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About Us
We're committed to providing a great on-campus catering service for students, staff and visitors
Who we are
Part of Newcastle University, we run multiple cafes and restaurants on campus as well as an Event Catering business to deliver catering for events and conferences.
Pledged to Menus of Change, we provide a wide range of healthy and sustainable products in all of our outlets. Our numerous accreditations display our continued commitment to environmental and social responsibility – working with suppliers who share our values.
All meals and grab-and-go food containing meats allowed within a Halal diet, produced by the University’s Hospitality team, is Halal certified.
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Our values
We are committed to providing an excellent, sustainable service within the local community.
As the University's Catering Service, our key areas of focus are:
- running an environmentally sustainable business
- providing quality, nutritional food and drinks which cater to a variety of diets and lifestyles
- offering excellent value for money to our staff, students and visitors
- delivering a friendly, welcoming service and relaxing facilities to help nourish the wellbeing of our staff and student community
Our food is sourced and purchased in line with the University’s Sustainable Procurement. Producers are vetted on both the quality of their goods and hygiene of their premises.
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Our suppliers
We're cultivating a food supply chain that provides value for money whilst delivering greater economic, social and environmental benefits.
Our suppliers share our core values. They pay particular attention to increasing:
- consumption of healthy and nutritious food
- use of seasonal goods
- the proportion of fairly traded products available
- the proportion of food produced according to a recognised farm assurance standard
And reducing:
- food waste
- packaging waste
- the number of food deliveries made to the catering outlets
Our suppliers also provide reasonable support for University awareness and training schemes, and facilitate relationships between the University and small producers
Becoming a supplier
We welcome opportunities to work with suppliers who share our values and can help us meet our objectives. If you're interested in becoming a supplier, please email purchasing@ncl.ac.uk
Prices and payment methods
Pricing structure
We are a self-funded department and our pricing structure reflects this criteria. We are a non-profit making organisation and do not receive any subsidies.
We aim to provide good value for money at all times. Price comparisons with other universities and similar high street outlets are regularly carried out to ensure that we remain competitive.
Ways to pay
In most of our outlets, you can pay by:
- card
- voucher
- student fob
Vouchers
Most of our outlets accept Event Catering vouchers.
University departments wishing to purchase vouchers should telephone us on 0191 208 6363.
Vouchers may be exchanged for goods of the same or higher price than the face value on payment of the difference. No change will be given if the value of the goods purchased is less than the value of the voucher. Vouchers cannot be exchanged for cash. If not used by the expiry date, vouchers will be cancelled. We do not accept liability for lost, stolen or damaged vouchers.
Sustainability
We recognise our responsibility to carry out catering activities in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
What we believe in
As the University's Catering Service, we are aware of the impact we have on the environment and are continuously introducing solutions to minimise this.
Our food is sourced and purchased in line with the University’s Sustainable Procurement; producers are vetted on both the quality of their goods and hygiene of their premises.
See the sections below to find out what we've done so far to reduce our impact. If you have suggestions or would like to work with us to help us improve, please get in touch at catering@ncl.ac.uk - we'd love to hear from you.
We recognise our responsibility to carry out catering activities in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Fight against plastic
In 2014, we changed our disposable cups to Vegware); whilst regionally we don't currently have the facility to recycle these, when the cups are incinerated, energy is produced. In addition to this:
What we've done so far:
- We are looking at dedicated cup recycling bins, to make composting easier
- We give a 30p discount off the price of hot drinks if you use a suitably sized, reusable cup
- We can sell you a reusable hot drinks cup if you need one - just ask!
- We have replaced plastic cutlery with wooden alternatives in our outlets
- We have removed plastic straws from our offer and encourage the use of reusable ones
- Jugs of tap water or water fountains are freely available in our units where we have appropriate and sufficient space to do so. If the outlet does not have jugs of tap water or a water fountain, the staff are able to direct customers to the nearest University location that does
- We provide enhanced information on recycling to customers, in conjunction with the Sustainability Team, to encourage positive recycling behaviours
- We are actively working towards reducing single-use plastics in our units by replacing products to alternatives in eco-friendly packaging, e.g. replacing water bottles with canned water
Please contact us, if you have any ideas or want to get involved in helping us achieve our vision at catering@newcastle.ac.uk.
Fight against waste
Did you know that over a third of all food produced globally for human consumption goes to waste? We believe that when people are going hungry in the UK and having to use foodbanks, it’s morally unacceptable to produce avoidable food waste and are working on ways to reduce this.
What we've done so far:
- Looking at portion sizes - we now actively advise event organisers to consider what they are providing and to not over purchase. We have also reduced portion sizes to more suitable ones across our hot meals
- Introducing more vegetarian/vegan options to reduce environmental impact
- Through the use of food trays in Event Catering, we encourage the sharing of food leftovers with colleagues and students after events (as long as it's still considered safe to eat)
- In units which are not open at a weekend and food is nearing the end of its shelf life, we move food to units which are open
- We reduce the price of sandwiches nearing use-by dates and we have a Friday treat deal in some units
- We manage waste effectively by following catering industry waste management standards and we have invested in a new electronic stock management system which will help to reduce food waste even further
- Food waste from our production kitchens has been collected and processed via an anaerobic digester since 2014
Red Tractor Farm Assurance
We are members of the Red Tractor Farm Assurance scheme. The scheme encompasses food safety, hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection. Members believe it's important to know where your food comes from, that the basic welfare needs of sheep and cattle must not be compromised at any stage of their lives, and that farmers must ensure that their farming practices do not damage the environment.
The Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is an independent Government department set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food.
Scores on the Doors
This independent consumer information service supports the Food Standards Agency national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS). Our outlets display five stars (the highest rating) but soon the ratings will change to conform to this national scheme. In addition to the FHRS scheme, the Scores on the Doors service will publish additional local authority schemes such as Fair Trade and Healthy Eating.