Sustainability

Food with a fresh perspective

At the University of St Andrews, our cafés and catered accommodation are more than just places to eat—they reflect our deep commitment to sustainability, quality, and community. We proudly source fresh, seasonal produce from local suppliers, ensuring every bite supports both our region and the environment. We’re committed to sustainable food policy and practice throughout all of our catering services and retail outlets across campus.

Every cup of tea or coffee you enjoy is Fairtrade, championing ethical trade and fair conditions for farmers across the world. While our hospitality requires fully packaged food for safety, we take every step to minimize our environmental impact. Our compostable packaging and BRITA water system help reduce waste, lower our carbon footprint, and make sustainable choices easy—one step at a time.

Whether you’re stopping by for breakfast, a light lunch, or a freshly brewed coffee or if catering is part of your accommodation package, we offer a welcoming space to enjoy delicious, responsibly sourced food. Join us in making a difference—one meal, one cup, and one conversation at a time.

Sustainability at every step of the way

We’re proud of our region and use our menus to showcase produce from Fife to our students from all over the world.

We source many of our ingredients from artisan, local, and sustainable producers, and work closely with them, following ingredients on their journey from farm to fork to ensure that every meal consumed at the university is of the highest standard.

Some of our wonderful local suppliers from around Fife include
- Fisher and Donaldson for freshly baked bread and pastries
- Janetta’s Gelateria for ice cream
- Balgove Larder for farm to table meat
The majority of our fresh produce is delivered to us by Brakes in an electric vehicle – a first of its kind in Scotland.

Their local depot – Newhouse, in Dundee – is powered by 2,048 roof-mounted solar panels. This generates enough energy annually to the equivalent of 450,000 miles travelled in a petrol car, or enough to power 243 homes for a year!
We work as closely to a zero-waste policy as possible, utilising a Menu Management and Food Procurement system to plan menus and record our food waste, every service, every day. Any food waste we do have, we send to a local AD plant to be used in waste to energy.

Each of our catered halls has a Student Food Rep and a Sustainability Rep, who work closely with our teams on local initiatives to be carried out across each specific hall, to help meet the sustainability targets and requirements of our staff and students.

We are in the process of moving all of our cooking equipment across all of our catering sites to electric, and are currently sitting at around 60%.