2011School Products/Information

• 1 . DOLCE ON ACQUISITION TRAIL
  FM company and school meals provider looks for expansion

• FM and schools catering company, Dolce, has announced it is on the acquisition trail and looking to make senior appointments.
  After battling through several years of difficult trading, managing director, Dan Curtis, has said the company is looking to spend its ‘impressive war chest’ to double the size of the business in the next two years and is interested in speaking to companies of a similar size to Dolce in the catering or FM arena.
  Founded in 2001, Dolce provides catering and domestic services to 130 schools across the country, with major local authority contracts in West Berkshire, Cumbria and the London Borough of Hackney amongst others.  The company employs more than 500 people.
  The announcement that it is looking to expand marks a reversal of fortunes for Dolce, which three years ago had borrowings of more than a third of million.   In 2007, many of Dolce’s private sector clients were in danger of going under and its school catering contracts were failing to break even as government regulation took caterers into uncharted waters.
  A combination of tough cuts, perseverance and innovation in the form of a partnership with Live Kitchen, a specialist pre-ordering and kitchen management system , has allowed the company to control costs and raise sales income.
  Three years later, with zero borrowings and an impressive balance sheet, the company is looking to recruit a sales director and to acquire complementary businesses.
  Dolce managing director, Dan Curtis, said: “We’ve been through some tough times and have made some difficult decisions, reducing overheads and non-operational staff in our York and Wigan offices and making eye-watering cuts to become a leaner operation.
  “The tough decisions paid off and we are in a great position now, having built up a considerable war chest to allow us to expand.  We have some very happy schools willing to shout about our good work and now we are looking to take the next steps, recruiting the right people to help us take on the big boys.”

• 2 . Sustainable procurement of school food

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• Background
  Thanks to recent publicity (notably the high profile Jamie Oliver’s School Dinners campaign), producing healthy school meals has become a high priority for Local Authorities and is also part of Government policy. At the same time Local Authorities are keen to include local seasonal produce on menus where readily available and affordable.  Drawing upon long standing and well established links with the farming community, ADAS (a leading environmental consultancy) is now working with Local Authorities to assist in introducing more local food onto school menus.
  Issue
  To work with school meal providers to facilitate the development of sustainable food supply chains that deliver quality ingredients.
  Solution
  •        In Wales this involved a two pronged aproach, firstly to make local food producers aware of the Local Authorities’ menu requirements for school meals and secondly, to inform public sector buyers of the wide range, seasonality and availability of local food on their doorstep.
  •        In Lincolnshire ADAS helped the County Council’s Education Department to meet Government standards and evaluated various methods of hot meal provision for primary schools using quality, cost and sustainability criteria, resulting in the production of a guidance ‘handbook’ for local schools.
  •        In Yorkshire ADAS worked with a number of Local Authorities to develop sustainable regional supply chains that provided shorter supply chains with greater traceability and transparency.
  •        In Scotland the consultancy evaluated a Local Authority pilot scheme to assess how local food supply had delivered improved quality and benefits to local communities and how these methods could be adopted by other Local Authorities.
  Results
  School children across the UK now have access to healthier meals containing a higher proportion of quality locally sourced foods. Local Authorities are using more local food suppliers with assured and transparent supply chains from field to plate. This approach supports the local farming and food economy and contributes to
  meeting the Councils’ wider economic and community goals.
• For more information, see: http://www.adas.co.uk/

 

• 3 . HARRISON CATERING AWARDED CONTRACT FOR READING SCHOOL

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• Contract caterer Harrison Catering Services are delighted to have secured the contract for the prestigious Reading School, following a hugely competitive tender process. Harrison Catering’s quality of service and commercial approach helped see off the high standard of competition.
  Harrison Catering will provide a full catering service for the boarders as well as a lunchtime service for over 900 pupils and staff. In addition Harrison will also be providing all bespoke hospitality requirements for the school, both internally and externally. Working hand in hand with each client is very much part of the Harrison ethos and will play an instrumental part in servicing this contract.
  “We are delighted to be working with Harrison at an exciting time in the School’s development.  Throughout the very competitive tendering process we were impressed with Harrison’s vision for the future of catering at the School and their commitment to supporting us with our plans for a new refectory.  We are excited by the opportunities our new partnership will offer in adding value to the whole school community and promoting healthy living” comments Pamela Richardson, School Business Manager, Reading School.
  Harrison Catering takes great pride in sourcing local produce and using the freshest ingredients, which they prepare daily on site across all their contracts. Recently awarded the Food for Life Bronze Catering Mark by the Soil Association for a record number of sites, The Catering Mark award scheme recognises caterers who care about issues from animal welfare to honest ingredients. Harrison’s business was founded on, and continues to champion, these basic principles.
  Geoffrey Harrison, Managing Director of Harrison Catering Services comments: “With their exceptional track record for the education and personal development of young men Reading School is a contract most caterers would be delighted to have – and we are. We truly believe that our fresh food policy will help raise the already stellar standards at Reading School and we are looking forward to building a long-standing partnership with them.”