Foodservice & Restaurant Toolkit
We only get one portion of veg for every four meals eaten out of home.
How you can help
- Add more veg to existing dishes
- Offer new exciting veg-based dishes
- Make veg the default side dish
- Make healthy choices your menu focus
- Make a big deal of your salad bars
- Offer appealing veg options as part of children’s menus
Best Practice
Take baseline of veg purchased from last year*
Set a goal for an increase in portions**
Monitor your progress
Calculate your veg portion or sales***
Report your success to us each year
Celebrate your achievements!
* From procurement or sales data: the Peas Please definition of veg excludes white potatoes, but does include salad products and fresh, frozen and tinned vegetables, as well as those veg such as tomatoes that are botanically classified as fruit but nutritionally classified as veg. Pulses are included in the definition of veg only where they are part of composite products in line with the Eatwell Guide.
** Portion size 80g for adults. 50g for children. If you cannot split adult vs children use 80g.
*** You can calculated your total increase in portions, total increase in veg procured or % increase in veg sales.
Case Studies
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Resources
Produced by Compass and Footprint, takes an evidence driven approach and makes a series of suggestions to adjust the choice architecture in food settings to support customers to make healthier choices.
For example: They say: “People tend to order what’s easy and takes the least effort, so it’s worth making the default side a healthier choice, for example by offering salads or vegetables as standard instead of fries. After all, the customer still has the choice to change the salad or vegetables back to fries."
Public Health England gives tips on providing healthier food and beverages to children and families.
For example their tips include:
- Helping different businesses to procure healthier food from their suppliers
- Practical changes businesses can make when preparing, cooking and serving food
- Advice on promoting food to help customers make healthier choices
- Supporting businesses to align with the Eatwell Guide and 5-a-day advice
A great little handy guide developed by the Sustainable Restaurant Association for getting two portions of veg included in every kids meal.
Their tactics include:
- Kids love to feel in control so allowing them to choose is still important – just make sure all the options include veg
- Don’t make a song and dance out of it – all options have veg in because, well why wouldn’t they?
- Take advantage of the fact that kids arrive hungry by serving some raw veg or salad first, while they wait
- Try to think about simple swaps you can make, like sweet potatoes rather than potatoes
- Are there ways to get veg in under the radar? For example, extra veg in pasta or pizza sauces, leeks or cauliflower in mac and cheese…
Developed by the British Hospitality Association and provides tips for improving healthy choices and legal compliance.
For example, page 11 has a whole list of fruit and veg tips including:
- Increase the vegetable content of curries, casseroles, pasta dishes, lasagne and sauces by including diced and pureed vegetables in the recipe
- Offer a range of undressed, colourful and varied salads as side dishes
- Promote fruit and vegetables as a snack or in your meal deals, such as vegetable sticks and dips
- Add grated fruit or vegetables in an innovative way to home baking e.g. courgette, beetroot or carrot etc. Increase the number and variety of vegetarian main courses available
- Add extra toppings of vegetables like mushrooms, sweetcorn, red onions, spinach and tomatoes to pizzas
- Increase vegetable consumption by offering a wider variety, try presenting broccoli with carrots and green beans
