Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars celebrated its first official opening outside the South East today, in partnership with Sodexo, in Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital.
Matt Dawson, former England rugby player and Sodexo Ambassador, joined Crussh’s Brand Director, Helen Harrison and Head of Food, James Kidman, at the new healthy food & juice chain’s café for the launch.
Crussh in Birmingham Children’s hospital is compliant with the CQUIN framework to improve healthy food for NHS Staff, Visitors and Patients, this includes the voluntary national SSB (Sugar – Sweetened Beverages) reduction scheme, which is intended to deliver clinical quality improvements and drive transformational change*.
The new Crussh café will stay true to the Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars classic menu, offering a large range of healthy food from breakfast pots & toasties to salads, wraps and healthy treats, alongside freshly pressed juices, smoothies and Organic & Fairtrade coffee.
As with all Crussh stores, there is a big focus on plant-based items with 70% of the Crussh range being vegetarian and 45% vegan.
Dawson has been a Sodexo ambassador since 2010 to help raise awareness of health and wellbeing issues with Sodexo’s employees and customers.
He said, “A healthy diet is so important to all parts of life, but especially when recovering. Making sure you have the right nutrition when recuperating can make a major difference and I am so pleased that the children, young people and staff here at Birmingham Children’s Hospital will be able to access the food they need to help recover.”
Shane Kavanagh, CEO of Crussh, said, “We couldn’t be more excited about opening at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Positively impacting people’s health and wellbeing is what drives everything we do and being able to work with Sodexo on the operation at Birmingham children’s hospital has been very rewarding so far. We hope people enjoy our food and drink and we look forward to being part of the hospital’s community”.
Stuart Winters, CEO of Healthcare, Sodexo UK & Ireland, said, “Our ambition for the future with Birmingham Children’s Hospital was to have a clear emphasis on healthy food, and we will be able to achieve this through the introduction of leading brand and innovator, Crussh.
“Food plays such a key part in the healing process so it is fantastic that we can bring the wealth of knowledge in healthy eating and nutrition through Crussh to the benefit of all the children, young people, their families and staff across Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the Parkview Clinic.”
Dr Chris Chiswell, Consultant in Public Health Medicine at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, added, “We know that providing our staff, patients and visitors with nutritious and healthy food options is important. Eating well and maintaining good levels of hydration contributes hugely to overall well-being and the new catering offer being provided by Sodexo is hugely exciting.
“Work continues on improving not only the food and drink options on offer, but also the facilities our children, families and colleagues experience. Feedback so far has been very positive.”
Along with changes to our outlets across the hospital, in-patient catering has also been also been improved with 95 per cent of all food enjoyed by children and young people prepared freshly on-site.”
Pictured (left to right): Crussh Head of Food, James Kidman, Stuart Winters - CEO of Sodexo Healthcare UK, Sarah-Jane Marsh - Chief Executive Officer of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Matt Dawson, former England rugby player and Sodexo Ambassador, Crussh Brand Director, Helen Harrison
The new opening follows last year’s landmark franchise deal between healthy food and juice chain, Crussh, and Sodexo which will see Crussh open outlets across all of the Sodexo business from workplace catering to universities, hospitals & government locations across the UK and Ireland.
Crussh continues to take a creative approach to the requirements of each location, covering traditional café formats, as well as larger scale sites, food trucks and pop-ups.
Crussh opened its first site in partnership with Sodexo, at City, University of London, in March 2019.