News

bartlett mitchell is the first contract caterer to achieve Green Tourism Accreditation

(4 August 2011, Egham) bartlett mitchell, the boutique contract catering company, has become the first contract catering company to achieve Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) accreditation for one of its operations. The award recognises the practical steps taken by bartlett mitchell at Autodesk in Farnborough to develop their sustainability credentials.

Andrea Nicholas, Manager for GTBS, said, “Green Tourism is the leading green accreditation organisation for the UK hotels and tourism sector and bartlett mitchell approached us about developing the criteria for the contract catering sector too. We were very keen to be involved and to start engaging with contract caterers. We set about developing the criteria in collaboration with bartlett mitchell as a pilot project and they did very well in their assessment.

“Green Tourism’s accreditation is all about measuring the practical steps that organisations have taken to improve their sustainability credentials; measures that make a real impact and not just woolly intentions. The next phase for us will be assembling a wider group of contract caterers to build on the project work started by GTBS and bartlett mitchell to ultimately offer this accreditation to the wider contract catering sector.”

Sally Grimes, Quality Manager for bartlett mitchell explained, “It’s fantastic to be the first contractor to achieve this accreditation and we’re now actively working on accreditation for our Head Office. The GTBS scheme focussed mainly on commercial hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions and therefore, for contract caterers who operate on clients premises, some criteria have been adjusted to make it appropriate and challenging for the contract catering sector.”

Wendy Bartlett, Managing Director of bartlett mitchell added, “As a company, we’re always looking for ways to improve our green credentials. We felt there was a big opportunity to practically demonstrate how we were doing and the GTBS accreditation fitted the bill perfectly, albeit it needed a few adjustments to fit in with the quirks of contract catering and client-managed buildings. This is a great achievement for Sally and the team and we’re keen to build on this, working with GTBS and other contractors, to see more uptake across our sector.”