Winners of Cost Sector Catering Awards revealed

28th March 2008, 10:02am

Contract caterer Charlton House, Restaurant Associates and Aramark were just a few of the winners of this year's Cost Sector Catering Awards, handed out last night.

Below is the full list of lucky winners that picked up an accolade at the awards ceremony held at The Hilton London Metropole.

BLUE RIBBAND AWARD
SPONSORED BY JOHNSON DIVERSEY

WINNER
LOCAL AUTHORITY CATERERS' ASSOCIATION (pictured above)

The Local Authority Caterers' Association thoroughly deserves this award having been at the forefront of Cost Sector Catering for the past 18 years.

During this time LACA has met many challenges – some highly positive and some really difficult and tricky – when each year faced with the task of serving in the region of 570 million customers under its auspices.

Around 90,000 staff are employed in this sector of the industry overseeing one of the biggest catering operations in England, Scotland and Wales.

LACA has found itself under extreme media attention, particularly on TV where celebrity chef Jamie Oliver had outspoken suggestions on school meals, which led to a raft of Government legislation being passed through Parliament.

Remaining as the recognised experts on local authority catering, school meals and other catering provisions, LACA has shown tremendous professionalism and determination during recent years.

 ARMED SERVICES AWARD
SPONSORED BY PURPLE FOODSERVICE SOLUTIONS

WINNER:
LANCE CORPORAL CARL BADROCK, 19 REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY

2008 NOMINEES
LANCE CORPORAL CARL BADROCK, 19 REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY
PETTY OFFICER CATERING SERVICES NICHOLSON, HMS MONMOUTH
STAFF SERGEA NT THOMPSON, 3 LOGISTIC SUPPORT REGIMENT RLC

During six months deployed in Afghanistan, Lance Corporal "Titch" Badrock gave exemplary services as a chef in support of 3 Commando Brigade.  His culinary skills were tested daily, cooking with limited operational equipment; in a large tent; with a limited range of fresh and operational rations and in an ambient temperature well over 50C.  As a junior supervisor managing a small team of 4 chefs, within a larger brigade of chefs, his team was key to the delivery of meals for 2,000-3,000 soldiers.

During operations it was noted that soldiers carrying out their duties in the forward locations were not eating as well as they needed too.  It was decided that chefs should be sent forward to provide a basic meal service; Badrock volunteered to serve at Sangin Forward Operating Base, an austere location at the frontline. The "kitchen" is located within the main building, a typical Afghan mud and brick construction, it was equipped with simple operational cooking equipment designed to cater for up to 35 people; he used his culinary skills and ingenuity as a military chef to prepare quality meals for up to 100 people using operational rations. As noted by the Brigade HQ; Badrock had a positive impact upon the morale of his colleagues by preparing quality meals and showing quality soldiering skills during the many enemy contacts.  It is quite apparent that he demonstrated a high level of courage, professionalism and determination in extreme conditions.  Further testament to his dedication was his willingness to return to Sangin when several other chefs were reluctant to volunteer. 

 CONTRACT CATERING AWARD
SPONSORED BY PREMIER FOODS

WINNER:
ARAMARK

2008 NOMINEES
ARAMARK
CATERMASTERS
OCS GROUP

2007 was a year in which Aramark achieved significant successes across a range of fronts, highlighting its ability to multi-task in the business world. Contract gains with high-profile clients such as BBC and Yahoo were supplemented by the retention and expansion of arrangements with HBOS. In the summer Aramark opened its Innovation Centre to develop and showcase food and product concepts and last autumn it again took the role of lead sponsor for British Food Fortnight. Acknowledging its wider responsibilities it also appointed its first corporate responsibility director and staff around the country threw themselves into fund-raising activities, generating more than £80,000 for charity. All of this work was carried out against a backdrop in which managing director Dean Lindsay was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident. The year was capped when he was able to successfully return to work.

