Turning a sea of beige into a forest of green

You get out your bed an hour earlier than usual, to make an early morning trip to a conference. You’re tired, you feel a little stressed because you know a day out of the office will mean the rest of the week playing catch-up. Emails, voicemails, all will stack up.

So it’s not at all surprising that the one thing you’re looking forward to – both as a treat and as pure sustenance – is a hearty bacon roll, with lashings of sauce and a cart load of coffee.

This is so often the script for delegates at conferences, whose organisers, knowing our weaknesses, duly provide it. But with an overweight and out-of-shape workforce who may soon all be reliant on statins, perhaps the time has come for a change. Caterers, to give them their dues, are waking up to the need to gently nudge people towards healthier alternatives. And so the usual sea of beige – oily fried stuff, pastries and the like – is gradually being usurped by greener, leaner options.

Spearheading this change are many different organisations, both public and private, which admittedly tread the fine line between nurturing and nannying, but nevertheless whose aims are (largely) to tackle the fact that in 2014, 65% of adults aged 16 and over in Scotland were overweight.

One such body is NHS Health Scotland, whose Healthy Living Awards are increasingly being taken up by caterers operating in the events sector.

“I think it’s about choice, rather than trying to force everyone to only take the healthy option,” says Yvonne Traynor, a development coordinator for the Healthy Living Awards programme. “At the end of the day everyone wants to live healthier lifestyles, and the events sector is no different. We are increasingly working with the caterers who supply into events to achieve more balanced menus.”

NHS Health Scotland’s aim is to reduce health inequalities in Scotland, and the Healthy Living Awards, as part of that, is a free national award for the food service sector in Scotland that rewards caterers who ‘make it easier for their customers to eat healthily’.

That means at least 50% of menus meeting the healthy criteria; keeping fat, oils, sugar and salt to a minimum, and making fruit and vegetables clearly available.

And so far, so good. The SECC in Glasgow is among some of the bigger venues, whose four retail caterers – the Deli & Bakery, Noodle Bar, Baked Potato Pod and Salad Pod – have all been awarded the accreditation. Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, which hosted the Healthy Living Awards, earlier this year also provided 50% of its menu options on the day as healthy alternatives, and has signalled it would like to achieve full accreditation in the near future.

“We do want to have that balance,” says Ellie Garvie, the venue’s Event Sales Manager. “It’s nice to still get a pastry in the morning but it’s good to have a balance. We are finding more and more often clients are wanting a healthier option, they are more aware of the healthy eating focus.”

There are currently around 1,500 caterers nationally on the HLA register; 800 of those have been awarded full certification and the rest are working towards it. Some caterers are actively pursuing it because it helps give them a competitive advantage when tendering for public sector contracts, adds Traynor. “One of the corporate catering companies who got involved said this was the primary reason for them getting involved,” she says.

“But we work with a lot of private sector companies as well – parts of the private sector are really committed to it.”

And she insists there need not be a dramatic revision to menus to win the award. “It’s about thinking about what you offer on the menu – often it’s just small changes rather than a wholesale change, evening it up with items that are less healthy.”

As far as the process is concerned Traynor says they try to make it easy for caterers to apply.

Companies register online before receiving guidance about how to achieve the award, and then a visit from an assessor; the aim is to complete the process within six months. A certificate is then issued and is valid for two years, during which time they get a follow-up visit, and after the period has expired there is an option to reapply.

“We find people coming back a second, third and even fourth time, which is great,” adds Traynor. “And some of the caterers have moved on to a higher level where they have up to 70% of their menus designated as healthy.”

With obesity costing Scotland up to £4.6bn-a-year, perhaps the weary pursuit of the morning conference bacon roll may soon be a thing of the past.