Sourcing our produce

As the industry's largest supplier of fresh food, Compass is perfectly positioned to purchase its food responsibly - and offer value for money.

Market-leading advantages

We deliver quality, service and value for money in the following ways:

• Our specialist team of buyers work to source the freshest, seasonally available produce.
• Our buying team has over 500 years of food service, retail and specialist market experience; we are an industry-leading team.
• Our auctions and tender processes constantly challenge the cost base of our offer and sometimes draw on our international reach to ensure we achieve the best value for money for our clients.
• We source our core ingredients from the best suppliers across the globe for rice, pasta, cooking oil, sugar, coffee, champagne and many more.

Sourcing our food

As the industry's biggest supporter of UK farmers, Compass is committed to providing British-sourced produce. We have a strong commitment to sourcing the following British products:

• All our fresh beef is British and all our fresh poultry is British Red Tractor Farm Assured.
• We purchase 39 million eggs a year, all British sourced with the Lion Mark.
• All our meat can be traced back to the farms from which it was sourced. We can supply regional and special breeds such as Welsh lamb, Scottish beef, Gloucester Old Spot pork, Gressingham duck. We also supply a range of other regional meats such as venison, where clients request it.
• All our fresh milk is sourced from the UK, working with individual farms or co-operatives. Where we use organic milk, we source through Rachel's Dairy in Wales.
• All our root vegetables are sourced from the UK (where seasonality and quality allow).
• We can source bread and regional bakery products from over 230 artisan bakers across the country.

Our responsibilities

Compass is committed to addressing the impact our business makes on the communities in which we work, and the world in which we live with the purchasing of our produce. We do this in the following ways:

• We have links at a senior management level with national bodies such as Defra, English Food and Farming Partnership, the Soil Association, Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative, the Institute of Grocery Distributors (IGD), Business in the Community and WRAP.
• We aim to minimise our food miles by using a centralised distribution channel. Through our work in Ireland, we have reduced our miles by over 1.4 million per year.
• We are a true ambassador for Fairtrade as all of the bananas we sell are 100% Fairtrade. In 2008 Compass Group's customers ate an astonishing 8.5 million Fairtrade bananas. We were the first foodservice operator to purchase only Fairtrade bananas and we can offer clients a totally Fairtrade solution if they wish.
• We endorse the Farm Animal Welfare Council's Five Freedoms concept.
• We offer organic menus through our range of Soil Association accredited products.