Vision of CIRFOOD is about healthy food for everybody

With the opening of colleges and universities, CIRFOOD can again do what it wants to do: provide good catering with quality, local and healthy products. Because the company wants to go beyond mainstream caterers. CIRFOOD has the ambition to take and implement sustainability very seriously in all sorts of areas. We talk about it with Fred Hegt, operations director in CIRFOOD's modern office building in Hoofddorp. "During the corona period, CIRFOOD has focused on the relationship with our clients," says Hegt. "That has always been our focus and not corona. We are primarily concerned with our company's future and ambitions. For example, we have revamped the back office systems, new food formats have been developed and implemented, and our sustainability strategy has been drawn up in collaboration with Nexio Projects." 

Food  

CIRFOOD believes that everyone has the right to good food. It is about tradition, innovation, health and wellness, ethics and responsibility. Hegt: "Food is our true passion and the Mediterranean diet is our compass for a healthy lifestyle. By promoting conscious consumption, we feed the future of people and organizations. We encourage our guests to consciously and unconsciously make better choices, both for themselves and the environment. We are committed to good and healthy food. Thus the assortment is built with many local and seasonal products, we serve surprising taste sensations and we also stimulate awareness through our renewed instore communication."

Planet

CIRFOOD's core values are food, culture and people. According to Hegt, the word planet may be added to this, because in the end that is what it is all about: feeding the future. "With these thoughts, we opened the first one hundred percent vegetarian university restaurant together with Delft University of Technology where this vision is even more expressed. As a caterer, we know that we make an impact on the environment with food and therefore encourage a plant-based and vegetarian assortment. For one of our universities, we are currently developing a one hundred percent vegan concept." But beyond these food formats, the company also seeks sustainable alternatives and collaborations. "Whether it's the protein transition, the use of disposable packaging or food waste, all those aspects you have to take into account as an education caterer these days," Hegt said. "For example, we work with the Orbisk-Zero Food Waste when it comes to reducing food waste. We are working with the Billie Cup system as an alternative to coffee cups and are now piloting Swapbox as an alternative to disposables. In this way, we are working on all fronts to be CO2 neutral in 2030."

Food culture enhancer  

Providing added value to the customer is what CIRFOOD wants from its new corporate philosophy. Hegt calls that process "trying to take on the color of the customer. "We want to be culture enhancers for the customer. That's our approach. We don't choose to bring in a series of our own brands on assignment, but have developed different food formats for our existing and prospective clients. In consultation with the client, we look at which format suits them and, if necessary, we create a custom format." Hegt wants CIRFOOD to take a straightforward approach toward clients. "Working from a clear partnership, without a traditional client-supplier relationship." The employees, the Cirfoodies as they are called, are the beating heart of the organization and the ambassadors.