Framework
THE FOOD MADE GOOD STANDARD IS A GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR HOSPITALITY.
This evaluation of operations defines what ‘good’ looks like for restaurants in today’s world, rewards action over intention and provides businesses with a thorough and tailored action plan for improvement.
By completing the Food Made Good Standard, you join a movement of like-minded organisations working to create a socially progressive and environmentally restorative hospitality sector.
BELOW, YOU'LL FIND AN OVERVIEW OF THE FOOD MADE GOOD FRAMEWORK AND DETAILS OF THE SCORING METHODOLOGY USED IN ASSESSMENTS.
The Food Made Good Framework
When we say the Standard is “holistic” or “360-degree”, these aren’t just buzzwords. We believe sustainability should be embedded into every element of how a foodservice operations, going far beyond carbon tracking or food waste. That’s what makes Food Made Good the global gold Standard for hospitality.
Food Made Good evaluates action across three pillars: Sourcing, Society and Environment. Within each pillar, we focus on a number of key impact areas; these are explained below in more detail, along with information about our scoring methodology.
Sourcing
CELEBRATE PROVENANCE
The Celebrate Provenance section focuses on where your ingredients come from and how you work with your suppliers and your supply chain. We encourage businesses to choose suppliers who actively work to protect the environment and to buy products that are environmentally positive, traceable, local and seasonal.
Provenance is about the story behind the food. This includes knowing where and how it was grown, raised, caught or made, as well as who was responsible for doing so. Understanding who your suppliers are and how your food was produced allows you to identify where you can take action on improving your sustainability.
SUPPORT FARMERS & FISHERS
Support Farmers & Fishers looks at how you support the people behind your food. We focus on fair trading practices, paying particular attention to products where the risk of human rights abuses is higher, and encouraging long term relationships where farmers and fishers earn a decent living and their human rights are respected.
Responsible sourcing means buying from ethical sources that minimise the impact they have on the world. A key part of this is taking care of the real people who grow, gather and harvest the produce you buy, as well as the communities they are part of. It means guaranteeing a living income for producers and supporting fair trading practices. Ensuring farmers and fishers can live and work in safe, fair, and dignified conditions is essential — not only for their wellbeing, but also for the resilience of our food systems and the health of our planet.
MORE PLANTS, BETTER MEAT
More Plants, Better Meat aims to increase the consumption of plant-based foods and reduce meat consumption. While the goal is to promote plant-based diets, we don’t expect restaurants to stop serving meat completely. We support a shift towards plant-rich diets with limited amounts of animal products. When restaurants do serve meat, it should be high quality and raised in the best possible conditions.
Meat and dairy are major contributors to climate change — accounting for up to 37% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions — as well as driving pollution, water use, land use change and deforestation. Research shows that eating more plants and less meat has a significant impact on human health. Shifting how much meat appears on our menus and encouraging the adoption of a healthier, more plant-based diet can help transform our food system and our health.
SOURCE SEAFOOD SUSTAINABLY
Source Seafood Sustainably focuses on ensuring that the seafood you source is caught or farmed in a manner that protects marine and freshwater ecosystems and does not come from biologically unsustainable stocks, such as overfished or endangered species.
Around 35% of seafood species are estimated to be fished at unsustainable levels, and up to one-in-five fish caught globally to be sourced from illegal and unregulated fishing. This contributes to overfishing, ecosystem damage, and even human rights abuses, threatening the resilience of our food systems and the health of our planet. Sourcing traceable, sustainable seafood helps protect marine ecosystems, fish stocks and the people working across the supply chain.
Society
TREAT STAFF FAIRLY
The Treat Staff Fairly section aims to ensure your staff are treated fairly and that their working conditions are better than statutory minimums. In doing so, we aim to encourage you to create working environments where your staff feel safe, valued and supported, ensuring hospitality is a sector where people can see themselves building rewarding long-term careers.
Treating staff fairly matters, first and foremost, for ethical reasons: most of us spend a significant part of our lives at work, and everyone deserves to work in a safe, fair and encouraging environment. It also makes good business sense. Treating staff well helps reduce turnover, makes recruitment easier, and improves wellbeing and health, all of whichhave a positive knock-on effect on your bottom line.
FEED PEOPLE WELL
The goal of Feed People Well is to promote healthy eating and drinking, in line with EAT-Lancet Commission and WHO guidelines. We look at how your business is working to create dishes that are not just delicious, but healthy and nutritious too. We encourage restaurants to design menus in line with scientific or public health guidelines and to promote healthier menu choices to diners.
The destruction of our environment is unfolding side by side with a global public health crisis. Rising obesity rates are driving cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Meanwhile, research continues to confirm that what’s good for our health, in general, is the same as what’s good for the environment. F&B businesses sit at the crossroads between consumers and producers, with the opportunity to ensure that the average diet becomes one that is good for people and the planet, and that this is accessible to all.
SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY
In the Support the Community section, we look at how your business relates to its local community, and how you promote local businesses, traditions and food culture. This can include everything from charitable donations to hosting local events; from ensuring your procurement policies support local businesses and heritage to simply ensuring your restaurant is accessible for every customer.
Restaurants are an integral part of the social and economic fabric of a community, giving your business both the opportunity and the responsibility to create a positive impact. Supporting your community strengthens the local economy, sustains local culture and traditions, and builds trust and loyalty with the people you serve. It also means making sure your business is welcoming and accessible to everyone.
