TUCO chief executive Mike Haslin said that despite Covid, TUCO’s work over the last 12 months had provided plenty of cause for hope. He pointed out the 108 suppliers in attendance, which made this year’s exhibition the biggest yet. He also announced that the TUCO Competitions would see a return in 2023.
He said: “Membership has grown significantly, both in terms of higher education members and associate and affiliate members. Accredited training has positively exploded, and the number of members attending has more than doubled. We’ve also had two study tours in the past six months and have plans to get back to more of these.”
Matthew Glover, who launched Veganuary back in 2014, was the first of the keynote speakers and told delegates that 72.5bn land animals are killed each year for food and that in the UK alone people eat 15 to 20 chickens each per year.
Another keynote speaker, Nadim Laperouse added: “We know TUCO is committed to first class learning in catering and hospitality, and we really want to work with TUCO members to help them understand how to talk about allergies in their companies to help change behaviours.”
Keele’s own Phil Butters used a session to take the audience through the university’s sustainable innovations which have meant that although the university has quadrupled in size since 1990, investment in sustainability have seen a reduction in the university’s 1990 baseline carbon footprint of more than 30%.
Amar Latif talked about his extraordinary story that despite being blind he has gone on to skydive, trek across Nicaragua and he reached the semi-finals of Celebrity MasterChef.