Despite facing significant resistance and challenges, Chrissie led the way in utilising dynamic food procurement technology to enable the local authority catering service cooks in Bath and Northeast Somerset, who were producing 35,000 primary school meals a week, to source direct from local producers.
Within two years of this ‘trailblazing’ work starting in 2016, it was heralded a success as more and more local producers – including 20 new farms - were supplying the local authority with fresh vegetables, meat and dairy.
The pilot demonstrated a 6% real saving on the previous contract (after inflation), more than six tons of CO2 emissions were saved per year and there was a transition to 100% free-range pork across all schools.
The Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board (DFP NAB) that Chrissie went on to co-found is flourishing with members representing Defra, Crown Commercial Service, caterers, producers, certifiers, researchers, supply chain actors and campaigners.
The board is currently active in advocating for how dynamic food procurement should be an essential part of the solution to achieving the current Government pledge of procuring 50% of public sector ingredients from local or sustainable producers.
A particular success of Chrissie’s work with the DFP NAB is Crown Commercial Service’s decision to enter into food procurement for the first time by launching their Buying Better Food Framework in November 2024.