Environment
REDUCE YOUR FOOTPRINT
Through Reduce Your Footprint, we encourage you to reduce your environmental footprint — from greenhouse gas emissions to energy use, water use and air, water and chemical pollution — minimising damage to the environment and to human health.
Meeting global climate goals means every industry has to change fast, and hospitality is no exception. From energy-intensive kitchens to heavy water and resource use, the sector leaves a real mark on the climate, water supplies and natural ecosystems. Cutting emissions, water use, energy use and pollution isn't optional; it's both a responsibility and a chance to run a smarter, more sustainable business.
WASTE NO FOOD
The purpose of the Waste No Food section is to encourage you to significantly reduce the amount of food waste you produce and to do as much as possible to reuse and recycle the waste you are unable to avoid. The aim: to make food waste a thing of the past.
Every day, huge volumes of edible food are lost or wasted worldwide, while millions of people go hungry. It’s estimated that around one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted, 28% of which occurs within the foodservice industry. This lost and wasted food accounts for around 10% of global GHG emissions. Producing food that's ultimately thrown away also wastes the land, water, energy and other resources used to grow it. Beyond the social and environmental impacts, food waste also has a direct financial cost for your business.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
In the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle section, we look at what you're doing to tackle non-organic waste (all waste excluding food waste). We start with reduction — the best waste is the waste you never create — then look at how you reuse and recycle what's left. We encourage a circular approach that eliminates single-use items and that diverts anything that can't be reduced, reused or recycled from landfill.
Non-organic waste, especially single-use plastic, damages the environment. We produce around 430 million tonnes of plastic a year, two-thirds of which is only used briefly before being thrown away. Plastic production and disposal accounts for 3.4% of GHG emissions, while millions of tonnes end up in oceans and waterways each year, harming wildlife and entering our food and bodies as microplastics. Recycling isn’t a viable long-term fix; plastic is difficult, costly and energy-intensive to process. Instead, we must focus on circular approaches that reduce and reuse first, eliminating single-use items for good.
Using Your Influence
The Using Your Influence section looks at your work to communicate your commitments and actions to different stakeholder groups. Communications questions used to sit within other sections of the assessment; they've now been consolidated into their own standalone section.
Sharing clear and accessible information improves transparency and accountability, helps spread good practice and can mobilise people to act. For staff and suppliers, understanding your commitments can influence day-to-day decisions, shape operational practice and support a shared sense of purpose. For guests and the wider public, sharing this information can help attract custom, build your brand reputation and potentially even influence others to take positive action elsewhere.
Interested to see how the Food Made Good Standard can benefit your business? Get in touch for a chat!
OUR SCORING SYSTEM
Food Made Good scoring reflects impact and builds on the idea that some practices are natural priorities when setting out on a sustainability journey, and that these lay the foundations for businesses to later take more advanced steps.
Behind the scenes, every question and answer is assessed for its impact (low, medium or high) and how mature the business's approach to sustainability would need to be to take this action (foundational, good, advanced). Both feed into how points are calculated, with higher impact and foundational practices carrying more weight than low impact or more advanced practices. This ensures businesses are rewarded for tackling what matters most, and also for building a solid base before moving on to more advanced work.
HOW THE SCORING TRANSLATES INTO STAR RATINGS
Businesses are awarded between one and three stars, based on their overall average score. To earn a star, a business needs to hit a particular score overall, but also to meet a minimum score in every section. This means a business can't cover up a weak area with a strong one elsewhere. A high score in, say, sourcing can't offset poor performance on employment practices. Every part of the business needs to be pulling its weight.
ONE STAR (50-59%)
The business has demonstrated implementation of foundational sustainability practices across each of the assessed operational areas.
Minimum score of 25% required in every section
TWO STARS (60-69%)
This business has demonstrated consistent sustainability management practices and evidence of implementation across each of the assessed operational areas.
Minimum score of 35% required in every section
THREE STARS (OVER 70%)
This business has demonstrated advanced sustainability practices and measurable progress across each of the assessed operational areas.
Minimum score of 50% required in every section
STRETCH QUESTIONS FOR STRONG PERFORMERS
The Standard includes a set of core and stretch questions in each section of the question set. All businesses are expected to answer the core questions, while stretch questions unlock once a business reaches the three-star threshold on the core set of questions in a section (e.g., Celebrate Provenance).
Stretch questions cover more advanced practice for businesses that already have solid foundations in place, giving strong performers a way to go further. Businesses who haven't unlocked these stretch questions yet can still view them, so they know what to aim for next. Scores in the stretch questions have no bearing on star ratings, which are calculated using core question scores only; instead, stretch questions scores determine whether the business qualifies for Highly Commended status in that section.
Businesses who score three stars in a section and above 70% in that section’s stretch questions receive a Highly Commended recognition for that section. This label recognises exceptional practice and helps businesses to communicate about where they’re going above and beyond.
A Highly Commended rating can be earned in any of the 11 sections of the Food Made Good Framework outlined above. A business could, for example, be rated three stars overall and Highly Commended in Source Seafood Sustainably, reflecting that specific area's performance against the stretch criteria. Businesses can hold Highly Commended status in more than one section at a time and can work towards it in additional sections in future assessment cycles.