Forest Green Rovers FC wins Menu of the Year Award
The club, based in the Gloucestershire village of Nailsworth, scooped a prestigious award for its far from typical matchday fare.
The world’s one and only vegan football club, Forest Green Rovers, has reason to celebrate away from the football pitch after winning the Sport and Leisure Catering Magazine Menu of the Year Award at a ceremony at BAFTA in London.
The club’s talent was first recognised and nominated by long-term partner Quorn Foods. But it was the staff's innovative approach to sustainability which really impressed the judges.
Star Anise Café gradually removed all meat and dairy from club menus over recent years, and last season they became the world’s first ever vegan football club!
No meat pies here
Some of the matchday favourites supporters can enjoy are the specially produced Q-Pie (speciality ingredients by Quorn), as well as sweet potato burgers, Mexican fajitas and weekly specials.
And if that isn’t enough, even the matchday beer and cider is completely vegan, courtesy of the Cotswold Brewing Company.
Nicholas Allan, director of Star Anise Café, said: “This award has come out of a real collaboration with Forest Green Rovers and the chairman Dale Vince who has given us a platform to try something new and explore unknown territory for a football menu. The kitchen team does a great job and the menu has proved incredibly popular with fans, so big credit should go to our head chef Em, who has created a reasonably priced menu which is packed with top quality vegan food using the best local ingredients.”
Joe Bill, Group Editor at Sports & Leisure Catering Magazine, said: “The work that Forest Green Rovers have done in the last couple of years to make the club sustainable has been well documented in the national press.
“When we heard that the club had gone all-vegan at the end of last year, we thought it was a real innovative move. It both addresses the issues that are arising in association with modern foodservice, while also taking a stance and demonstrating to the leisure industries how it can be combatted.
“With catering partners Quorn, the menu items now available to general admission fans and to corporate hospitality guests are unlike at any other football club.”
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