Wellbeing has been brought into sharp focus, but what are the benefits to businesses and organisations who support this with their food offering?

In this latest article, we hear from Adam Brough , Head of Churchill Catering, on the benefits to businesses who take wellbeing into account with their food offering.

With such a focus on wellbeing, the catering industry has a seen a huge rise in demand for healthy food options. As a result, there are many benefits for businesses that are offering the choice that customers now demand.

In addition to healthy options, the focus is also around dietary requirements, such as vegan and gluten free alternatives. People are very savvy about diet, allergens and nutrition, and want the right food to meet their requirements; veganism and gluten free are huge –it’s the biggest change we’ve seen here in the business.

To stay at the forefront of the catering industry it’s vital to cater for dietary requirements, it leads to repeat custom, or will encourage new customers to visit. In terms of our current offerings, we’ve definitely seen a rise in the demand for freshly made salads and nutritional options. Planning our menu development and daily specials, we always try to provide a suitable gluten free and vegan alternative. But there’s always more we can do and it’s always evolving. Soon there will be a GF and vegan section on all of our menus. It won’t be a second thought.

With a huge drive to reduce obesity in the country, there have been a few recent innovations in the catering sector that support healthy eating.?As of 1 April 2022, a new legislation states that if you have more than 250 employees in your establishment, you must advertise how many calories are in each of your menu items. That will be rolled out across all catering providers as of next year.

Many of our establishments were also part of the Eat Out, Eat Well initiative led by local councils throughout the country. Around a quarter of our calories are consumed out of the home, and the campaign enabled customers to more easily choose settings providing healthy options by endorsing them if they reached certain criteria. The initiative looked at the way food is prepared, the ingredients used, whether there are healthy options for children, how colleagues are trained and how healthier choices are promoted to customers. As a result customers could easily identify the Eat Out, Eat Well award at venues and on menus, influencing their choice of where to eat out.

Churchill Catering operates in different sites – from commercial sites such as cafés, to B&I sites and leisure centres. So, the demand for healthy options varies according to the sector. Certainly in the leisure centres, customers want the protein drinks and salads, in the café-style settings, the demand is often for coffee and cake. We do have a balanced offering of dishes, but people also want a treat. And why not?

So, while we have seen an increased demand for healthy menus, at Churchill Catering we provide what our customers want – which is to rise to the demand of healthy options and dietary requirements, but also ensuring that there is a varied menu with some cake as well.??