1. EU Funding and How to Support the
Acquisition of Skills and Knowledge Among
College Catering & Hospitality Students
Author: Dee John, Executive Director, Corporate
College and Megan Saunders, Project
Coordinator, Local Food Project
Prepared for: AOC Conference
Date: July 2014

2. Today’s Session
• EU Funding Support Locally
• The Project
• Sustainability in the Catering Curriculum
• Actions Highbury have taken

3. EU Funding Support Locally
• Passion for food + Gap in curriculum + Wessex
Enterprise support
• ERDF funded through INTERREG IVa
• Jan 2013 - June 2015
• DEAL Project (Economic Development through Local
Food)
• Match funded by Highbury College
• 11 project partners between Southern England and
Northern France

4. Aims and Objectives
• Understand context & challenges on both sides of the
Channel
• Identify good practice
• Develop methods for research & diagnosis of current
supply & demand
• Implement awareness raising actions & training to key
local stakeholders
• Work with the supply chain, help prepare producers &
suppliers to meet growing demand
“Support sustainable economic development
through thriving local food economies.”

5. How is Highbury involved in the project?
• Leader of outcomes related to training:
– Students
– Community and families
– Policy makers
– Producers, artisans and food businesses
– Food Service Industry

6. What has it allowed us to do?
• Tutorials
• Trips
• Teaching materials
• Special events
• Community Outreach and Engagement
• Employer Engagement
• Supplier Engagement

7. • 31% of our personal
impact on the climate is
due to food and farming
• Think about food across
5 thematic areas:
– health and wellbeing,
– environmental
sustainability,
– local economic prosperity,
– resilient communities
(skills and access to
assets),
– fairness in the food chain

8. Small changes add up!
• Food Waste
• Food Miles
• Recycling
• Water Use
• Energy Use
• Seasonal and Local Produce
• Independent Businesses
• Communicating Messages
• Fair Wages

9. Waste
• WRAP estimates that UK Hospitality businesses
pay around £1.02 billion a year buying food that is
subsequently wasted.

10. What is ‘Local Food’?

11. • No one definition
• Can mean different things to different people
• 5 miles, 30 miles, 100 miles?!
• Organic or industrial?
• Fresh or processed?

13. Embedding into curriculum
Unit 701 – Investigating the catering and hospitality industry
• Key influences, social trends, tourism etc - Demand for locally sourced food,
grass-fed meats, free-range poultry.
• Identify what the assurance scheme labels mean
Unit 202 – Food Safety in Catering
• Deliveries - Journey of food from farm to fork, Traceability, Food miles and CO2
impact
• Rotation: Food Waste Management
Unit 704 – Healthier Foods and Special Diets
• Benefits of healthier ingredients and types, Fresh produce in season, Food
origins, Organic vs conventional
Unit 705 – Catering operations, costs and menu planning
• Identify trends in food production operations - Food Policy, imports/exports,
Fair prices to farmers
• Menus - State origins of food, Seasonality, Sourcing and purchasing,
Local options

14. What We’re Doing

15. Catering Student Visits
“I’ve never been this close to a cow before!”
– Level 3 Catering student
Foraging for Food: The Seasons

16. Exploring
Food and
Farming

17. Artisan Producers

18. The Journey of Food:
Warehousing and Distribution

19. Exploring
Influences on
Taste

22. Creating the Portsmouth
Food Partnership
The first ever Food
Policy Council was
created over 30
years ago in the US.

23. “We’re better, connected”
• 32 Member Cities
• Alliance of Public, Private and 3rd
Sector organisations
• Recognises good practice over last
15-20 years across UK
• Help people and places to share
challenges, explore practical
solutions and develop best practice

24. Teaching Resources Toolkit
• 79 pages on sustainability, local food and
topical issues
• Lesson Plans
• Teaching Notes
• Activity Sheets
• Fact Sheets
• Links to interactive online tools
• Reading lists
• Links to videos and documentaries
Only £95!
Take home today or by mail!

25. Any questions?
Thank you for listening!