Sustainable Restaurant Association

The concept of an association to promote sustainability in the restaurant sector originated at the London-based consultancy, Good Business, and was developed by Simon Heppner and Giles Gibbons during 2008. The Garfield Weston Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Mark Leonard Trust provided funding and in 2009, The SRA launched with founder members Carluccio's, Feng Sushi and Wahaca. The organisation has continued to evolve and develop each year since then, growing from working with 52 restaurants at launch to being present in over 12,000 kitchens in 2019. In 2012, Raymond Blanc OBE became President of the Association and in 2017, Prue Leith became the Vice President. ==Sustainability framework==

The challenge for many businesses working in foodservice was that while sustainability was seen as important, there was no consistency in the way it was defined or addressed. This created confusion the mind of customers about what constituted a sustainable restaurant, and a barrier to action for restaurateurs, who were unclear on where to focus attention. The Food Made Good Framework was developed in partnership with subject specific specialists such as RSPCA, Fair Trade, Soil Association, Compassion in World Farming and the Carbon Trust, as well as other organisations working more generally in the area of foodservice sustainability such as Sustain. Each section is composed of topic areas that address different operational aspects of foodservice operations. Sourcing • Celebrate Provenance • Support Farmers and Fishers • More Plants, Better Meat • Source Seafood Sustainably Society • Treat Staff Fairly • Feed People Well • Support the Community Environment • Reduce Your footprint • Waste No Food • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Since 2009, the SRA has rated the sustainability performance of thousands of food-service operators against this Framework and awarded one, two or three stars. These stars now appear in restaurant windows, on menus and on websites as a signal to diners that the business is taking sustainability seriously. which became the new brand for the sustainability rating. This was done to increase accessibility with consumers and hospitality operators that do not consider themselves to be restaurants. The accreditation aims to encourage, support and recognise sustainability practices across the food and beverage industry worldwide. The Food Made Good Standard has undergone several iterations since 2015. The most recently re-launch was in June 2023, when the SRA launched a new version of the Food Made Good Standard. Supported by a more user-friendly platform, the Standard is now globally accessible, applicable and relevant, allowing restaurants anywhere in the world to sign up and assess their sustainability. As of October 2024, the Standard can be accessed and used in four languages: English, Spanish, Japanese and Traditional Chinese. ==Campaigns==

In 2010, the SRA carried out research into food waste in different types of restaurants, aiming to understand the scope of the issue and clarify what constituted plate-waste, spoilage and prep waste. The results indicated that, on average, restaurants were producing half a kilo of waste per diner, and that 65% was prep waste, 30% plate waste and only 5% spoilage. and prompted The SRA to develop the Too Good To Waste campaign, which encouraged diners to ask for, and restaurants to offer, doggy boxes to take leftovers home. ==References==