Do you own a restaurant or fishmonger?

Are you supplying sustainably sourced seafood?

If the answer is yes, then take a look at our ‘Buy one, Set one free’ campaign.

More than 75% of the world’s fish stocks are either over-exploited, fully exploited, depleted or recovering and demand for seafood is fast outstripping supply. With the world’s population due to reach nine billion, there has never been as much pressure on the world's fish stocks than now.

Our work at the National Lobster Hatchery is vital, not only to conserve vulnerable lobster populations in the UK, but also to provide a model for complementary approaches to fisheries management around the planet.  To help ensure a sustainable future for our seafood industries and living marine resources, it is essential to engage with every aspect of the chain, from sourcing through to consumption, and encourage responsibility at every level.

With this in mind, The National Lobster Hatchery launched a unique ‘Buy One, Set One Free’ (BOSOF) donation scheme. This enables seafood suppliers, restaurateurs and their customers to play an important part in helping the charity and ensuring that there will be healthy stocks of lobsters in our oceans for generations to come.

How it works:

The simple concept of 'Buy One, Set One Free’ (BOSOF) is that a small donation is encouraged on every sale of lobster / or every bill at your restaurant or fishmonger, which will enable you and your customers to help the NLH raise and release baby lobsters back into our coastal waters, to help conserve vulnerable stocks. There are several ways you can implement the BOSOF scheme.  An opt-out donation can be included (e.g. £1) either on every lobster ordered or on every bill (which can make it easier). Your restaurant can also match the donation if you wish to add extra 'buy in' to show the commitment of your business to sustainability. Either way, your customers will have the gratification of knowing that they will be directly helping the NLH to raise and release a baby lobster back into our seas simply by dining at your restaurant or purchasing from your fishmongers. In return, our charity will receive much-needed support for its important work and at the same time, you will be helping to sustain a resource that is relevant to your own business in an appealing and stand out way -  it really is win, win, win!

The concept is ‘Buy one, Set one free’ i.e. by purchasing a lobster or seafood dish, the customer is enabling the release of a baby lobster back into the sea. This creates a ‘feel good’ aspect to the customer experience, enables the owner to communicate their responsible ethics in a tangible way and ultimately provides us with vital funds to help support our essential work.

The ‘feel-good’ concept of  BOSOF is proving a huge hit; fishmongers and restaurants already participating in the scheme have claimed it has helped increase public attraction and their sales of seafood. It certainly provides a very unique, ethical and memorable customer experience for today’s ‘environmentally savvy’ consumers and a great talking point!  The other major benefit is that the unique and topical nature of our charity and the BOSOF scheme can attract very positive press and generate fantastic marketing and promotional opportunities. As a BOSOF member, the NLH will showcase your support in the NLH visitor centre set in Padstow (which receives approx.47,0000 visitors a year) as well as through our charity’s resources and communication platforms. You will also receive use of our credible NLH and ‘BOSOF’ logo, charitable association and other resources.

UK consumers are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to our food choices. The on-going success of many UK food businesses is becoming more and more influenced by their brand ethics. The higher abundance and selection of goods displaying ‘fair-trade’, ‘responsibly sourced’ or sustainable credentials is testament to this. By supporting our ‘Buy One, Set One Free’ campaign, restaurateurs and fishmongers can fulfil evolving customer demands by clearly communicating that they are playing their part in helping to sustain the marine food resources they are utilising.

If you are interested in joining The National Lobster Hatchery’s ‘Buy One, Set One Free’ donation scheme, please do get in touch. By supporting our scheme, you will be helping to provide our charity with a reliable income stream which will significantly help us to fulfil our mission and ensure the long term conservation of our vulnerable marine resources.

The benefits to your organisation

There are many benefits to joining our ’Buy One, Set One Free’ donation scheme, not only will you be making a notable difference to our charity, but supporting us will also:

• Add a sustainable and charitable aspect to your brand image which will increase your appeal and help to differentiate you from competitors.
• Enable you to support an important project that aims to improve the supply chain long term and help sustain a vital resource for the restaurant industry.
• Provide a unique and tangibly ethical aspect to your customers’ dining experience which will appeal to an increasingly savvy public and encourage repeat custom.
• Entice goodwill customers to opt for top end dishes (i.e. lobster) potentially increasing profits.
• Assist in the delivery of your corporate social responsibility policy.
• Create new and exciting PR opportunities for your brand within a wide arena and via a topical platform (sustainability and ethics).
• Improve your sustainability rating on restaurant review sites and directories.
• Provide a ‘table top’ talking point for your customers that can enhance their dining experience and create word of mouth awareness for a vital cause.
• Enable you to play a key role in educating and spreading awareness of sustainability issues, helping to provoke a proactive consumer response that will ultimately help prevent seafood stock depletion.

CASE STUDY

Sankey's Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells has supported the NLH in this way for many years now and was voted as the UK's most sustainable seafood restaurant. The scheme has provided Matthew Sankey with a great deal of press and repeat custom. Matthew says:

"Sustainability has always been a huge belief of mine and we have worked hard both here at the Restaurant and with our fishmongers to ensure that we not only source the highest quality seafood, but that it is also responsibly fished and produced. Our work with The National Lobster Hatchery and subsequent rating on fish2fork.com is testament to that and we believe this has had a very positive impact on our Restaurant’s identity and enhanced our customer gratification. We believe it is the duty of restauranteurs and all who utilise our marine resources, to show evident responsibility towards sustaining fragile stocks and safeguarding the fishing industry which provides for our livelihood."

CASE STUDY

Prawn on the Lawn have a fully licensed fishmonger and seafood bar in Islington and Padstow. This has allowed Rick & Katie to experiment with different dishes, making the most of the local produce of Lobsters and Crabs and cooking them on the charcoal grill that was installed in the kitchen. The menu changes every day and aims to be as sustainable as possible.  A discretionary £1 is added to every restaurant bill. It's fantastic to receive this on-going support and it's highlighting the importance of a sustainable fishery to consumers.