Locally sourced restaurant food in and around Worcester.

locally sourced restaurant food

where do our local restaurants buy their food?

why is locally sourced restaurant food important?

Four reasons. To support our local economy by buying from local producers who employ local people. Because it reduces carbon emissions by minimising the distance food has to travel. It allows restauranteurs the opportunity to easily visit their suppliers to ensure quality of supply. And because customers like to eat locally sourced food.

where do the national chain restaurants get their food supplies?

Some use local suppliers for certain ingredients. Larger local suppliers that can offer consistency of supply are often used. The larger the chain gets, the more consistency becomes important. This is when you start to hear about national supply chains, regional distribution hubs, and centralised distribution networks. These larger supply chains give the national chains consistency of supply and quality. Whoa!!!! Quality? Not necessarily the best quality, but certainly consistent quality. Menu items are sometimes cooked en masse and then frozen ready for reheating at individual restaurants. This further increases consistency by removing the individuality of the chef.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with national chain restaurants. They serve a purpose. Their food is fine, often good, and usually consistent. When eating away from home it is often easier to choose a restaurant you are familiar with. Take children with you and consistency can be good. That reassurance that you know there is food on the menu they will like certainly reduces the stress of eating out with children.

where restaurants buy their food and drink

Burger Shop, Worcester

Of the restaurants I have reviewed, the first to mention is Burger Shop, Worcester. Why? Because they have taken the trouble to create a page on their website specifically to provide this information. Burger Shop, Worcester is part of A Rule of Tum who own four restaurants in Hereford and Worcester. Their sourcing is more Hereford way – but still what I consider local, especially for their Hereford restaurants. From the organic and free-range poultry of Springfield Poultry to the sausages from Farmer Tom Jones, local sourcing is obviously important to Burger Shop. Ironically, it is Worcester company, Method Coffee Roasters (under the arches in Cherry Tree Walk), that supply Burger Shop’s sister restaurant The Bookshop in Hereford.

Tap House, Hartlebury

The Tap House, Hartlebury seem particularly keen on supporting local suppliers with a large list of nearby companies. Fresh fruit and vegetables come from W. H. Grinnall of Stourport and their meat supplies from Taylors Catering Foods of Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove. The Tap House’s closest supplier is probably MDB Promotions in Hartlebury who print the menus. Coffee machines and supplies are provided by Bromsgrove company Complete Refreshment Solutions. However, we now get onto the interesting bit which deserves a paragraph of it own.

You will see from my Tap House dinner review that they have an on-site brewery and I did enjoy their Rambo Mango ale. The pub and restaurant serve both their own ales and a selection of ales from local supppliers. To start, they source the hops from Charles Faram Hop Merchants and Factors in Malvern. The Charles Faram website has a really interesting ‘info’ section with the ‘about us‘ page showing that they originally had a base in the Hop Market in Worcester city centre. This website is well worth a visit.

The good selection of guest ales on offer at the Tap House comes from various local suppliers. They stock HPA and the wonderful Butty Bach from the Wye Valley Brewery, Stoke Lacy, Hereford and LWC Drinks Ltd of Leominster (a national company but with a local depot) supply their Robinsons Cider. Even closer to home, the Tap House stock Enville Ale from Stourbridge brewer Enville Ales Limited and from Hobsons Brewery Co in Cleobury Mortimer they source their Town Crier Ale.

The Bell Inn, Broadheath

No local independent restaurant should be serving eggs that are not free range. At least, that’s what I think. The Bell Inn, Lower Broadheath buy their free range eggs from a local farmer – the same local farmer that has supplied them for over thirteen years. St. John’s company, D&M Meats supply the Bell Inn with their meat produce and their fruit and veg is from Housewives Choice (Three Counties Produce) of Worcester. A really interesting comment from Lyndsey at The Bell is, “We are fortunate that we have locals who have allotments and will supply us with some vegetables as well as fresh herbs.”

The Fox & Hounds, Lulsley

The Fox & Hounds country pub, halfway between Worcester and Bromyard, takes the issue of locally sourced produce seriously. So much so, their website has a map showing their local suppliers.

Suppliers include the very local Knightwick Butchers and Bennett’s Ice Cream. Other produce, including fruit and vegetables, comes from Pershore Produce and Total Produce, Hereford.

Their ales and ciders are produced by the Swan Brewery, Ledbury Real Ales, Goff’s Brewery, Snails Bank, Weston’s Cider, and Three Tuns Brewery. Their spirit supplier is the Bewdley company, Wildjac.

One supplier of particular interest to me is the Wye Valley Brewery. I say this as I adore their HPA and Butty Bach ales.

where can I eat this food?

The restaurants mentioned above that I have reviewed are: