Eat to the Beat proud of its 'green' approach in its 19th year at Glastonbury Festival

Eat to the Beat, the artist, production & crew catering division of Global Infusion Group, is proud to be forging ahead with its eco-friendly approach to event catering as it returns to Glastonbury Festival for the 19th year to provide the backstage catering for artists, crews and support teams.

Eat to the Beat, who are the UK’s leading entertainment industry caterer, will support four main areas, including Pyramid crew and BBC, Pyramid artists, Other Stage and Aggreko — providing fresh, delicious, local food throughout the four-day festival which starts today.

Eat to the Beat are delighted to be able to support the eco-friendly ethos of Glastonbury, which matches its own established commitment to reducing environmental impact. The company already use recyclable and biodegradable disposable service-ware, discourages water wastage and ensures local provenance, to help the local community suppliers and reduce the carbon footprint from traffic where possible.

“We are committed to reducing our footprint wherever possible,” says Eat to the Beat’s Global Operations Director Mary Shelley-Smith. “We not only use locally sourced products, but use the on-site wholesale market for fruit, veg, dairy and so on. We are also very proud to have achieved the internationally recognised standard for the environmental management of business (ISO 14001), which has been awarded to only 1% of UK businesses, as well as ISO 9001, which assesses the quality management systems in place within the business.”

As part of Global Infusion Group, Eat to the Beat run a number of environmentally-friendly schemes including a car share initiative and the use of eco-friendly chemical products.

Mary says: “It is in our interests socially, environmentally and fiscally to reduce our impact because more often than not, positive environmental management practices actually reduce the cost of certain operational strategies. For example, the use of recyclable disposables reduces our staffing and waste water costs. It absolutely makes sense.”

Eat to the Beat always try to buy produce with minimal packaging and work with suppliers to reduce packaging even further where possible.
Mary and her team are responsible for keeping crews and artists fed and refreshed throughout the festival, during the build-up phase and while the site is cleared.

The world-famous festival, at Pilton, Somerset, has welcomed some of the music industry’s biggest names since it launched in 1970, when tickets cost just £1 and included free milk from its Worthy Farm hosts. The festival has long held a ‘green’ and sustainable ethos, with more than £250,000 being raised for Greenpeace, Oxfam and many local charities in 1993. In 2004, ‘Working together for a green Glastonbury’ paid off, with 32% of all waste from the event being recycled, including 110 tons of organic waste composted. Glastonbury Festival is often at the forefront of alternative environmental solutions and aims to give people the chance to ‘open their eyes’ to see something better, even if it is just for one weekend in a year.

About Global Infusion Group
Originally launched in 1984 as Eat to the Beat – an artist, production and crew catering business specialising in backstage catering services for music, entertainment, film and TV industries – the company has catered many of the biggest names in the entertainment world.Eat to the Beat provides backstage catering support for international tours, major festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading, concert venues and TV and film locations. Additional divisions were added to the Eat to the Beat brand as the business evolved and diversified and now includes a bespoke corporate & private party planning, catering and event design division (GIG…fyi)since 1988; global sport and automotive event catering (GIG SPORT) since 2002 and a logistics and brand support division to promote predominantly food and drink products (e2B Logistics) since 1997. All divisions trade under the umbrella of Global Infusion Group which has its UK headquarters in Chesham, Bucks. The company has catered functions at iconic locations such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street to the Great Wall of China and the more remote; the Ice Fields of Inner Mongolia. GIG were also on site providing catering at London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.GIG has established international offices in California, United States, Qatar, Middle East and Shanghai, China catering across Asia and the Far East. It is soon to open a branch in Brazil to service the South American market. The group employs around 170 full-time staff world-wide supported by up to 3,000 freelance professional specialists to support the hundreds of global events and functions it works at each year.

For more information, please see:
www.globalinfusiongroup.com

PAUL SMITH ASSOCIATES
22nd June 2017