The Bristol Eating Better Business Award is a free award for food businesses that make and sell food directly to customers. For example:
- restaurants
- takeaways
- cafes and coffee shops
- mobile food vans
- market stall holders
You must:
- be registered as a food business with us, or
- be registered outside of Bristol but trade in Bristol, for example as a market trader
- have a Food Hygiene Rating of 4 or 5
The award is made up of 12 objectives, crossing 3 themes.
- Healthier eating: taking action to provide more healthy food.
- Sustainability: taking action to make your food offering more sustainable.
- Sustainability and community: taking action to support the local economy, communicating, training and working with others.
When you fill out an application form, each objective has a set of actions you could take to show your commitment to providing healthier options and being more sustainable. Some actions are described as 'core actions'. Core actions are the actions all businesses should be taking to achieve an award. For example:
- providing free drinking water
- making fruit and vegetables part of every meal
There are also a range of additional actions for each objective. Check award levels for how many actions you need to complete to achieve each level. For these actions, you might need to think more about how you prepare food and the products you buy. For example, buy:
- fish that is sustainably caught or responsibly farmed
- products that use sustainable packaging
Use our pdf Bristol Eating Better Business Award core action checklist (121 KB) to make sure you're doing all the core actions (where applicable to your business) and if you're eligible for an award.
The more actions you commit to, the higher level of award you can achieve. There are 3 award levels:
Bronze award
To achieve the bronze award, you need to:
- do the 27 core actions
- commit to another 8 actions of your choice
In total, you need to commit to 35 actions.
Silver award
To achieve the silver award, you need to:
- do the 27 core actions
- commit to another 22 actions of your choice, this needs to include at least 5 actions from the healthier eating objectives (objectives 1-6) and at least 5 actions from the sustainability and sustainability and community objectives (objectives 7-12)
In total, you need to commit to 49 actions.
Gold award
To achieve the gold award, you need to:
- do the 27 core actions
- commit to another 36 actions of your choice, this needs to include at least 10 actions from the healthier eating objectives (objectives 1-6) and at least 10 actions from the sustainability and sustainability and community objectives (objectives 7-12)
In total, you need to commit to 63 actions.
Before you apply
- Your award is valid for two years.
- We'll ask you to re-apply when it runs out.
- We conduct annual auditing where we visit randomly selected businesses to discuss the actions you're taking and review your food offering.
The application process relies on your honesty. You'll need to:
- know about the working practices of your kitchen, for example what ingredients and cooking methods you use
- have permission from the owner of the business to make any agreed changes
- know an estimate of how many customers you serve in a day
Apply now
Apply for the Bristol Eating Better Business Award
See our pdf pdf printable example form (1.27 MB) to help you plan your application.
If your business has more than one site, apply using the spreadsheet multiple site application form (31 KB) . Email your form to bristoleatingbetter@bristol.gov.uk
We look forward to hearing about the actions you take.
Email us at bristoleatingbetter@bristol.gov.uk for a copy of your previous application if you need it, or if you need any support with your application.
We have further information about each of the Bristol Eating Better Award objectives:
- in our pdf Guidance document (904 KB)
- on Business Award objectives
- pdf supplementary guidance for adult social care settings (145 KB)
The information has:
- hints and tips about how to apply the objective in a food business
- nutritional information and evidence to support each of the objectives
You can use this information when you're filling in the application form, or as a guide to improving your products.
We aim to assess your application within 3 weeks and may contact you for more information. If you're successful, we'll send you an award pack with:
- a window sticker for your business
- a Bristol Eating Better Award logo to use on your website or elsewhere
- a hard copy of your certificate with what you're doing or are going to do to make your food healthier and more sustainable
- a PDF of your certificate
- the terms and conditions of the award
We'll also:
- add your business to the Awarded businesses page on this website
- promote your business on our social media channels
- promote your business to event organisers if you cater for this market
