13 Dec 2022
While the focus of the Kale Yeah! Kitchen scheme is university canteens and cafes, there’s no reason to stop there.
Once you’ve signed up, we encourage caterers to promote their involvement with Kale Yeah! Kitchens to their catering staff, customers (students and staff), other caterers, the wider community, and internally within the university. For example, by:
- organising regular Kale Yeah! promotional events.
- notifying your sustainability team, Student Union and senior leadership team.
- notifying your suppliers and, where relevant, catering company.
- promoting Kale Yeah! regularly via social media, other PR opportunities and internal channels.
- providing a Kale Yeah! induction to catering staff.
- providing access to CPD plant-based/sustainability training for chefs (eg Humane Society Forward Food).
- discussing Kale Yeah! at events and meetings with other caterers and suppliers.
Here are some tips on broadening the scheme's reach and having even more impact across your university.
Communicate with senior staff
The fantastic work you’re doing to reduce the environmental impact of your university’s catering shouldn't go unnoticed. The targets you set in your catering strategy and plans would ideally be recognised and reflected in the university’s overall sustainability strategy.
Senior leaders and staff tasked with implementing the Sustainable Development goals and reducing scope 3 emissions as part of addressing the climate crisis will want to hear how your work to rebalance your menus is contributing to these goals.
Involve the Student Union
In universities where the SU runs its own cafes, it could also get involved with Kale Yeah! Kitchens. The SU could also help with promotion and engaging the wider student body (see below). Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) support the less and better meat and dairy approach to university catering as a way of addressing both the climate and nature emergencies.
Engage the student body
Why not run termly promotional activities for Kale Yeah! Kitchens and involve the student body? This could be done through relevant clubs and societies, from environment clubs to animal welfare or vegetarian societies. Tying in your promotion with already-planned events such as Green Week or Freshers Week will help engage more people.
Make use of key moments
As well as university events, use national events and campaigns to promote more plant-based eating, for example:
- Veganuary (each January)
- British Sandwich Week (each May)
- National Vegetarian Week (each May)
- World Food Day (every 16 October)
- World Vegan Month (November).
Student ambassadors
Why not incentivise students to become Kale Yeah! Kitchens ambassadors? Throw in some freebies or present it as a challenge that they can include as work experience on their CVs. There are different ways they can help gather feedback and ensure your sustainability efforts are a success:
- Hand out surveys and have informal conversations with customers.
- Help out at promotional events.
- Liaise with the Student Union.
- Start or collaborate with societies and groups.
- Suggest improvements for quick wins.
Work with academia
Could you collaborate with a particular department on a research project? This could be to monitor the impact of the changes you’re making through Kale Yeah! Kitchens (eg on greenhouse gas emissions), or to test the effectiveness of different approaches, like changing the names of dishes or putting the plant-based options at the top of the menu. There could be a collaboration with certain courses, from psychology to sustainability. Projects could be carried out for Masters’ degrees or even PhD research. This is also a good way to get publicity for the university.
For example, researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed dining hall sales data and found that increasing the number of vegetarian options on the menu in relation to meaty ones increased uptake, as did introducing a gap between vegetarian and meaty meals on serving stations. Both studies received coverage in online and print publications.
Promote to the wider public
Whether it’s looking for opportunities at events and meetings with other university catering teams or a chance to get media coverage, there are loads of ways to spread the word outside of your university setting. Speak to your university communications teams and see if they’ll issue a press release about you joining the scheme or share social media posts. Encourage other catering teams to get involved, and look for chances to speak at conferences or events about your successes and learnings.
