Yes and like other organisations we do have some fixed term posts.
Austerity it’s obviously very high profile, there's lots of talk of it in the press, we're being told by the government to tighten our belts, does that then turn itself back on you? Because of the operation you’re in are you expected also to run a very, very tight ship?
Yes we are no different to any other organisation, challenged each day to reduce our costs while delivering ever increasing value for money to our customers. We have specific targets to achieve and everyone in their own capacity is responsible to contribute to maintain these, and like most we have to manage budgets, food costs and waste. We deliver a variety of food offers across the estate from table service, grab and go and cafeteria offers. Catering organisations are being challenged on a daily basis, customers are continuously changing their eating habits and spend in the face of austerity, and therefore we have to be competitive and inventive.
Are you allowed to make a profit?
Firstly we are here to solely provide catering for Parliament, we currently have approx 14000 pass holders and staff of the house that can use our facilities, and we aim to provide a variety of catering services across the house to meet our customer needs. We are at present subsidised though increasingly challenged to reduce this year on year. As a large organisation we aim to provide good value and quality to our customers within our remit, while managing our purchasing and budgets we cater for over 1.5million customers annually.
15 venues serving different food styles what are the demands on you for allergies, lots of vegetarians, lactose, allergies, are there lots and lots of demands on you for things like that
We understand the im
portance of recognising allergens and work to identify these in our recipes and on our menus, staff are trained on allergy awareness and we are continuously working with our purchasing teams to identify allergens within our products we purchase, it can be surprising to find three or four major allergens in one product alone which we would challenge and seek an alternative if at all possible. We are continuously working to identify and communicate to customers as much information as possible we encourage customers to speak with our teams on their particular needs and requirements with allergens.
We talked there about austerity, you have a huge buying bill, lots of diversity, lots of demands and various diets how important therefore is it to manage your stock and manage your waste? It’s a very topical issue at the moment buying in too much, cost of over-storing and then of course cost of getting it out of the building as well, so how do you manage that process?
We actively manage our business with cyclical menus and have a good team that understand the value of the food, each outlet has a market list that's regularly updated and takes into account seasonality. We have a purchasing team that negotiates the buying
g fresh blood coming in and training them to the standard that you need?
It’s very important you can only acquire good staff by having a good reputation. We've got a good reputation here at the Commons, over the past five years we have taken on numerous commis chefs and have nurtured and seen them excel within the industry. We work with many schools and colleges around the country and tie into adopt school where we go to schools each year and educate children from the age of six years and up, just the basics, it’s fun, we do a jelly test where we have five or six different colour jellies all with natural food colourings from beetroot down to raspberry. Of course they all go for the red one which they think is raspberry but we flavour that with lemon so you see all these screwed up faces going, “Oh, we're having lemon,” but what we do teach them is don’t necessarily trust your eyes. It’s all the four senses that we've got.
It’s good. Over the last four years with me at the helm we've tied into many industry events, and competitions, and ways that chefs can better themselves and achieve industry status.
There is a bit of a barrier isn’t there? It’s a bit of a stuffy barrier if you don’t mind me saying so and I mean that in a nice way, if you look at it from the outside I guess you want to break that down?
It is and some people say it’s a fortress here. You usually say that if you can't see what’s inside.
Absolutely, you don’t know what’s behind the walls.
But we're very much open and I think the industry knows from our accolades, and it’s not just about competitions we aim to be amongst the best in our field and getting noticed within the industry I want chefs to be high achievers and move on within three or four years, I want them to gain as much good experience and if we can't promote within encourage them out into the industry with all the expertise that they need to do well.
What’s the most covers done in a day and most covers done in a week?
We cater for 14000 pass holders and can range from anything from afternoon tea for 75 through to 300, 400, through too literally 16, 17 functions and have catered in Westminster Hall for up to 1,000 to 650 sitting down.
Well thank you so much for inviting me in it’s phenomenal seeing an operation like this, unbelievable. Thank you very, very much.
No thank you it’s great to be able to show someone what we do here and give an insight into what happens every day.
Thank you Mark.
Thank you.Small Contribution. Big Impact.
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