Greene King, the country’s leading pub company and brewer, is removing airfreighted fresh fruit and vegetables from its menus as it continues on its sustainability journey.
Fresh fruit and vegetable produce is one of the more complex supply chains and the company’s third largest buying category by spend.
Greene King’s procurement teams, supply chain and food development teams have worked hard with suppliers to achieve zero air freighted items across all menus at Greene King’s 1,600 managed pubs from Autumn/Winter 2025.
Annually, Greene King uses over 9m kg of fresh produce. The top three highest quantity of products used are potatoes (2m kg), lettuce and cucumber.
In collaboration with its supplier, Fresh Direct, future airfreight has been removed by working with food development teams to create menus which do not feature ingredients that can only be airfreighted and by liaising with producers to source alternative sea or road transport.
For example, Fresh Direct has now sourced herbs including basil and chives through British suppliers or by road freight, as opposed to supplying airfreighted produce. Other menu items are substituted periodically if there is no alternative to airfreight, such as tenderstem broccoli to purple sprouting broccoli, and some fruits such as pomegranates, passion fruit and strawberries.
Greene King’s chief operating officer, Clair Preston-Beer said: “This is a good example of our menu development team and supply chain team working together with suppliers to reduce our carbon footprint through using different ingredients or ensuring produce is transported by an alternative method to airfreight. Our menus feature pub classics and contemporary dishes, and they evolve to meet changing customers tastes and make the most of the ingredients available to us in the best ways. We continue to look at our daily operations, working with our suppliers and offering our customers sustainable choices as we progress towards net zero.”
Fresh Direct’s managing director, Andy Pembroke said: “We’re delighted to be supporting such a progressive operator as Greene King, which shares our passion for providing the best of the season’s produce, with a particular focus on top quality British food. Working in partnership, we support them to create fantastic menus that celebrate fresh seasonal produce.”
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