Sustainability Column - Introducing Freemans Event Partners
- 2nd Mar 2026
Last year the Royal International Air Tattoo announced it would join forces with fellow Gloucestershire based business, Freemans Event Partners (FEP) to provide its visitors with a wide range of catering options. In this month’s column, their Chief of Staff, Joe Thornewill explains how sustainability runs through all areas of their work.
At FEP we work closely with every client to promote local sourcing and vendors and as a result, foodservice procurement service has been British Retail Consortium Global Standards (BRCGS) accredited for 11 consecutive years, giving event clients full traceability for the food and drink produce sold across at events, which comes with its own positives.
We operate a stringent sourcing policy that upholds our BRCGS standards. Whether in the UK, France or Italy we work with partners to set up a supply chain local to the event. For example, during the Paris Olympics in 2024, 80% of the food we sourced was of French origin and 50% of the menus were vegetarian.
Our ethical and sustainable sourcing includes: Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish and free-range eggs across all menus; Rainforest Alliance-certified tea, coffee, sugar, and cocoa; minimum 20% vegetarian or vegan options and complete removal of air-freighted produce; Continuous improvement in staff education, sustainable procurement, and waste management practices; Transparent supplier due diligence processes covering human rights, ethical labour, and environmental performance.
The benefits are twofold, ensuring food and drink quality control across the whole event and giving our clients peace of mind that fan expectations will be exceeded.
In my experience sustainability has come a long way over the last five years and continues to move at pace. Companies are under scrutiny on their environmental impact and Gen Z consumers’ expectations when it comes to sustainability have considerably increased and as a result the events industry is quickly adapting its practices. However, events will continue to require a large amount of energy due to their locations in fields for the most part of festivals and cultural events. As such, finding cost effective solutions for generators to use more HVO fuel will be key. Elsewhere, in permanent venues where power and electricity are required to operate 365 days a year, owners are looking at ways to become more self-sufficient and to upgrade their facilities to become greener.