The announcement was made after the ‘State of the Industry’ panel discussion at the Public Sector Catering Expo. Prior to the announcement Andy Jones asked attendees to pause to think about those who we lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and to think about those who are experiencing adversity due to the crisis in Ukraine. He also encouraged people to visit the supplier stands to look at their great innovations as they had helped the industry to survive the pandemic.
Andy Jones said the PSC100 Group is all about collaboration and working together to solve problems across the public sector. Public Sector Caterers are driving forward the foodservice industry, leading on key issues like carbon reduction and rising to the challenges of the pandemic, food supply issues, recruitment shortages and prices rises.
The ‘State of the Industry’ panel discussion featured Andy Jones as well as Jacquie Blake - chair of school catering organisation LACA, Sue Cawthray - chair of the National Association of Care Catering (NACC), Jayne Jones - chair of ASSIST FM, which represents Scottish local authority service providers, Phil Rees-Jones - chair of The University Catering Organisation (TUCO), Molly Shaher – chair of the Professional Association of Catering Education (PACE), and Craig Smith - the immediate past chair of the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA).
Cawthray highlighted the growing issue of malnutrition in care homes and hospitals claiming there are more elderly people living with malnutrition than diabetes.
Rees-Jones noted that given recent world events that food prices are expected to increase as much as 15%-18% this year. He recommended working with suppliers, reducing portion sizes and introducing cost effective ingredients as possible solutions.
Jayne Jones said that public sector food was important because it helps people to recover or young people to learn. She stated there needs to be a shift away from viewing public sector food as a cost to an investment.
Shaher stressed the importance of training the next generation of chefs while Blake believes lunchtime is the 9th lesson of the day. When asked about price increases, Smith described the current situation as a 'relentless storm' but he encouraged public sector caterers to ensure they provided hot meals to vulnerable people.