CHEF AWARD
SPONSORED BY THE SANDWICH FACTORY

WINNER
MATT HAY, BAXTER STOREY

2008 NOMINEES
MALCOLM EMERY, SODEXO PRESTIGE
MATT HAY, BAXTERSTOREY
MARK STOWER HARRISON CATERING SERVICES

Executive services head chef at Barclays Global Head Office for the past four years, Matt is responsible for the day to day running of this busy operation. He provides a high quality, fine dining, bespoke catering service to managing directors in nine dining rooms and an a la carte restaurant with up to 50 covers bringing the total to 120. The hospitality provision averages around 200 covers daily with events of up to 200 incorporating working lunches, fork buffets and canapé parties. Matt has to meet all contractual and performance criteria interacted with the director of hospitality. BaxteyStorey say that during his time with the company, Matt's passion, enthusiasm and vision with food has shone through. His skill is taking the seed of an idea, nurturing it and seeing it bloom into full colour. The sous vide techniques he has perfected with his creations have created not only perfectly balanced but have simplified and de-risked food service. This year he has introduced the 150 project with all dishes on the menu having travelled within a 150-mile radius of his kitchen. Matt, previously worked with John Campbell at the Vineyard, Stocks Cross, and has served at Daphne's, Rules, La Tante Claire under Pierre Koffman, L'Oranger with Marcus Wareing and Aubergine with Gordon Ramsay.

 CONTRACT CATERING DISTRICT MANAGER AWARD
SPONSORED BY NESTLE PROFESSIONAL

WINNER
JENNY WEBSTER,
OCS GROUP UK LTD

2008 NOMINEES
MARTIN HALES, AVENANCE
PAUL ROBOTTOM, BAXTER STOREY
JENNY WEBSTER, OCS GROUP UK LTD

Company colleagues at OCS were not surprised at Jenny's success explaining that she has experienced a year that has been an "amazing" one  while her name had also been put forward by her clients, giving support for her achievements.

She has succeeded in all her key business milestones including 100% client retention; extension of business; organic business growth of 58% with profitability to the company of 18.5%. One of her key clients East London went to tender and she retained her three contracts while picking up a further seven, taking the business value from £550,000 to £1.6m in turnover. There are business challenges with Jenny's 'patch' with many units having highly unionised workforces. The customer demographics are also varied with the full spectrum of potential ethnic and religious requirements catered for. Client retention isn't something new to Jenny; her two main contracts in London have been with OCS for more than 15 years. A district manager is only as good as their team and one of Jenny's strengths has been to develop her team and to make the managers treat their contracts as their own. Summing up it is said Jenny is an outstanding employee with impressive achievements for many years.

CONTRACT CATERING SALES PERSON AWARD
SPONSORED BY GLAXOSMITHKLINE

WINNER
STEPHEN PILKINGTON, RESTAURANTS AT WORK

2008 NOMINEES
DAVID BREWIN, ARAMARK
NICOLAS CLEGG, BAXTERSTOREY LTD
STEPHEN PILKINGTON, RESTAURANTS AT WORK

After several years with Sodexo in sales and operations, Stephen joined Restaurant at Work in mid-2006 and as business development director has been heavily involved in the re-invention of the company.

The aim was to create a contract proposition that was fit for the dynamic, aggressive and highly competitive market.

And he has fully embraced this opportunity and consistently delivered results. By closely examining the market and analysing the needs of individual clients, Stephen has been able to offer flexible and bespoke catering solutions to significantly improve services and deliver truly transparent and highly cost effective results.

He has been solely responsible for the dramatic growth of Restaurants at Work having brought in new business growth of £3.1m during his first financial year and to date £1.65m in the first quarter of his second.

The effect on the business has been a 51% increase in company turnover through purely organic growth. Stephen has completely revolutionised systems and processes through the development of a highly effective team.

This has included the re-structure of the database, telesales function and the production of exceptional tender and proposal documents, allowing the company to successfully approach and win business.

Stephen's creation of a robust sales and marketing programme, designed to focus on the benefits of Restaurants at Work in approaching significant market opportunities, has given the company the confidence that it will continue to grow effectively.

