The steak chain Gaucho has come under fire after claiming for a year to maintain a sustainability certification, which has reportedly not been valid since November 2024.
A letter from a spokeswoman for the Sustainable Restaurant Association sent to the Standard claimed Gaucho had been, until today, in breach of its terms.
“On behalf of the team at The SRA, I want to make it very clear that our relationship with Gaucho ended in November 2024, and Gaucho’s two-star rating in our Food Made Good Standard has not been valid since the same date,” said the letter.
The spokeswoman went on to say the SRA was made aware of the Gaucho website last month. Until this afternoon, it still referenced the “Food Made Good Standard”, the association’s sustainability award. This included a link to a report on the restaurant prepared by the SRA.
Gaucho, which has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Standard, published the rating in July 2024. It says the certification is valid until 2026.
But the SRA disputes this and said the restaurant group was no longer qualified. Restaurants are awarded a one, two, or three-star rating under its guidelines.
“Any business is only entitled to use our logo, brand and reports in their marketing efforts so long as the business is still working with us and has an active, valid certification,” the letter said. The spokeswoman said that the SRA has asked Gaucho to remove all references to Food Made Good.
The SRA said its Food Made Good certification is designed to be a third party certification “rooted in practical actions that hospitality businesses can take” to improve sustainability. Assessments for restaurants start at £1,000 per year.
The news comes after Gaucho last week was separately accused of failing to pay a £60,000 carbon offset payment to the charity Not For Sale in South America.
A report in the Times said the charity had sent the invoice in April 2024 but has reportedly still not received the money.
Gaucho owner Rare Restaurants, which operates 20 steak houses across the UK, including 12 in London, responded to the claims from Not For Sale. A statement said it was “not aware of any agreement or formal arrangement [with Not For Sale] at any time” but acknowledged Gaucho “did provide some support in 2024 under the previous CEO”.
The previous CEO, Martin Williams, stepped down last year to take over the struggling restaurant group D&D London, now called Evolv. Baton Berisha took over the role at Rare Restaurants in March, joining from the Wolseley Hospitality Group.
