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 and Facebook.
In the news:
Success for our chefs at the annual TUCO Competitions 2025
Catering achieve two-star Food Made Good rating
Catering staff take part in sustainability workshops
Catering Operations Manager attends Colombian coffee tour
Hospitality award for Catering team
The Public Diners
Sustainable Restaurant Association
- We achieved a two (out of three) star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Food Made Good Standard. The standard—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)
The University Caterers’ Organisation
- The University is an active member of The University Caterers’ Organisation (TUCO), through which most catering suppliers are appointed
- We have attended several TUCO study tours and conferences spotlighting sustainability and providing hands-on experience of supply chains
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 standalone vegan menu, while 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 20-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
- We have provided over 1635 complimentary or heavily-reduced meals & drinks for community events—including Childwall in Bloom (June 2025); Community Engagement Team's Christmas Pantomime (December 2024); community Christmas light switch-on (November 2024); Harvest Festival (October 2024); plus several other on-site events (including Choir and Hope Book Club, both of which are open to Hope staff & students and the local community)
- In May 2025, we handed out several hundred free pieces of fruit to students headed to exams
- Off-site, we have produced food for over 250 community members at the annual All Saints Church tree lighting event (November 2024)
- We regularly donate 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
Thirst Aid
- Our house coffee is 100% Arabica, organic, and Fairtrade certified
- All milk served on campus is sourced within 20 miles
- We maintain several free water fountains across campuses
- From September 2025, all restaurants and coffee shops will offer a 30p discount when you bring your own cup
Food waste
- We send zero waste to landfill; all waste is reused, recycled, or used for energy from waste.
- Food waste 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
- 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
Targets
- All foodservice meat & poultry—except regional denominational meat products—will be British by the end of 2025
- All foodservice poultry will be Red Tractor Assured by the end of 2025
- We're working towards using only 100% Sustainable Palm Oil in our foodservice restaurants. Our Place Bar + Kitchen—the University's largest restaurant—is set to achieve this certification in September 2025
- Bring your own mug to purchase a drink in any Hope outlet
- Bring your own water bottle and fill up in any catering outlet
- Buy more local and seasonably priced produce to reduce both costs and your food miles. Eat Seasonably shows what produce is best to eat and grow now
- We throw away 7 billion tonnes of food and drink each year, costing around £60 per month, and more than half of this could have been eaten. Check out Love Food Hate Waste for practical tips about a range of food-saving measures: from planning to food portioning, and from better food storage to using leftovers
- Check out Love Food Hate Waste’s portion planner to work out how much food you need to cook for each person (whatever their age) in your household, for each meal. This will save time and money, as well as reduce the amount you might be throwing in the bin
- Choose free-range and responsibly sourced food
- Drink tap water instead of bottled. Bottled spring water is more expensive and has a substantially greater carbon footprint than tap water
- Use reusable cups and glasses for meetings in preference of disposable drinking cups
- Buy and use organic tea and coffee, if possible; less CO2 is emitted by organic farming
