StratKIT – Innovative Strategies for Public Catering

StratKIT+ (2023-2024; Innovative Strategies for Public Catering: the Expansion of the Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit) is a follow-up project of StratKIT (2019-2022; Innovative Strategies for Public Catering: Sustainability Toolkit across the Baltic Sea Region) that has created the Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit.

StratKIT+ offers an expanded Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit with at least 10 new tools and in three more languages (LV, LT and SE). The aim of the toolkit is to make the procurement and services of public catering more sustainable. The tools provide experience-based advice to local public authorities, public catering service providers, school canteens and other public meal actors on how to move towards more sustainable public meals. StratKIT+ increases municipalities’ adaptation to change in times of crises: the toolkit will offer new crisis management tools, e.g. providing school meals as takeaway food during crises and an Crises Management Action Support Package. By training the target groups on using the toolkit, StratKIT+ will inspire them to innovate and implement tools supporting sustainable development.

Background of the projects StratKIT and StratKIT+

The catering sector looks for increasing its capacity to act as innovation driver whereby it can collaborate with SMEs and enhance local and regional economic life. Despite high expectations of sustainable procurement and catering services, the actual progress has often been modest. Most important factors to hinder progress list the following: lack of inspiration in the concept of sustainability, lack of matching learning resources, isolated best practices, low competence in applying public procurement directive of 2014, underdeveloped organic and low-input markets as well as differently oriented organizational and business needs.

First period (2019-2022) and project StratKIT

The StratKIT project aimed to enhance the use of sustainable catering services in the BSR through the following activities:

• Mapping the current situation. The project brought together professionals in the catering sector so that they could network and become animated about sustainable developments on the area. StratKIT collected information about the current status of the sector in respective countries and highlighted both the problems and the best practices; thereby a big picture emerged about the ongoing developments.
• Systematizing the framework for different developmental paths and showing how strategic progress can be made towards increased sustainability. These models also included international knowledge base and most importantly, innovative novel approaches by BSR professionals, be they public administrators, procurers or caterers in StratKIT events.
• Tuning the results into the BSR Sustainability Toolkit, which is an easy-to-follow and bottom-up guidance for sector’s professionals. This tuning of the results met the reality of the professionals and speeded up local applications for sustainability. The toolkit was pilot-tested in all partner countries.
• Harmonizing progress towards sustainable procurement and catering services across BSR, thus strengthening strategic efforts on the public authorities and organizational/business sustainability path. These achievements brought BSR countries decision-makers closer each other, had a positive impact on societal appreciation of public services and gave a strong message in the market and among customers in BSR.