But we pressed on, went on courses and attended work groups with other chef managers. We even had a training session with a lovely lady from The Soil Association.
After going through all the different aspects of the Catering Mark that you need to reach I quickly realised I might not be as far off as I first thought. Inspection day came and the auditor was due in at 9 30am, with all the evidence I needed to gather at hand we started going through old menus and invoices to show that I am actually doing what I say I do.
Its a bit nerve wracking at first but the auditor was a really nice guy and very supportive in the things that we were missing ( certain declarations to say that our meat is farm assured and our fish is not from the at risk list),
When the audit was complete we waited a couple of days to hear back from the certification officer to tell us what extra info we needed to submit. And after a couple more days of chasing suppliers were finally awarded the Bronze Award.
One of the criteria for the award is at least 75% of food must be freshly prepared and after talking to the auditor we came out at 100% freshly made, usually 75% to 80% according to the powers that be at The Soil Association, with 100% being quite a rare thing!!!
Although it seems like a lot of hard work its definitely worth applying for, it might be a good tool for your companies marketing team to use but it also shows that you actually care about where our food comes from, how we prepare it and the health benefits for everyone!
Check out what its all about at The Soil Association and make sure you apply for your award too.
