Rocket Food, London’s leading luxury catering company and winner of the 2017 Country Life Canape of the Year award, believes in making conscious choices which positively impact the environment and the community.
Rachel Warren, Head of Creative at Rocket Food, aims to reduce the company’s waste without com-promising on creativity. When purchasing flowers at Covent Garden Market for large scale events, Rachel discovered Floral Angles, a voluntary organisation who bring recycled flowers to those in need, including women’s refugee associations and elderly homes, helping to bring joy and im-prove wellbeing amongst those less fortunate. Rachel quickly identified the opportunity to upcycle surplus flowers following Rocket Food events. Rocket Food began working alongside Floral Angles last November and has since donated up to up to £4,000 worth of flowers which would otherwise go to waste.
Co-founders, Michael Symonds and Caroline Hall (née Symonds), brother and sister duo believe giving back to the community is at the heart of what they do. For the last year, the company has
supported the Ace of Clubs, a local charity on St Alphonsus Road, providing for the immediate needs of those in desperate circumstances with safe shelter, food, warmth, clothing, laundry and showers.
Rocket Food has also worked along Ace of Clubs to caterer special meals when so many people are overstretched, such as at Christmas, serving lunch of lamb tagine, sticky toffee pudding alongside tea and coffee. In March, the Rocket Food team held a lunch of vegetable crumble with beef burgers and a blueberry crumble for desert. The team at Ace of Clubs is skilled and focused in linking people with a wide range of services includ-ing accommodation, welfare, rehab, training, healthcare and many others. In 2017, Ace of Clubs was provided 20,000 meals, helping 92 people off the streets and into accommodation and 36 people into rehabilitation from addiction. At the Rocket Food offices, the team has gone eco, making small changes such as issuing personal-ised ceramic mugs for hot drinks with the ambition to phase out all paper cups. Staff are encouraged to bring their own water bottles; no plastic bottles are provided at events and they have replaced plastic straws with a paper variety.
Co-founder of Rocket Food, Caroline Hall says: “The food industry in general produces an enormous amount of waste, therefore it’s imperative for us to take conscious steps in reducing it wherever we can – and it’s a bonus if we can make others happy along the way!”
When planning for major events, Rocket Food is concerned about its carbon footprint and the ethical choices of its customers: “Rocket as a whole has put initiatives into place in efforts to reduce carbon footprint and providing vegan menu options has been one of them. 10-15 % of our client base request vegan choices for canapés and dinners, these dietary options were always something our chefs created on an ad hoc basis but now that it’s become a popular request, we have incorporated vegan dishes into our Spring-Summer 2018 menus. Our hero dish is the Miso Glazed Aubergine, quinoa salad and coriander shoots and our clients’ favourite vegan canapé is the Pickled Mouli and herb bundle.”