Sustainable Sourcing at Dish Food & Social:
As a food business, we understand our dual responsibility to source ingredients in alignment with our commitments to environmental and social sustainability, as well as to deliver consistently delicious, quality food to our customers.
We are committed to sourcing only the highest quality and environmental ‘best choice’ ingredients possible within the constraints of our clients’ budgets. Over the last few years, we have increased the amount of vegetarian and vegan dishes on our menus, as we work to highlight plant-based foods alongside meat dishes.
We love working with premium ingredients, and where budgets allow, we favour purchasing ‘better’ meat and eggs (grass-fed, free range beef, and free-range or pasture-reared chicken and eggs).
Outlined below are our ‘Minimum Standards’ for sourcing. While not exhaustive, this list details the hard boundaries we have in place regarding the ingredients we purchase.
Local and Seasonal:
With our varied climates across the country, South Africa produces a huge variety of fresh foods; many of which are available year-round. Dish designs menus around the seasons so we can best highlight seasonal local ingredients at their best.
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We will only purchase 100% South African produced meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs.
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As far as possible, we will only purchase locally grown (South African) fresh fruit and Vegetables. Exceptions are made for processed fruits and vegetables (such as tinned tomatoes and artichokes), which are primarily imported.
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We encourage our clients to choose local alternatives where imported, or out of season produce is specifically requested.
Seafood:
We understand the environmental concerns of overfishing and the negative impact of certain fishing methods. Specifically, we acknowledge that the seafood choices we make have an effect on wild fish populations and ecosystems.
As of 1 November 2025, we are committed to purchasing only sustainable wild-caught seafood (on the WWF-SASSI Green List or certified by the MSC or ASC). This includes, but is not limited, to: Yellowtail, Hake, Kingklip, Angelfish, locally pole-caught Yellowfin Tuna, and local farmed trout. Popular fish species which are not on the green-list, and we will no longer serve include: Cape Salmon/Geelbek, and Kob (except farmed kob).
We acknowledge salmon and prawns as ‘challenge’ species, which we continue to serve, but may fall outside of these parameters. We are committed to understanding more about where our salmon and prawns come from, and choosing the best, most traceable seafood we can.
We prefer to source local squid/calamari because of its high quality and sustainable fishing methods (jigging rather than trawling), but sometimes it is priced too high, or is simply unavailable. In these instances, we will purchase Patagonian squid, and ensure traceability.