Served Here Silver Certified – Q&A with chef Stephen Broadhurst

Tell us a bit about yourself and where you work:

After leaving school at the age of 16, I attended full time catering college for 2 years. Upon completing the course, I spent the next 13 years of my career working in fine dining restaurants in West Yorkshire. Having learned my craft and honed my skills I then moved into industrial catering. I had successfully been a head chef in this industry for over 20 years before I joined YSJ as the executive chef in 2021 where I have been for the last 3 years.

What do you love about your role at York St John University?

My role at YSJ as executive chef gives me the freedom to create exciting fresh food and multiple menu options on a daily basis.

How many meals do you serve per week or weekday?

We serve around 6000 hot meals per week, including hot breakfasts, fresh organic soup, jacket potatoes with a mix of traditional and loaded toppings and a variety of both meat and vegetarian main meals.

What as your original motivation for your application to Food for Life Served Here?

YSJ catering only formed an inhouse catering team three years ago in 2021. This is when I joined and as we were starting from scratch with a new team, once we found our feet we started to look at ways to improve. The FFL certification gave us a good opportunity to create higher quality food with healthier balances of ingredients from local suppliers.

How did you find the process of gaining the certification?

We had great support from the Food for Life team so although the transition was challenging at times there was steady progress, and we always felt that the certification was achievable.

Are you using new suppliers to help you meet the Food for Life Served Here standards?

We are using a mix of suppliers. Some of our suppliers already fit with the Food for Life standards with a few tweaks in products and they are happy to continue to work with us. Where our existing suppliers weren’t able to carry on, we brought new suppliers on board. This mostly came into play with our fresh produce lines, as our existing supplier did not stock organic.  Our new suppliers include a new butcher who is family run, local and sources meat to Food for Life standards, a local bread company and a family run organic farm who is helping supply our organic produce to meet the Silver award.

Has meeting the standards influenced your suppliers in any way?

Our suppliers already understand the value of local and fresh ingredients and are happy to work with us to achieve our goal.

Has achieving the silver certification increased your food costs? If so, can you estimate a % and how you’re mitigating that increase?

Yes, fresh food costs have increased around 8-10% This extra cost is being absorbed by creating a well-balanced sales mix on a daily basis.

What impact has achieving you Food for Life silver certification had on your organisation?

It has given the whole catering team and our customers a better understanding of the importance of a well-balanced diet, animal welfare and supporting smaller local suppliers.

Are there any unexpected benefits?

By using local suppliers, we have been able to report to the sustainability team that we’re helping reduce our carbon footprint.

Have you had any feedback from students or staff?

We have had a great response from students and staff since being awarded the FFL award, all loving the healthier and more sustainable foods that we can now offer on a daily basis.

What are your plans for the next year?

To build on the success of our silver certification by sharing and advertising the importance of a balanced diet, sustainability and organic produce with all our customers.