It was great to see past LACA Chair Jacquie Blake honoured by the King with an OBE in His Majesty’s New Year’s Honours List for all her hard work and for her continued support for public food. Congratulations Jacquie!
It is brilliant that alongside so many celebrity names one of our own has been honoured for the vital delivery of school meals.
With the new year also comes resolutions and surely one of ours must be to keep delivering great quality food that sustains so many of the nations most vulnerable. We know it is our responsibility to effect change and deliver from the front line. At the recent PSCA Top 20 round table event we agreed that we cannot wait for political leaders to intervene, we have to drive change and own each and every plate we deliver.
Our focus must be to deliver sustainably, and I mean that in every sense of the word - from an environmental perspective and a financial one too. We, who work in public food, have to keep innovating and leading the hospitality industry because we often have to do more with less and that requires us to find new ways of doing things.
As the saying goes, if we keep on doing the same things in the same way then we will get the same results. We should remember that the work we do often drives change elsewhere in the wider hospitality sector, so I urge you all to keep highlighting and sharing the innovation you are driving.
One great way to champion your work is to enter the Public Sector Catering Awards. Tell the story of how you and your team are bringing new ways of operating to the fore. This is a really powerful tool and will not only benefit and reward your amazing teams, but also allow others to learn and adopt new ways of working.
So if you have found a new way of delivering a service or have designed new menus or are operating kit that is now reducing your carbon emissions then visit the Public Sector Catering Awards website, you have until the end of January to nominate, so don’t miss out.
In the public sector we are blessed with so many great and committed professionals and we need to grasp the nettle and show the world that things can be done better. We can reduce the environmental impact of delivering our business, we can deliver great products and services, and we can keep evolving and learning.
Let’s make 2024 a great year for public food; let’s reach out and tell the world how good we are at what we do and. Most importantly, let’s keep delivering great nutrition and hydration to our nations.
