The Better Burger campaign kicked off at the start of February and the aim of the campaign was to educate all our staff and students about buying ethically sourced food.
As part of our specials menu in The Lounge for 6 weeks from the start of February, we introduced a new burger that was ethically sourced under the Red Tractor standards. Being a Red Tractor burger means that the food has been responsibly sourced, safely produced, and comes from crops and animals that have been well cared for – so it’s better for you, the farmers, and the planet. The standards for a Red Tractor beef mean that not only must animals receive a full, healthy diet and be in sufficiently sized housing with access to shelter and a dry lying area but every certified farm must have a farm biosecurity policy to help prevent the spread of disease and protect animal health.
For those that don’t eat meat, as well as the Lone Ranger and the Full of Falafel burgers already on the menu, for these 6 weeks we also introduced a new plant-based burger, Mighty and Meatless.
At the start of our campaign, over the course of an average week we sold on average 13 'Better Burgers' a week. Over the campaign's 6 weeks, we worked on raising awareness for ethically sourced food on social media and in The Lounge. Sharing some fun-facts on our social media channel like, "Skipping meat for one day a week can reduce your annual carbon footprint by as much as not driving your car for a whole month" and "If you swapped to a vegan diet for 1 month, you could save over 100,000 litres of water and 30 animal lives". We also had leaflets on all the tables in The Lounge, so you couldn't miss out on our new, better, burgers.
Now that our campaign has come to and end, we can reveal that our weekly average of 'Better Burger' meals rose to 30 meals in a week, which is a great improvement. It's great to see you're all enjoying the more ethical options so we're now going to work with our catering team to try and make our ethical burger a permanent item on our menu.