ICC Birmingham achieves RaisingNutrition accreditation

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, by embedding nutrition into practices to enable healthier food choices for visitors.

RaisingNutrition will form a crucial part of the ICC’s food ethos, ensuring the venue’s catering supports delegate health, wellbeing and productivity. This includes 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, no stone has been left unturned. We want to use it as an opportunity to educate customers on the value of nutrition, as well as informing the choices our clients make.

“We have been inspired by the RaisingNutrition team who are able to offer us the support, knowledge and insight to take this step.”

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.

This is designed to work in tandem with the venue’s existing developments in menu creation, including the recent accreditation by the Vegetarian Society on more than 100 vegan dishes.

Jenna Mosimann, CEO of RaisingNutrition, said: “The team at the ICC has shown a real commitment to integrating nutrition further into their food offering and wider sustainability agenda.

“They understand that nutritious food, and making healthier food choices easy and appealing, can really support their delegates and colleagues in working well and feeling well. Ultimately, we want to help create great tasting food that is good for health and wellbeing that benefits everyone.”

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