Environmental impact Medium
Employer/employee ranking 42/27
Staff numbers 6,209
Energy reduction n/a
Recycling n/a

It delivers more than £1 billion of food and equipment to the catering industry each year but 3663 First for Foodservice does this without the heavy environmental load. It gained the ISO 14001 international standard for environmental management in 2003 and more than 60% of the fleet uses a biodiesel mix for fuel (with recycled vegetable oil). Routes are computerised and loads combined to increase efficiency.

Staff at the High Wycombe-based business say it does a lot for the environment (an 82% green score), that they have adequate training (71%) and plenty of signs to encourage them to think green at work (78%). Departments are audited for their environmental performance (75%) and there is regular communication on environmental issues (77% — both top 20 scores).

Encouragingly, bosses also lead by example rather than instruction (72%). Buildings are made more sustainable with water and energy-saving devices such as rainwater harvesting to wash vehicles and sensor lighting, while the firm uses electricity rather than diesel for refrigeration systems on board lorries, leading to 31% lower carbon dioxide emissions. The company is exploring ways to make its food refrigeration systems more eco-friendly by using ammonia — however, staff use air-conditioning to keep offices cool in the summer, the low 25% green score ranking the company 42nd in the survey on this point. The organisation has an environmentally friendly local sourcing initiative, car-sharing at one site, and quirky paper-saving schemes such as an electronic filing system for the human resources department in Bristol.