CONTRACT CATERING UNIT MANAGER
SPONSORED BY CADBURY TREBOR BASSETT

WINNER
STEPHANE DAVAINE, RESTAURANT ASSOCIATES

2008 NOMINEES
DAVID ARNOTT, TALKINGTON BATES
STEPHANE DAVAINE, RESTAURANT ASSOCIATES
LORRAINE RUTHERFORD, CHARLTON HOUSE SERVCIES LTD

A dedicated and enthusiastic individual, with a calm, professional and genteel approach, Stephane ensures confidence in everyone he meets. His expertise in catering and hospitality are second to none.

Since joining Restaurant Associates in 2006, he has risen to become head of catering for Coutts and seen the overall budget grow from £1.4m to £2.3m, with the addition of only one extra dining room, an increase of 164%.

In two years at the private bank his skills and calm expertise has made the business go from strength to strength, offering the highest quality of catering along with the professional approach required for such a prestigious organisation.

As well as private dining and board rooms there are suites and event space where, on average, the catering team provides 70 lunches and 50 dinners daily with numerous evening functions and special events.

A tremendous accolade for Stephane is that Coutts bankers prefer to entertain guests in the private dining room rather than choose a restaurant or bar along the well stocked vicinity of the Strand in London. Responding to the growing demand for quality food, the highly successful Gallery Room offers Michelin-standard fare.

Further projects include the introduction in mid-2007 of the Coutts Catering Catalogue allowing easy access and ordering of equipment, food and drink direct from a list of approved suppliers.

Stephane has been involved in the latest innovation a catering website for Coutts internal intranet. He has also contributed to the successful completion of the Restaurant Association's pilot Prince's Trust hospitality and cooking training initiative.

 

CORPORATE RESPONSIBLITY AWARD
SPONSORED BY PEROS LTD

WINNER:
ARAMARK

2008 NOMINEES
ARAMARK
BAXTERSTOREY
THE BROOKWOOD PARTNERSHIP

The result of months of hard work have been paying off this year for Aramark topped by the accolade of winning this award. In the summer of 2007 Val Carter was appointed the company's first CR director in the UK as the first step in the process of developing a full corporate social responsibility programme. In February the results of the
hard work were rolled out to units around the country in the form of a training and awareness pack that includes a CD presentation, an A5 double-sided flyer for each staff member to take home that includes a Top 10 action plan for changes at work, in the community and at home. It aims to explain issues such as sustainability, obesity, Fairtrade, food miles and carbon footprint together with suggestions to change behaviour. All teams then carry out an online quiz to help Aramark measure participation and success. A regular 'green' newsletter is planned and units can earn points at work and at home with the winning team due to be rewarded at the end of the year.

EDUCATION AWARD
SPONSORED BY MCCAIN FOODS (GB) LTD

WINNER
DAVID FOSKETT, THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY
FOR THE FEAST CENTRE

With his vision, energy and commitment to constantly developing the provision of education in its widest context, David as associate dean of the school of faculty and head of culinary arts at TVU, has made an outstanding contribution to the foodservice industry.

His input into an initiative to provide the training and development of school meals practitioners is increasingly recognised as being vital to the welfare of young people and the provision of healthy school meals.

David's school has provided meals education for the past four years and achieved 100% success rate with 42 learners awarded an NVQ2 in food preparation and cooking.

Several learners have progressed to level 3 and one is studying for a Foundation degree. The latest success for the school is in winning its bid to become a school FEAST centre for Food Excellence And Skills Training, a new initiative of the School Food Trust.

A network of centres has been set up to support those involved in providing school meals and their employers to access training and qualifications. The University is the only school FEAST centre in London. Funding has been secured to build a dedicated centre training kitchen to facilitate training and product development.

EVENT CATERING AWARD
SPONSORED BY DELICE DE FRANCE

WINNER
SODEXO PRESTIGE
FOR THE WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE

NOMINEES
BAXTERSTOREY FOR MARKS & SPENCER EVENTS
LINDLEY CATERING FOR TRENT BRIDGE
SODEXHO PRESTIGE FOR WORLD SCOUT JAMBOREE

It could have been a logistical nightmare to cater for the largest scout event in the UK for nearly 50 years, but Sodexo Prestige rose to the challenge.

