If you're visiting a restaurant with a Food Made Good certification, you should know that its standards have just been updated. The Sustainable Restaurant Association has released its 2027 standard, raising expectations for responsible food service.
WHAT’S CHANGED
Thousands of restaurants, hotels, and catering companies worldwide use the Food Made Good Standard to assess sustainability performance across sourcing, society, and environment. The 2027 edition, which moves to full rollout alongside a new digital assessment platform in January 2027, adds some of the most concrete animal welfare and plant-based requirements the standard has ever included.
Businesses seeking certification must now confirm whether they have a written, time-bound policy to make at least 30% of their menus fully plant-based. The SRA joins the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and Friend of the Earth, both of which added the same 30% threshold to their own certification standards earlier this year.
The animal protein requirements are equally specific. Companies must confirm whether the seafood they source meets the Model Seafood Welfare Standard, whether their poultry meets the Better Chicken Commitment, and whether the eggs and pork they buy come from cage-free and crate-free systems. Additional criteria cover humane electrical stunning of crustaceans and humane slaughter of wild-caught fish.
WHAT IT MEANS IN PRACTICE
Certification has always been a signal. With these updates, the signal carries more weight. Food service operators who hold or are working toward Food Made Good status now have a clear, specific set of sourcing benchmarks to meet—not just broad sustainability commitments, but concrete supply chain requirements with yes-or-no answers.
