About the scheme
Eating out increasingly plays an important part in our lives – around a quarter of our calories are consumed out of the home in restaurants, cafes, pubs and fast-food joints. A recent Food Standards Agency survey suggested that healthy eating was an important influencing factor for consumers when deciding what to eat both inside and outside the home.
As a caterer you have the potential to make a tremendous contribution to influence and improve your customer’s diet and health by providing healthier food and drink choices, for example by changing the energy, saturated fat, sugar, salt and fibre content of your dishes.
The aim of the Eat Out Eat Well award is to increase accessibility to tasty food prepared in a healthier way using good food hygiene practices and served in a healthier environment. The award has the potential to increase your customer’s satisfaction and your sales.
The Eat Out Eat Well Award has been developed to reward caterers who make it easier for their customers to make healthy choices when eating out. It has four levels – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and is symbolised by an apple logo in the shape of a heart. The level of award is based on a scoring system that takes into account the type of food on offer, cooking methods, and how you promote it to your customers.
The higher the score the higher the level of award, however, to obtain a Gold or Platinum Award, key members of staff will usually need to undertake some form of accredited/recognised training in nutrition.
The Eat Out Eat Well award is assessed and managed by a range of Trading Standards, local Environmental Health teams and Public Health.
How it works
The Award aims to encourage food businesses to provide healthier options to customers, through the use of healthier catering practices, increasing fruit, vegetables, and starchy carbohydrates, and decreasing fat, especially saturated fat, sugar and salt. It also recognises provision of healthy options for children, and rewards staff training and promotion and marketing of healthier options.
Why get involved?
You could make a huge contribution to improving your customers’ diet and health by providing healthier food choices. You’ll have public recognition for achieving the award and could enhance your image as a responsible business that puts its customers first. It could give you a competitive edge and increase customer satisfaction as the demand for healthier choices continues to grow.
Your customers will be able to benefit from the freedom to select a healthy option if they choose and more control over what they eat, and ultimately, their health.
The scheme will equip your team with the knowledge and skills to provide healthier menu options in line with government healthy eating initiatives to reduce diet related disease and obesity.
Interested? Find out How to apply.
Healthier food training for catering businesses
Please contact your local authority for information on the current healthy eating courses available, this may help you to obtain a Gold or Platinum award.
Healthy food guides for catering businesses
We produce a caterer’s guide for businesses, General caterers guide (PDF)
If you are a Chinese, Indian or Italian restaurant we also produce a separate guide on how to adapt your menu, please contact your local Eat out Eat Well authority for further information, alternatively e-mail trading.standards@bucksandsurreytradingstandards.gov.uk
Eat Out Eat Well 