Office café to provide three meals a day from September
Travers Smith has become the latest law firm to step up its sustainability efforts, with its office canteen to provide free meals for its workers in a bid to minimise food waste.
The City player will provide limited evening dinning this summer before a full launch in September for all its workers — lawyers and business service professionals alike.
According to Edmund Reed, the firm’s managing partner, the decision is driven by a “desire to create a really enjoyable and fun space where everyone can gather to socialise or work together whilst simultaneously getting great coffee and food.”
But the free grub is also part of a bid to reduce food waste, which the firm says will support its sustainability goals.
Part of this goal sees the firm, which scored an A* for ‘eco-friendliness’ in our latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, operate ‘Meat free Mondays’ and ‘Use up Fridays’.
Use up Fridays, for example, sees the canteen use frozen leftovers into new meals for Friday. This includes straining unused yoghurt to make dips and condiments, or turning leftover bananas into muffins.
Commenting on the initiative, Reed said:
“Not charging for meals has also allowed us to focus on food which is both delicious and healthy meaning not only do our people eat well, but as a business we produce minimal waste which supports our sustainability goals.”
In the recent years, the legal profession has pushed sustainability efforts further than ever before, with a raft of City firms announcing lower carbon targets. Reed Smith also recently rolled out its ‘industry-first’ policy of counting ‘sustainability hours’ towards billing targets.
