ICC Birmingham has been awarded the RaisingNutrition accreditation, becoming the first UK venue to achieve the status.
The accreditation recognises businesses that have made a commitment to raising nutritional standards in their food offering.
RaisingNutrition will help the ICC Birmingham ensure the venue’s catering supports delegate health, wellbeing and productivity, management says. This would include providing nutritional training for key colleagues within the business, as well as redesigning the purchasing and menu development process with nutrition at the forefront.
Craig Hancox, general manager for food and beverage at the ICC, said: “We pride ourselves on the first-class catering offering we provide at the ICC and remain committed to the quality of our service delivery, food and beverage and sustainability credentials.
“Gaining this accreditation is the next step on our journey, understanding both the positive influence we can have on our delegates’ wellbeing and the importance of nutrition.
“It will touch every part of our catering offer and is a huge step for us, from serving 130,000 delegates per year, to redeveloping our staff dining facility at the venue. We want to use it as an opportunity to educate customers on the value of nutrition.”
As part of the accreditation, the ICC has reviewed how food and beverage choices are displayed, developing food markers that denote nutritional dishes so visitors can easily understand their nutritional impact. As well as this, all set menu proposals have been optimised to promote fruit and vegetable intake and the reduction of salt and sugar volumes.
The venue has also secured recent accreditation by the Vegetarian Society on more than 100 vegan dishes.
