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Sustainable catering

Birkbeck’s catering was brought in-house in 2023. Since then, our in-house team have made significant improvements in the sustainability of catering across the Birkbeck campus at its three main locations:

  • Malet Street Coffee Company on the ground floor of Malet Street
  • Terrace 5 Restaurant on the 5th Floor of Malet Steet
  • Birkbeck Central Cafe on the ground floor of the Student Central building

Plant-based options

All coffee and tea sold onsite comes with the option of switching from dairy milk to plant-based alternatives at no extra cost. A 100% plant-based hospitality menu is available via room bookings. This is available for both internal and external room bookings. At least one-third of each day’s menus are made up of vegan and vegetarian options. A range of vegan, vegetarian, and ‘free from’ sandwiches, wraps, and warm snacks are available from Malet Street Coffee Company and Birkbeck Central Cafe daily.

Waste and recycling

Birkbeck’s cafes offer a ‘bring your own cup discount’ of 50p per drink (check discount), with the aim of encouraging people to bring their own cups to reduce the number of disposable cups used. Reusable cups are available to purchase from Birkbeck’s cafes. These cost £7.50 and include your first drink free at the time of purchase. China cups are now offered as default in the new Birkbeck Central Cafe, to reduce the number of disposable coffee cups used onsite. All food waste produced in kitchens has been collected and sent to anaerobic digestion since 2023. As of April 2025, food waste caddies are available in all student lounges and kitchenettes for staff and student use with the aim of reducing the amount of food waste previously included with our general waste, and to improve our recycling rates. Waste oil from the Terrace 5 restaurant is collected and recycled into biofuel via Olleco.

Sustainable procurement

Birkbeck procures all its food via TUCO, who provide procurement frameworks, training, and industry insights to support sustainable practices in catering: Welcome to TUCO | TUCO. All our fruit and veg comes from Angry Monk. This company offers ‘wonky veg’ and surplus food to its customers, reducing the amount of produce that ends up becoming food waste.