The catering department at Liverpool Hope University is proudly in-house, to the benefit of our staff and students. We recognise that the procurement, preparation, and serving of food and drink greatly impacts the environment, and we are committed to reducing this impact as much as possible.
Catering seeks to provide healthy, nutritious, culturally-diverse, and sustainable menu choices for all of our customers. We are committed to providing fresh home-cooked food while utilising seasonal produce.
We have embedded sound ethical, social, and environmental practices, both when procuring goods and services required for the delivery of hospitality, and when preparing and serving food and drink to our customers.
Keep up to date with all things food and drink by following @EatatHope on Instagram, X, and Facebook.
In the news:
Catering achieve two-star Food Made Good rating
Catering staff take part in sustainability workshops
Catering Operations Manager attends Colombian coffee tour
Chefs win silver in national competition
Hospitality award for Catering team
The Public Diners
Sustainable Restaurant Association
We have achieved a two (out of three) star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Food Made Good Standard. The standard—which is considered the Michelin of sustainability—assesses behaviour, measures action, celebrates progress, and provides a roadmap towards further improvement across three main pillars: sourcing, society, and the environment. Ratings last two years (2024-26).
Managing Director of The SRA, Juliane Caillouette Noble, said, “Well done to Liverpool Hope University for earning two stars in their very first Food Made Good Standard! We were happy to see their sourcing of free range eggs, MSC-certified wild seafood and Fairtrade coffee and sugar. They're making great efforts to reduce their environmental impact, from conducting carbon footprint analyses and choosing renewable energy to redirecting food waste for anaerobic digestion. We especially loved their vegetarian-by-default menus when catering events! Universities have a big impact on people’s daily lives and throughout their supply chains, so we’re always delighted to see them make strong commitments to sustainability.”
The University Caterers’ Organisation
The University is an active member of The University Caterers’ Organisation (TUCO). Most catering suppliers are appointed under TUCO frameworks, with sustainability embedded into the procurement process. As well as attending training, events, and conferences, we join industry colleagues from across the North West at regional meetings to discuss—among other things—environmental initiatives, best practices, and our joint, ongoing commitment to sustainability.
Food waste
We send zero waste to landfill; all waste is reused, recycled, or used for energy from waste.
Food waste generated in Fresh Hope Food Court (the University’s largest restaurant) is processed through our on-site food dehydrator. The processed food waste is then sent for anaerobic digestion.
Used oil is collected by Olleco and recycled into biofuel.
More plants, better meat
Our award-winning hospitality menu is vegetarian-by-default for three principal reasons: 1) environmental sustainability, 2) peace of mind for an increasing number of plant-based and “flexitarian” diners, and 3) the negative health implications associated with consuming too much meat (specifically red meat).
Our Place Bar + Kitchen has a vegan menu and Fresh Hope Food Court offers daily-changing plant-based meals.
We received the Compassion in World Farming’s Good Egg Award for our commitment to serving only free-range eggs and egg products. All eggs are sourced within 25-miles of the University.
We use Wildfarmed Regenerative Flour in our pizzas. Wildfarmed are carbon negative, fully traceable, use no CIDES (pesticides, herbicides or fungicides), contribute zero river pollution, and integrate livestock in farming.
We are signed up to Sustainable Fish Cities and only use sustainably-sourced fish; we do not use any fish that has been identified on the Marine Stewardship Council’s “fish to avoid” list; and we commit to promoting the MSC certification of our seafood produce on our menus.
Community food
The University supports numerous community events, most recently catering and providing spaces for the Community Engagement Team's Christmas Pantomime (December 2023); the community Christmas light switch-on (November 2023); Harvest Festival (October 2023); Childwall in Bloom (annually since 2017); and several other on-site events (including Choir and Hope Book Club). Off-site, the catering team has produced food for over 250 community members at the annual All Saints Church tree lighting event (December 2023 and December 2021).
Since November 2022, the campus shop’s "Essentials at Hope" range has supported the community with low-cost fresh meat and fish, dairy, fruit & vegetables, bread & baked goods, and store cupboard staples.
The catering team regularly donates surplus food and ingredients to charity, for example, donating perishable stock ahead of the Christmas break to Paper Cup Project, a local nonprofit coffee shop offering support to Liverpool's homeless.
Did you know?
Almost all of the coffee served on campus is 100% Arabica and Fairtrade certified.
All milk served on campus is sourced within 25 miles.
We provide free drinking water in all catering spaces.
All our restaurants are crockery-first. When it's requested, our takeaway packaging is biodegradable, compostable, or recyclable—and has been long before government legislation.
