Kudos wins Church House catering contract

Kudos Hospitality has retained the first ever contract Crown Group handed out, keeping the catering brief at Church House after 17 years

The company beat Harbour & Jones in the final stage of the pitch and will keep the Church House account for another five years.

The win continues a long-running relationship, which started when Kudos’ parent company, Crown Group, announced Church House as its first ever contract 17 years ago.

As part of its pitch, Kudos held tastings at the venues of two other clients, Gibson Hall and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, focusing on locally-sourced British produce.

Kudos Hospitality managing director Jon Pryce said: “Kudos has had a successful, long-running relationship with Church House and will continue to raise the bar, and provide a high level of hospitality service at the venue.”

On another note, the procedure for those working with children is causing confusion for school caterers, industry figures have warned.

The Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Act, which came into effect last month, means that employees and volunteers working in schools are now required to take an “enhanced” Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check.

The law also means that, as of next November, employees and volunteers working in schools must register with the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), where they will be assessed using data gathered by the CRB.

Only ISA-approved persons will be able to undertake regulated activity, involving “frequent or intensive contact” with children. Employers that employ an unregistered person could be imprisoned or fined up to £5,000.

Profits Slump at Compass

The world’s biggest catering firm today said it was unlikely to see a return to sales growth in the financial year ahead as economic woes continue to hit corporate hospitality spend.
Compass – which has contracts with the Bank of England, Asda and the Royal Mail and operates in 55 countries – said comparable sales volumes declined sharply in the fourth quarter, down 6 per cent.
This left the group’s overall full-year revenues flat and Compass said it expected organic sales to remain “broadly flat” in the current financial year.

Sales in the UK and Ireland – which account for 13.6 per cent of group revenues -dropped 5 per cent to £1.8billion.
But the group added that the pace of decline in revenues had slowed – a trend that has continued in the new financial year.
It has also continued to win ‘good quality’ new business contracts and hopes the increased need for outsourcing among firms will provide an ongoing revenue stream.
Big contract wins over the past year include further work for oil giant Royal Dutch Shell – including support services, which is a targeted growth area for Compass.
It also won the mandate to provide staff catering for the enlarged Lloyds Banking Group, having previously worked for Lloyds TSB before its takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland.
Richard Cousins, chief executive of Compass, said: ‘Whilst in 2010 the prevailing economic conditions are expected to lead to broadly flat organic revenue growth, we are very encouraged by the pipeline of new business.
‘In the medium term the group is set to enjoy the combination of structural growth in outsourcing and, as the global economies recover, a cyclical upswing in demand.’
Compass said its full year results had been boosted by £161million in cost savings as it has streamlined back office capabilities, although staff numbers affected were small, according to the firm.
It has largely achieved cost reductions through self-help measures, such as better use of labour and scheduling, menu planning and cutting food waste.
Shares in the firm rose 4 per cent today as the annual profits came in slightly higher than expectations.

Sunday Roast School Dinners

IT’S been a national favourite for generations, but the Sunday roast is also tops when it comes to school dinners.

And sponge pudding with custard to follow would make it a double winner, according to a survey of school meal favourites.

Although they are often remembered as stodgy and unappetising, the online survey of more than 3,000 people revealed that most of us have fond memories of tucking into British classics during our school lunch breaks.

Sausage and mash with onion gravy came second, followed by Italian favourite lasagne with garlic bread, and cottage pie.

They saw off competition from newer arrivals such as fruity chicken curry, vegetable moussaka and chicken and vegetable stir fry.

As for puddings, apple crumble and custard, strawberry cheesecake, and rice pudding were also at the top of the list.

The poll, commissioned by the Local Authority Caterers’ Association to mark National School Meals Week, asked the public to choose their favourite or most fondly remembered school dinner from a choice of 12 typical school meals.

Athlete Colin Jackson, who is launching school meals week, said: “Healthy eating and regular exercise are vital messages for our young generation.”

He said the event would be “a national focus on getting the balance right between what you eat and the amount of exercise you do”.

Colin’s favourite school dinner? Shepherd’s pie, he revealed.

Caterers Competition

The search for the University Caterers Organisation (Tuco)-Knorr Chef of the Year 2010 is officially underway with entries now open.

To enter the competition, which is open to all Tuco member universities and colleges, contestants must devise a menu including a soup course, a main course (using a 1kg free-range chicken as the main ingredient) and a dessert.

Fifteen finalists will be chosen from the paper judging stage, to compete in the final at Blackpool College on 22 March, 2010

They will be competing for the first prize of a meal for two at the Elephant, current Knorr National Chef of the Year Simon Hulstone’s restaurant, plus a knife set and trophy.

Russ Allen, Tuco national competitions chair, said: “We are looking for a chef who can demonstrate exceptional culinary skills and create food with flavour, texture, balance and style, but most importantly that is appealing to students.”

This year’s winner, Allan Jones, added: “Being a chef in a higher education establishment is an important job as we have a responsibility to provide food for students, that tastes good as well as being good for them.

“Being able to enter competitions such as the Tuco-Knorr Chef of the Year is a great way for us to demonstrate our creative and culinary skills to industry professionals, whilst at the same time showing our ability to design menus that appeal to students.

To enter, download and complete the official entry form from www.tucoblackpool.co.uk and submit to russ.allen@nottingham.ac.uk, with details of the entrant’s menu.

Commonwealth Games Catering

The 8,000 athletes who would be staying at the Commonwealth Games Village will have an array of cuisines to choose from during the 12-day-long sporting extravaganza that will kick off in Delhi from October 3 next year.

The catering division of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee (OC) is in the midst of finalising the games cuisine.

“The 71 Commonwealth countries have been divided into six zones,” said an official of the OC’s catering division, who did not want to be quoted.

“Each zone will have its own distinctive cuisine like European, Caribbean, Asian, South Asian, African and American. Every day during the games breakfast, lunch and dinner would have cuisine from these six zones,” said the official.

Of the 25 caterers that had applied, the OC has short listed four caterers-which include three multinational companies and one Indian.

These include two UK- based caterers- Delaware and Global Infusion, French caterers Sodexho and India Tourism Development Corporation.

The games village caterer would be responsible for serving 44,000 meals to athletes and officials daily.

“Catering at the village would be our prime focus as the requirement is huge there,” said Lalit Bhanot, Secretary General, Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee.

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum has announced its prestigious triennial catering contract is open.

Successful suppliers will be added to the Kensington landmarks’ accredited list, which runs from 2010. Some 200 events are catered for every year at the museum.

Applicants must have over two years experience catering at London venues and convince the museum that they can enhance its events business.

“The tender for catering contracts is historically the most popular and always attracts intense competition from within the industry. With the museum only accepting the best of the best, this is an exciting time for us and for our clients, and we are looking forward to receiving a high number of applications,” said Natural History Museum head of events and catering Zoë Watts.