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Sustainability

Thomas Franks harnesses the power of our network to drive positive social and environmental change.

We offer a wide range of health, nutrition and environmental education programmes, partner platforms and consultancy to our clients to drive understanding and collective stakeholder action towards our shared sustainability goals.

We work with sustainable suppliers local and regional to our client locations, to reduce food miles, source seasonally and enhance local economic development. And through the Thomas Franks Foundation, we are committed to tacking food poverty by feeding those in need from surplus food across the UK and Europe.

Our mission is to bring to life what it means to be a truly ethical caterer at every level of our business.

Six Pillars Clients

GOOD GOVERNANCE

We partner with our clients to create a network of ethical impact.

An ethical cater at our heart, through our board composition, diversity, and codes of conduct we will live and breathe ethical business and good governance. We set joint ESG targets with our clients, investing in climate innovation and measuring the things that really matter. Our ESG Pulse Check allows us to analyse what is working effectively and predict future developments.

Six Pillars True Family

TRUE FAMILY CULTURE

We are diversifying our workforce and building sustainable leadership.

Thomas Franks has a long heritage of innovative programmes around employee health and wellbeing, skills-based training, leadership development and apprenticeships. We are honing our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategies, and using this as the basis of our employee development programmes. We secured Platinum Accreditation from Investors in People in 2025 and are working towards B Corp certification.

Six Pillars Health And Nutrition

HEALTH & NUTRITION

We put health and nutrition at the core of our offer.

We source the very best local, ethical ingredients for the food we serve and all our menus are nutritionally balanced. Our specialist nutritionists work closely with the ESG team to develop innovative workshops and education programmes around low sugar and natural diets, seasonal plant-based nutrition and health, mental wellbeing, and nutrition for elite performance athletes.

Sustainability Environmental Leadership

ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP

We value positive environmental impact as much as we value financial and operational efficiency.

Our ESG Team works with our extended partner network to support clients with environmental initiatives. We work to save time, money and carbon, and are working on a realistic plan to be Net Zero by 2040. To achieve this we work closely with clients on energy, waste and water efficiency projects, food waste reduction and environmental education programmes. We are ISO 14001, Ecovadis, Bronze Food For Life and Planet Mark certified.

Six Pillars Ethical Local Suppliers

ETHICAL LOCAL SUPPLY CHAINS

We work with ethical, family-owned suppliers across the UK and around the world.

Since our foundation, we have proudly worked with independent, ethical suppliers. Using local, family-owned companies allows us to develop mutually beneficial relationships whilst also reducing food miles and, by extension, our carbon footprint. Throughout 2025, we are working closely with our supplier network to set joint environmental and social impact targets. These will address a wide range of ESG challenges from reducing packaging to analysing human rights and food system risks.

Six Pillars Community

CHARITY & COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

We work collaboratively with clients and partners to support people who need us.

Through the Thomas Franks Foundation, we work with more than 300 registered charities, social enterprises, and community groups. Our Feeding Communities programme has delivered more than three million meals to the most vulnerable people in society. In 2024, we achieved a World Record for making 79,000 meals in one day. In 2025, we will continue to develop meaningful partnerships with charities in target geographies, roll out a series of Seasonal Surplus events, and offer more employee and client volunteering opportunities to drive social and environmental impact.

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