Travers Smith LLP is delighted to announce that it has received a three-star rating in the Food Made Good Standard by The Sustainable Restaurant Association, the highest level that can be achieved. Travers Smith is the first law firm to be awarded three stars for their commitment to sustainable operations by their in-house kitchen team.
The accreditation has been awarded to our Client Dining Rooms and our staff restaurant, Braithwaite's. Both our Client Dining Rooms and Braithwaite's are run in-house, rather than outsourced to a catering firm.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association evaluates hospitality businesses on a 10-point framework across three criteria: Sourcing, Society and Environment.
The firm scored particularly highly in the Society section, attaining 98%. The Society section of the evaluation looks at how businesses treat staff, support their community and whether they are feeding people healthy, nourishing food. This high score was achieved due to the firm's strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, which is a result of its longstanding partnership with Refugees at Home, staff volunteering and accessibility.
The firm scored 77% for Sourcing. The Sourcing criteria evaluates your approach to procuring ingredients, ensuring they are sourced from farmers, fishers, growers and suppliers who adhere to sustainable production methods, with an emphasis on increasing plant-based foods and reducing meat consumption. Travers Smith was particularly praised for its supply chain and use of traceable ingredients, and its introduction of 'Meat Free Mondays' which have been in place in Braithwaite's since 2020, and in the Client Dining Rooms since 2018.
Finally, the firm achieved 85% for the Environment section, which looked at our carbon reduction, food waste and recycling systems. The firm's kitchens are focused on constantly making small changes that will have a big impact: they limit single use items – cling film has been phased out, and single use containers in Braithwaite's have been replaced with compostable Vegware containers. Recycling uptake is high – as we operate with 10 waste streams, we are able to achieve a recycling rate of 94%. Waste is reduced at every turn – earlier this year the firm phased out hot drinks from internal meetings on our client floors to cut water waste.
Braithwaite's is named in honour of Stephen Braithwaite who joined the firm in 1873, when the firm was known as Travers Smith Braithwaite. Braithwaite's has been free of charge to all staff since it went in-house in 2020, and in 2022 an additional evening service was rolled out. This runs Monday – Thursday and is available for all staff.
Senior Partner of Travers Smith LLP, Andrew Gillen, said, "Braithwaite's is the heart of our firm, feeding hundreds of us d delivering delicious, healthy food every day and providing a hub for informal co-operation. This high rating from The Sustainable Restaurant Association is richly deserved and reflects the effort that our kitchen team put into both the offering in Braithwaite's and in our fantastic Client Dining Rooms. Huge congratulations to Rachel Smith, Lucy French and their kitchen team, and everyone else across the business focused on helping us operate more sustainably."
Managing Director of The Sustainable Restaurant Association, Juliane Caillouette Noble, said, “Well done to Travers Smith, the first law firm to be awarded three stars in the Food Made Good Standard for their in-house kitchen team’s commitment to sustainable operations. Their score under the Society pillar of the Standard was especially high due to the firm’s strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, accessibility and staff volunteering, as well as a longstanding partnership with Refugees at Home. We love their creative approach to reducing food waste, too, including the introduction of “Use Up Fridays” to reuse any food left from throughout the week. Congratulations on this fantastic result!”
