Vacherin Cares

provenance, people and the planet guide us as to how we work, who we work with, and where we source ingredients

Pioneering

This year we celebrate 20 years as London's leading caterer and we are proud to have never been complacent about the potential impact of our business on the environment and society. We invest our time and people to industry leading initiatives that have given us the reputation for being pioneering when it comes to running our business successfully and responsibly.

In 2023 we announced a partnership with Surrey Docks Farm a local community farm based in Rotherhithe.

We will be championing their valuable work running educational projects and unique opportunities for people to learn about farming, food production and being actively involved in the ongoing working life of the farm.

As the first step in our growing relationship, we’ve purchased a fine selection of their hand-reared livestock, which our chefs will use in their menus. Our chef team are loving working with a farm in the heart of London’s East End, learning first hand about the journey of produce from farm to fork.

Food

As a catering company, food is at the heart of everything we do. We are passionate about delivering healthy, responsibly sourced, delicious food every single day.

To be as sustainable and responsible as we can, we focus on buying seasonal produce and working with small, independent and family-run suppliers. These principles safeguard the livelihoods of small businesses as well as protect animal welfare and support rural communities with jobs for local people. And, of course, the food just tastes better.

As plant based diets become increasingly popular, Vacherin chefs are driving change in our kitchens. We’re increasing the range of vegetarian and vegan dishes in 2018 to satisfy customer trends and lower our carbon emissions, introducing new concepts such as ‘A Greener Choice’, designed to promote healthy and environmentally friendly eating, with an emphasis on plant-based proteins – a small but effective way to show we are open, honest and care about the food we produce.

We work hard to achieve and maintain ISO 9001 and 14001, and we work in partnership with our clients’ CSR and sustainability teams so that our actions compliment their own sustainability objectives.

Community

Part of building a sustainable business is ensuring that our customers, our employees and our wider society are happy and healthy. We continue to place our focus on being a good employer as well as a valuable member of our local community.

Fundamental to our values is that we take more than a business interest in our staff – we think holistically – concentrating on staff wellbeing and personal development. We are rewarded with our staff’s loyalty to Vacherin and their passion for doing the right thing – whether it’s upholding our high standards, going the extra mile for our clients and customers, or adopting solid practices to minimise the impact on the environment. 97% of our staff told us they would recommend Vacherin to a friend. We can’t ask for more than that!

We encourage our employees to volunteer where they can to make a difference in our communities. One such opportunity has been with Luminary Bakery, a project of the east London non-profit organisation Kahaila. Luminary Bakery offers women who have experienced exploitation, domestic abuse and low income, the opportunity to learn employable skills that could lead to stable employment, along with community support.

Environment

At Vacherin, cutting waste is a top priority. We work with our employees, clients and suppliers to identify opportunities for greater efficiency. Year on year, we monitor and deliver improvements across recycling rate across all operations.

Here’s a few of our achievements

In 2016 we reached our target of becoming a zero-to-landfill organisation eighteen months ahead of plan.
We continue to make progress towards our ambitious target of 80% recycling by the end of 2018
We have cut food waste per cover by almost 25% in our five busiest cafés
Vacherin’s Executive Chefs have developed a huge range of recipes to tackle avoidable food waste, for instance by making use of the leftover pulp from our popular made-to-order juices in baked goods and veggie burgers.
In the past year we have recycled 11,210kg of coffee waste with Bio Bean.
We’ve sourced more I’m Perfect fruit and vegetables than ever before – we are on track for our 2018 target of 9000kg
We also launched a new low-carbon menu offer, called A Greener Choice, across all our sites, and extended our community work by volunteering over 230 hours.
Vacherin are making a conscious move to accelerate our reduction of waste by encouraging reusable and recyclable alternatives to single use disposables, that don’t cost the earth.