took a lot of hard work to get there, but it was really worthwhile,” Bill said. “Paperwork and invoices are checked, menus are looked at, and trading certificates are verified. You have to prove that you are actually doing what you say you are doing. For example, when we buy boxes of free range eggs, we take a photo to prove they are stamped with the Lion Mark. It’s a lot of time and effort, but it’s worth it when you get there, and it’s a good thing that everything is checked.”

St John’s came close to scoring Three Stars, which is awarded to the elite of sustainable restaurants in the UK, and the Sustainable Restaurants Association will be working closely with the College to come up with an action plan for the year ahead both to help St John’s maintain its Two Star rating and to work towards achieving the top score.