Eat better - eatpure

‘Eatpure’ is our newest and the most important initiative that we have undertaken. It has been developed to meet the needs of an increasing number of customers who require premium cuisine, prepared to order and incorporating fresh, healthy and exciting ingredients including local and organic choices.
We work closely with trustworthy suppliers who share our ideals, which enables us to have confidence in our fare. We source as much seasonal, local food as possible, which helps to ensure maximum freshness and significantly reduces the mileage food has to travel to reach your plate.

Bamboo benefits as eatlunch.co.uk launches new greener packaging

‘Eatlunch’ has spent the last twelve months developing new, recyclable packaging. All of our newly designed packaging is recyclable: even the gold platter trays and all the clear pots for yoghurts and dips are made from PLA - a biodegradable material manufactured from corn starch. Your buffets are also protected by a clear bag, which is also made from PLA.

Ten years ago environmental concerns were considered unimportant and even a bit boring. Today many would argue that helping to protect our planet can also deliver real social and economic benefits!
‘Eatlunch’ has always embraced this philosophy and has introduced a number of new initiatives to support this approach. We have replaced plastic cutlery with bio-degradable bamboo - although you wouldn’t guess to look at them!! The cutlery looks better than ever but does not contribute to the ‘plastic’ mountain.

Waste not!!

Eatpure accepts that it is our responsibility to produce food hygienically and in a way which is caring to our staff, our local community and to the environment.
We believe that being environmentally responsible is not only sensible for our planet, but that it can also deliver real benefits to our business and to our Customers. Adopting sound environmental policies and practices has led to better environmental performance at Eatpure, across our Eatlunch business buffets activities and also within our café and vending environments.
Our goal is to have zero landfill. We already recycle all our card, paper and kitchen-waste and are pursuing other schemes to ensure that we use even more bio-degradable materials. Eatlunch is working with regional water suppliers to encourage our customers to use glass bottles, which can be refilled with tap water instead of continually buying more plastic bottles of mineral water. We’re also talking to specialist Waste Management companies about encouraging our customers to have bins on their premises to enable them to recycle any packaging from their lunches. These bins would then be collected on a weekly basis.
Read more about how we value our environment.

Business Link take a closer look at eatlunch

Eatpure Ltd. (incorporating eatlunch.co.uk) started from a single unit with just Ian and Pam White providing outsourced catering services for events. Since then the business has grown considerably and diversified further into the hospitality sector.
Eatpure Ltd. provides high quality outsourced catering services for every kind of occasion. When they first started their catering business, Ian and Pam contacted Business Link, but at that time did not appreciate the benefits the organisation could bring. It was when Ian started to implement an aggressive growth strategy, that he felt they needed the extra support.
The business was growing at such a rate it became apparent that managing the growth and training were becoming an issue, especially as Eatlunch are diversifying into other hospitality locations. Ian contacted Business Link Adviser Rod Hill to identify what help Business Link could offer.
Rod's initial action was to conduct an in-depth benchmarking exercise, comparing operations of a similar size and rate of growth in the same sector. This service from Business Link examines the financial health of businesses using ratio analysis, processes, customer satisfaction, supplier numbers, staff turnover and training days, plus a range of other business metrics.
The other major area in which Business Link were able to assist was with staff training. Rod helped Eatlunch obtain a grant from the Towards 2010 initiative, funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to subsidise the training. Plus, Investors in People (IIP) Adviser Penny Taylor reviewed Eatlunch and Ian plans to make a full IiP application.
Business Link uses statistics from businesses nationally to ensure a realistic snapshot of the sector. The results of the benchmarking allowed Ian to compare Eatlunch to similar businesses in the sector. According to Ian: It was a period of self-analysis that ensured we were growing in line with the sector averages; it helped further refine our growth strategy.
Ian has found that his relationship with Business Link is more than just about formal reviews. I like being able to pick up the phone to an impartial Adviser who understands my business and can give me signposts to the resources available. I feel like I am a member of a mutually supportive club. It's not like talking to the bank manager, who is always looking at the bottom line.