Mark Birchall, Moor Hall

Mark Birchall, chef patron of Moor Hall, you are known for working in a sustainable manner. Is your staff trained when it comes to the sustainability values of the restaurant?

– We have around 90 people on the payroll, about sixty of them work full-time but everyone has a contract. Firstly, it’s not about sustainability, it’s about responsibility. We take responsibility for our surrounding and our environment, but also when it comes to our workplace. For example, we try to keep the hours down for the kitchen staff. Then, it’s “learning by doing”. It’s a constant learning curve! We do everything ourselves, from producing our own charcuterie to using biological control methods, like insects, when we’re growing our own crops.

You grow a lot of your produce yourselves. Where do you buy the rest?

– Most of it comes from organic farmers in the UK – we are surrounded by farms – but we also buy some produce from France. Not all of the farmers are certified organic, but they use organic methods. When we buy meat, for example, we make sure that the animals have a great life and that everything surrounding them is done in an ethical manner.