The company provided three meals a day for each of the 40,000 devotees from nearly every country in the world, totalling a colossal 1.2 million meals over the 12 days at last summer's World Scout Jamboree at Hylands Park, Essex.

Through its supply chain the company purchased £3.5m worth of food and spent in total two years preparing the logistics for such a high profile and diverse event.

A warehouse was set up 15 miles from the Park as a base to receive and store food deliveries and re-distribute them into a 66-strong fleet of 17-tonne lorries for delivery into each of the 16 camps within the site.

The list of goods supplied during the Jamboree is mind-boggling and includes 343,000 litres of milk; 220,000 litres of fruit juice; 27 tonnes of chips; 280 tonnes of meat and meat products; 34 tonnes of fresh tomatoes and 4830 litres of fruit yoghurt.

The Sodexo team, led by Norman Atkin-Smith, catered for 10,500 people at a barbecue and in one restaurant served 3,500 people in an hour from 18 service counters and then went on to serve 11,500 dinners!

 HEALTHCARE AWARD
SPONSORED BY ALLIANCE DISPOSABLES

WINNER:
MIKE PEARSON, ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

2008 NOMINEES
PETER BROOKER, HINCHINGBROOKE HEALTHCARE TRUST
ANDREW JONES, ISS MEDICLEAN LTD
MIKE PEARSON, ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

The man largely responsible for coming up with a new concept at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and driving the development of the project into reality is head of hotel services Mike Pearson. It was back in February this year that the keys were handed over for the Cornwall Central Production Unit which will take locally grown and purchased food and turn it into meals for hospital patients throughout the county. It has taken six years to come to fruition and has been guided by Mike against a background of legal challenges, executive changes and the restructuring of health provision in Cornwall. For over 10 years, long before it became fashionable, he has pursued a local purchasing policy and been recognised for his efforts with awards from the Soil Association and the Observer Food Monthly. And along the way he's inspired others, with two of his chefs winning a Silver Medal at Hotelympia 2006 for a menu based on ingredients from the south west.

 MARKETING AWARD
SPONSORED BY KELLOGGS SUPPLY SERVICES

2008 NOMINEES
7 DAY CATERING LTD FOR JUST4U
CHARLTON HOUSE CATERING SERVICES LTD FOR THE GOURMET CHALLENGE
ZEST CATERING SOLUTIONS FOR ON THE BEST

WINNER:
CHARLTON HOUSE CATERING SERVICES LTD FOR THE GOURMET CHALLENGE

Charlton House launched its Gourmet Challenge to test the food knowledge of its customers, while tapping into the current interest in food that's reflected in the plethora of cooking shows on television
. For a marketing budget of just £19,000 the contractor generated almost a quarter of a million responses and saw sales increase across the whole company, with some sites reporting gains of 10%. Each site was supplied with question-mark stickers that they were free to place on items of their choice. When a customer purchased one these products they were given a foodie Trivia-style quiz scratch card. All winning tickets went into a box and from this a unit winner was drawn. Head office then chose 50 of these to attend the final at London Zoo. Quick-fire quiz questions and taste tests then whittled this down to an overall winner who went on a cookery trip to France.

 ONBOARD CATERING AWARD
SPONSORED BY GREENCORE FOODSERVICE

WINNER:
CAROL CONWAY
BRITISH AIRWAYS

2008 NOMINEES
Emma Brock, LSG Sky Chefs
Carol Conway, British Airways
Paul Hinsley, First Great Western

Winners when the Onboard Catering (formerly the Airline Catering) Award was first introduced in 1997, British Airways has again taken the title against tough competition.

First class passengers on BA are now offered a new menu that's prepared by the cabin crew and served at a time to suit them under the latest system overseen by Carol Conway, the catering innovation and standards manager.

The five-course gourmet menu has been designed by the British Airways Culinary Council, a small group of internationally renowned chefs, restaurateurs and food and wine critics who meet regularly to discuss, create and develop a range of dishes.

