About
London, 2012. The Olympics were in town, and it was a scorching, hectic summer. Down a backstreet in Shoreditch, above the Owl and Pussycat pub, our founder Charlie was carving steak.
Charlie had a vision – he wanted to make great steak available to everyone
But the execution wasn’t so simple. Charlie spent nine months teaching himself butchery, learning about the lesser-known secondary cuts of beef, and working through a list of 38 suppliers, trying to find the right beef for his mission. And now here he was, preparing a flat iron steak for the first ever Flat Iron guest.
He’d hit upon a little-known cut: the flat iron. The flat iron is a cut from the featherblade, taken from just below the shoulder of the animal. When it comes from the very best beef, is seam-butchered with skill and care, and cooked thoughtfully, a flat iron steak is remarkable: rich, tender and full of flavour – but affordable, too. What started out as a pop-up above a pub quickly became a sell-out, with queues stretching down the stairs. Just a few months later, the first Flat Iron restaurant opened in the heart of Soho.
Today, we have a host of Flat Irons, all over London, and reaching as far as Manchester, Leeds, Cambridge and Brighton, with plans to open more around the country and our team keeps growing. We even have our own herd of cattle, the Flat Iron herd, who are looked after in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and have taught us so much about the thought and care that goes into rearing really good beef. But wherever we go, our focus remains the same: great steak for everyone.
Sustainability
We believe Flat Iron can be a force for good – for our guests, our teams and the planet. The challenges facing the world today can seem vast and worrying. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we embrace a responsibility to make progress day by day, month by month, and year by year. Through continuous learning we are committed to improvement, and to identifying new areas in which we can make a real difference.
Currently, we focus on three core areas:
BEEF
As a steak restaurant, we are conscious of our environmental impact and are committed to treading lightly. We partner with our suppliers wherever possible to help them make the best decisions, and to get involved in initiatives that reduce on-farm emissions.
We are proud to own our own herd of cattle in Yorkshire. Working with our farmer Charles Ashbridge, we have completed a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) to understand the carbon footprint of the herd. We’re now working with Charles on initiatives to reduce on-farm emissions, including manure management, feed production, and careful use of resources.
PEOPLE
We have an amazing team of people from all walks of life who love what they do.
We’re committed to constantly improving the way we recruit and develop our people, so they can progress their careers in hospitality. Additionally, we’re committed to fostering a culture that places high value on diversity, prioritises employee well-being, and champions equity. Together, these efforts contribute to making Flat Iron a great working environment.
RESOURCES
We believe in making the most of resources already in circulation, rather than relying on new production. Careful use of these resources is woven into multiple parts of our operations: in our restaurant design we are committed to retaining original features and using vintage and reclaimed materials wherever possible, in all our restaurants we buy 100% renewable energy and use it as efficiently as possible, finally we have recycling and waste-management targets in place.
THREE-STAR RATING BY THE SRA
In January 2024, the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) – the main body in the hospitality sector dedicated to raising sustainability – awarded us its maximum three-star rating. The SRA found that we excelled in all areas within their Food Made Good Standard framework: Environment, Sourcing, and Society.
Key actions that contribute to this recognition include:
- Responsible Sourcing, particularly the work that we do with Charles Ashbridge and the Flat Iron Herd.
- Reducing our environmental footprint by switching to renewable energy, using energy-efficient equipment, and cutting down on food waste.
- Investing in internal development initiatives, team wellness, and charity contributions.
We are delighted to share the news that the SRA recently reviewed us against The Food Made Good framework and confirmed the three-star rating that we were first awarded in January 2024.
You can find out more about our approach to Sustainability in our recently published Impact Report. The report focuses on three things we deeply care about: beef, people and ensuring we make the most of the resources we depend on. As we’ve grown, so has our responsibility; the report highlights our successes but is also a call to action to seek out areas where we can improve.
We are also proud to be members of the Zero Carbon Forum.
We welcome any feedback to help us improve.
Please email your suggestions to sustainability@flatironsteak.co.uk