Sustainability has moved from the appendix to the scorecard.
Across corporate, education, healthcare, and public sector catering, sustainability is now a formal part of how tenders are evaluated. Buyers are no longer asking whether caterers care about sustainability. They’re asking how it’s measured, how it’s reported, and whether the data holds up under scrutiny.
For caterers responding to tenders today, understanding how sustainability is assessed is just as important as price, quality, and service delivery.
This article breaks down how sustainability is typically evaluated in corporate catering tenders, what procurement teams look for, and where many proposals still fall short.
While scoring models vary by sector and buyer, sustainability requirements in catering tenders tend to follow a similar structure. Instead of vague commitments, procurement teams increasingly assess suppliers on a set of concrete criteria.
• Coverage of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
• Ingredient sourcing and menu composition
• Evidence of how emissions are calculated
• Ongoing tracking and reporting, not one-off figures
• Transparency and verification of data
Sustainability is rarely assessed in isolation. It’s often weighted alongside nutrition, cost control, and operational resilience, which means weak sustainability data can pull down an otherwise strong bid.
For food businesses, emissions don’t mainly come from buildings or vehicles; they come from food.
Ingredient production, processing, transport, and packaging typically account for the majority of a catering operation’s climate impact. That’s why Scope 3 emissions are now central to how sustainability is evaluated in food-related tenders.
From a buyer’s perspective, Scope 3 data answers a simple question: does this supplier understand the real impact of their food choices? Without it, sustainability reporting only shows part of the picture.
This has become even more relevant as reporting requirements tighten under frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which places greater emphasis on value chain emissions and traceable data.
Not all Scope 3 reporting is created equal. Procurement teams don’t just look for a number; they look for signals of credibility and consistency.
• Ingredient-level emissions data rather than high-level averages
• Clear system boundaries and assumptions
• Consistent methodology across sites and contracts
• Data that can be reused in the client’s own ESG or CSRD reporting
Scope 3 data that can’t be explained, compared, or updated over time is difficult for buyers to rely on, especially when they are accountable for downstream reporting themselves.
Policies and strategy documents matter, but menus often matter more.
Menus show how sustainability plays out in practice. They reveal ingredient choices, portion balance, and whether climate considerations are embedded in everyday decisions or kept at arm’s length.
For procurement teams reviewing multiple bids, menu-level sustainability is easier to assess and compare than high-level statements.
• Low-emission dish options across meal categories
• Clear CO₂ values or categories that non-specialists can understand
• Alignment between stated sustainability goals and actual menus
In many tenders, menus are now used as proof points. They make sustainability visible and tangible, especially for stakeholders who aren’t climate experts.
Even experienced caterers lose points on sustainability for avoidable reasons.
Where catering proposals often fall short:
• Reporting only Scope 1 and 2 emissions
• Using generic industry averages instead of food-specific data
• Making sustainability claims without numbers to support them
• Submitting static PDFs that can’t be tracked or updated
These gaps make it harder for procurement teams to compare suppliers and increase the perceived risk of choosing a bid.
Strong sustainability sections tend to share a few characteristics, regardless of sector or client.
They are:
• Clear and data-backed
• Consistent across sites and contracts
• Easy to compare with other suppliers
• Designed to support ongoing reporting, not just tender submission
From a procurement perspective, sustainability becomes far more valuable when it’s operational, repeatable, and easy to integrate into existing reporting processes.
Sustainability requirements in catering tenders are still evolving, but the direction of travel is clear.
As frameworks like the EU Green Public Procurement continue to shape buyer expectations, sustainability data is becoming more standardized, more detailed, and more closely tied to supply chains.
At the same time, commercial pressure is increasing. According to Deloitte, more than half of consumers say sustainability now influences their food and drink choices. That pressure increasingly flows upstream into procurement decisions.
For caterers, sustainability is no longer something to describe. It’s something to demonstrate.
That means:
• Measuring what actually drives food-related emissions
• Presenting sustainability in a way procurement teams can assess
• Making sustainability data usable beyond a single tender
Caterers who treat sustainability as an operational capability rather than a marketing message are better positioned to meet today’s tender requirements and tomorrow’s expectations.
Q: How is sustainability evaluated in corporate catering tenders?
A: Sustainability in corporate catering tenders is typically evaluated based on emissions coverage, ingredient sourcing, menu composition, reporting methodology, and the supplier’s ability to provide ongoing, transparent data.
Q: Do catering tenders require Scope 3 emissions reporting?
A: Many corporate and public sector catering tenders now expect Scope 3 emissions data, particularly for food and ingredient sourcing. This is because Scope 3 often represents the largest share of a caterer’s climate impact.
Q: Why do menus matter in sustainability scoring?
A: Menus show how sustainability is applied in practice. Procurement teams increasingly assess menu composition and dish-level emissions to understand how a caterer’s sustainability strategy translates into everyday operations.
Q: Is sustainability mandatory in catering tenders?
A: Sustainability requirements vary by buyer, sector, and region. In the EU and UK, sustainability is often a formal scoring criterion in catering tenders, especially for public sector and ESG-driven organizations.
Q: How are sustainability expectations changing in catering procurement?
A: Sustainability expectations are becoming more data-driven and standardized, with greater emphasis on comparable metrics, Scope 3 emissions, and alignment with regulatory frameworks such as CSRD.
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