Bel & The Dragon is delighted to announce that it is introducing Grassroots beef onto its menus. Grassroots beef is farmed using methods that have less of an impact on the planet.
Grassroots beef will be used in the majority of the beef dishes on the Bel & The Dragon menus. Founded by Alastair Trickett, James Evans and James Daniel, Grassroots is a collective of farmers that provides a supply of beef from farms that have been audited and certified to Grassroots’ regenerative farming standards. Grassroots beef is independently assessed using the Farm Carbon Toolkit – which measures carbon emissions. The toolkit found that beef from Grassroots farms produces half the amount of carbon compared with typical beef herds in the UK.
Grassroots incorporates six principles within its standards – including animal welfare and protecting the local environment. When farmed following all six principles, the beef produced not only has less impact on the planet, but it is also extremely high quality – elevating Bel & The Dragon’s premium dishes, such as its beef short rib crumpet.
The Grassroots beef on the menus at Bel & The Dragon is supplied through Thorner’s – a master butchers that provide the finest cuts of meat, which are ethically sourced and traceable from sustainable farms. Thorner’s parent company, Hunt’s Food Group, is a certified B Corp.
Oliver Rosevear, Fuller’s Sustainability Director, said: “I’m so excited to see Grassroots beef on Bel & The Dragon menus. Beef accounts for over a quarter of our Scope 3 carbon emissions – so it’s important to look at how we can continue to serve our customers the high-quality dishes they expect, while reducing our impact on the planet.
“As an organisation, we have a responsibility to support our customers’ own sustainability journeys by lowering the environmental impact of the food we serve to them. We have worked closely with our suppliers for years to always offer our customers high quality beef which is locally sourced and reared to high animal welfare standards. One of our values is always asking what’s next? – so with this in mind, we started exploring new technologies and practices to help with our journey to Net Zero. This led to Grassroots and its more sustainable farming practices.
“Fuller’s is committed to achieve Net Zero on or before 2040 – with a commitment to be Net Zero for operational emissions by 2030. In 2021, we joined 27 other hospitality businesses to create the Zero Carbon Forum – and this partnership with Grassroots is a product of that forum. We saw the amazing work it has done with other companies in our sector and were keen to see if we could make it work at Fuller’s.
“Bel & The Dragon is the perfect group of sites to trial Grassroots beef – six beautiful English Inns renowned for premium food and drink. Not only is Grassroots beef good for the planet, but the quality is incredible. As Grassroots beef becomes more readily available to us, we hope to roll it out further across our estate – allowing us to further reduce our carbon emissions.”
Alastair Trickett, co-founder of Grassroots, said: “Seeing Grassroots beef on the Bel & The Dragon menus is hugely exciting. It marks the culmination of months of hard work to build the business case and design the supply route. We’re hugely grateful to the passionate and purposeful leadership within Fuller’s that has made this possible and we hope that where Fuller’s leads, others will follow. We’re all looking forward to seeing where, within the group, our beef will be served next.”
Daniel Snook, Commercial Director of Hunt’s Food Group, added: “It’s great to work with Grassroots and Fuller’s to help get more sustainable beef on the menus at Bel & The Dragon. We have worked with Fuller’s for a while now and we’re delighted to see that sustainability is so important to the business. Grassroots beef is a great step for Fuller’s to take on its journey to Net Zero. We look forward to seeing where our partnership with Fuller’s and Grassroots will take us next.”
