What is the Sustainable Restaurant Association?
The SRA is a membership organisation that rates restaurants on how sustainable their operations are basing their rating on three 'pillars' - sourcing, environment and society.
How did you become a board member?
As part of our 2013 and 2015 Queen Square festivals we held two Sustainable Food Summits at Eat Drink Bristol Fashion which quite simply explored how to make the restaurant industry in Bristol more sustainable. Following these events I was invited to become an SRA board member in 2016.
How is Eat Drink Bristol Fashion involved with the SRA?
We're delighted to say that Yurt Lush, our restaurant and cafe has the highest SRA rating - a three star rating which means Yurt Lush has achieved some of the highest standards in 14 key areas which include using fairtrade Local & Seasonal produce, sourcing Ethical Meat & Dairy, supporting ethical farmers, serving Sustainable Fish, Treating People Fairly, offering balanced menu options, marketing responsibly, saving water, reducing food waste and using energy efficiently
How does your company ethos align with SRA's onjectives?
Our company was christened with a strong 'field to fork' ethos - where we initially aimed to work with local producers and suppliers as much as possible when designing our menus. This grew into aspiring to achieve greater sustainability in other areas of our sourcing and operations. In wanting to promote our efforts and be transparent about our sustainability journey we wanted to achieve SRA rating to increase the visibility of what we were doing, giving customers an immediately recognisable stamp of good practice.
How are Bristol restaurants fareing?
Outside of London, Bristol is one of the most SRA restaurant populated cities. We have some really strong contenders - Friska, Poco, Bordeaux Quay, the Canteen and Boston Tea Party are all rated along with others. This ties in with the overall 'movement' in Bristol - there are many groups that are vocal in their support of change in national and global food systems.
Aims for the future?
We want to maintain a strong trajectory, continuing to open new venues whose menus are built with a sustainable foundation and strong ethical conscience.