Warwickshire-based Educaterers celebrate successful first year of business
Pupils and staff from Heathcote Primary School in Warwick joined Educaterers managing director, Terry Tredget, to mark the event with a celebratory cake made by Judy Murray, assistant development manager and winner of ‘best in class’ at the LACA awards.
Tredget said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be celebrating our first year, which has seen us deliver a healthy level of business and impress new customers to win even more contracts.
“I believe it is our passion for development and innovation combined with our many years of experience in the school and college catering industry that has resulted in this success, and we are continuing to re-invest in the company and our staff so our business is not only sustainable but continues to grow, taking on new contracts and more employees.”
Educaterers launched in September 2017 and took over the delivery of school meals from Warwickshire County Caterers, which had provided a successful catering service to schools in the county for over 25 years.
The decision to create a stand-alone business was made in order to give Educaterers more freedom to compete, bid for new contracts and reinvest back into the business.
In the first year it achieved £1.2million of business and new school contracts including Heathcote primary school. Starting this September it also includes Alcester Academy High School, where the company installed a contemporary ‘Meet & Eat’ facility for secondary-school pupils.
Lara Jeffries, Headteacher of Heathcote primary school said: “One of our school priorities is ensuring we promote a healthy lifestyle; Educaterers have really supported that, serving tasty balanced meals every day. It is our responsibility to teach our children the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise; at Heathcote this is embedded in what we do.”
The company also opened a centre of excellence at Boughton Leigh Junior School in Rugby, which will showcase the best of what it does, develop and train both new and existing employees, and test new innovation in service and menu development.
In addition, a culinary skills programme was developed by Educaterers to enable staff to develop their food making, food preparation and creative skills, including a course specialising in food preparation and cooking for a healthy diet.