Ethos
At Camino we care about the wider impact we have on the world around us. We try to run our restaurants in a way that is good for everyone, from using the best quality ingredients in our food, to making sure everyone who works with us enjoys what they do. We’re committed to reducing our environmental impact, treating our staff and suppliers as well as possible, and helping charities where we can. Read on for how we do it…
Sourcing
Our Executive Chef, Nacho del Campo, works hard for us to be as sustainable as possible, whilst getting the best quality seasonal ingredients that are sourced as locally as possible.
The meat we buy comes from farmers who can guarantee the best quality of life possible for the animals.
The acorn-fed ibérico pigs that provide our jamón bellota come from the Dehesa, the holm oak covered woodlands in Extremadura in western Spain. They wander up to 20kms a day foraging for acorns, and lead a pretty idyllic life.
Our beef comes from Galicia and Asturias in northern Spain, and we use ex-milker cows that are at least five years old for a better longer life and greater depth of flavour (this is almost double the age of slaughter in the UK). Their pastures are the lush hilly grasslands of this beautiful northern part of ‘Green Spain’.
All of our fish is sourced sustainably from British coasts and is MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) approved.
We source our top quality free range eggs from happy chickens.
Fruit and vegetables are sourced as locally as possible from either within the UK or Europe wherever we can, and never air-freighted.
We insist our suppliers deliver with the minimum amount of sustainable packaging.
Charity
We’re very proud to say that we’ve worked for many years with Action Against Hunger, a brilliant charity that works to eliminate child hunger with vital nutrition programmes around the world. In 2017 our Founder Richard was one of 20 hospitality owners and chefs who took part in a six-day trek through Nepal, raising just over £9k for the charity, and collectively we raised over £120,000. Read more about Richard’s trek here. In 2020 our Finance Director went on a trek through the Jordan Desert and raised over £6k. Through various events and activities the total raised so far as at the end of 2021 was £125k. Thanks to everyone for their support!
Environment
As a restaurant we try to minimise our impact on the environment as much as possible, following the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ mentality. We work with PURE Water Company, whose ethos is built on a philosophy of sustainability. Working with PURE means we are able to filter, chill and bottle water on site using local mains water, significantly reducing the environmental impact of plastics and our carbon footprint.