Members include top class chefs Michel Roux, Shaun Hill and Richard Corrigan as well as wine expert Jancis Robinson. It offers options such as 'Catch of the Day', which is a selection of wild fish supplied by Loch Fyne.

 PUBLIC SECTOR AWARD
SPONSORED BY ELECTROLUX PROFESSIONAL

WINNER:
ANNIE LENNIE, EDINBURGH CATERING SERVICES

2008 NOMINEES
MICHAEL BROWN, HMP MANCHESTER
ANNIE LENNIE, EDINBURGH CATERING SERVICES
GARY SPILSBURY, HM PRISON

The education, police contracts, staff and civic catering business of the City of Edinburgh Council Catering Services has grown by 23% over the last 10 years with Annie as the area manager and is now responsible for £4.2 million in turnover. The staff and civic catering operates on a purely commercial basis with no subsidy and a requirement to generate profit. She has spent the last five years overseeing a project to operate a staff restaurant, coffee shop plus delivering internal and external hospitality for 1,600 staff while they moved in phases from old offices to a new council headquarters. She has also undertaken a series of marketing initiatives that are adding an extra £1.5m of turnover to her portfolio of responsibility. Her catering team has notched up an impressive list of guests at civic functions, including the Royal Family, former Presidents Gorbachev and Mandela and regularly services the Edinburgh International Festival

 SELF OPERATED STAFF RESTAURANT AWARD
SPONSORED BY HOBART

WINNER:
MATTHEW FREGUSON, M&S MONEY

2008 NOMINEES:
RALPH CLARK & LEE SCOTT, NESTLE UK
MATTHEW FERGUSON, M&S MONEY
KAREN LOHAN, CAFÉ DERRAN, FIFE COUNCIL

Matthew Ferguson with experience in the catering industry going back over 20 years, is now group manager for catering operations at M&S Money, overseeing a team of 900 staff on site, serving more than 600 meals a day.

They offer a full service from English breakfasts, continental and healthy options, to lunches with at least 12 choices of hot food including vegetarian, healthy options, salad bars, and more than 35 different flavour sandwiches.

As well as daily visitors, the team offers a full range of hospitality services, a full waited-on service can be catered or buffet lunches for up to 150 in meeting rooms.

Each department has its own beverage/ confectionary and cold drinks machines, and M&S Money vend over 25,000 free drinks per week while a food vending service is also available for hot and cold snacks, sandwiches, desserts and fruit.

Only free range eggs are used and all suppliers are within a 50 mile radius so reducing food miles.

Matthew began on the first rung of his catering career when  he left school and attended catering college before joining Gardner Merchant on a management training program and worked as a catering manager for two years.

He then joined Sainsbury as a customer restaurant manager, in 1999 before starting at M&S as a restaurant supervisor. He has served in his current role for two years.

SERVING THE PUBLIC AWARD
SPONSORED BY COCA COLA ENTERPRISES

WINNER
ELIOR UK
FOR PAUL BAKERY

2008 NOMINEES
ELIOR UK FOR PAUL BAKERY
SELECT SERVICE PARTNER LTD FOR THE CAMDEN FOOD COMPANY
SSP SIR UK FOR THE REAL FOOD COMPANY, FREEFLOW RESTAURANT

A French bakery's link up with Elior in the UK in 2005, when Jeremy O'Dare became brand manager, has led to this award-winning partnership.

His brief was straightforward – bring Paul to the UK from France where a passion for traditional bread-making has remained in the family, handed down over five generations, now with a network of 350 shops and bakeries. But it soon became clear that this was going to be a journey of mixed emotions on this side of the English Channel.

Although the company, founded in Lille in 1889, had already operated in this country since the opening of the Covent Garden store in 2000, Paul was still a relatively unknown brand across the UK market.

One of the biggest challenges initially was to educate customers in all aspects of the brand which meant employing the right people with the right personality to get the message across.

Now after three years their efforts are paying dividends with Paul operating in four railway stations; a much larger shop at Edinburgh station and a Central Bakery at Waterloo.

In addition there are two franchises to digby trout restaurants at the Tower of London and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The latest flagship shop is at St Pancras International. Sales are approaching £10.5m with staff topping

 SOCIAL SERVICES AWARD
SPONSORED BY APETITO

WINNER:
PAUL FLOOD, ANCHOR HOMES

2008 NOMINEES
PAUL FOOD, ANCHOR HOMES
JUNE HUDSON, LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS
ANN JONES, LUTON LEARNING & RESOURCE CENTRE

Anchor Homes has prospered with a number of training and craft development innovations and the man behind the company's move forward has been Paul. He has recently shared the Caring Times Innovator of the Year Award with a colleague and picked up the Guardian Public Services Award (Care of Older People). Among the reasons why he has been recognised is the externally accredited CaterCraft course he introduced to equip care caterers with the skills needed to meet the dietary requirements of older people. It is 100% practical, contains 260 training hours and qualifies for a BTEC Diploma. Paul also created Anchor's Craft Innovation Group (CIG), a group of highly skilled chefs who travel the country training chefs to produce cruise ship standard buffets, complete with touches such as ice sculptures, for care home residents.

STADIA AWARD
SPONSORED BY HUHTAMAKI

WINNER:
DELAWARE NORTH, FOR THE EMIRATES STADIUM

2008 NOMINEES
AZURE/ELIOR UK, FOR THE IBROX STADIUM
DELAWARE NORTH COMPANIES (UK) LTD FOR THE EMIRATES STADIUM
SSP AIR UK FOR THE REAL FOOD COMPANY, FREEFLOW RESTAURANT

For Premiership club Arsenal FC the logistics involved at its new home the Emirates Stadium are impressive. There are 19 kitchens, eight restaurants, 150 executive boxes (a record for a stadium in Europe) plus the exclusive members area The Diamond Club, all of which mean that contract caterer Delaware North employs 1,200 staff every match day, including 120 chefs preparing food. In September 2007 the club announced turnover of £201 million, of which £33m was generated by corporate hospitality. Non-event day functions brought in a further £3m, with 60% of that business coming from new clients with no previous link to the club. The Premier League National Fan Survey 2006-07 saw it top the ratings for quality and access to food, while Delaware and the Emirates were in the running for three 2007 Stadium Experience - Official Football Hospitality Awards. They won the Media Choice award and finished runner-up in both Matchday Hospitality and Conference and Events Marketing.

UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE AWARD
SPONSORED BY BRAKES

WINNER
BEV KENNY, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

2008 NOMINEES
PAUL HAYES, STOURBRIDGE COLLEGE
BEV KENNY, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
NICK LEACH, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

A key player in the planning and organisation of important events at Leeds University, Bev in her role as assistant director of catering and conferencing, has introduced a range of innovative food features.

She launched a Central Production Unit to prepare in-house manufactured sandwiches resulting in a quality produce and consistently higher gross profit.

Bev has also overseen the design and development of Capital Projects including Café 7 at the Worsley Wing; the Business School and Baines Wing Café Bars; and the Mezz Bar within the new Refectory operation.

She creates and manages the Strategic Vision with particular regard to trends and opportunities. Her vision was also crucial in managing change at the University such as successfully bringing the Catering Services back 'in house' after a spell managed by contract caterers.

The coffee bar operation has been successfully streamlined as has the senior common room operation creating a Café Bar concept. On the customer focus of operations Bev initiated regular 'mystery shopper' research while developing team spirit and focusing on achieving a common goal.

Related Articles:

• 01 Dec 2009 - Restaurants at Work wins catering contract with Thames Valley Police
• 16 Oct 2009 - Prue Leith opens School FEAST centre at Worcester College

Click here to submit a comment!

Chris Hastings

28 March 2008 at 11:40am

Ref; Corporate Responsibility Award Once again Val has been at the forefront of a new initiative and it is very encouraging to see that both she and ARAMARK have been recognised for this great achievement.

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