The annual Public Sector Catering awards celebrate the individuals, teams and organisations making an outstanding contribution across the sector, recognising excellence, innovation, leadership and dedication in public sector catering.
Drawing inspiration from Brighton’s Shelter Hall and London’s Seven Dials Market, the redesign centred on visual theatre, global flavours and flexible kiosks that reflect rapid food-trend cycles. This creative approach has delivered significant commercial success. In the current academic year alone, Eat Central has achieved a 39% uplift in sales, equating to £300,682 in growth, despite a 20% decline in student numbers.
Bamboo, the revitalised Asian street-food kiosk, mirrors high-street brands such as Kokoro and Itsu, generating over £102,700 since September. The frictionless 24/7 store, the first of its kind on a UK university campus, continues to grow rapidly, meeting Gen-Z expectations for speed, autonomy and convenience.
Seasonal and cultural pop-ups—including Black History Month celebrations, Student Takeovers, film-themed menus and global street-food collaborations—keep the offer fresh, creative and highly marketable. By constantly anticipating and adapting to student tastes, they have built a service that feels alive and aligned with the cultural and social moments students care about.
Free healthy breakfasts during the assessment period have been created directly in response to student focus groups on healthy eating.
Students say they skip meals due to stress and time pressure, so Chartwells ensured they had nourishing starts during the most intense weeks of the year.
The mission is to offer students peace of mind. Whether they need affordable, healthy food, a taste of home, a social space, a helping hand during exams, or creative food experiences to look forward to, Chartwells sees catering as part of the university’s wellbeing ecosystem.
Sustainability runs through every aspect of the service. Achieving 92% in the Sustainable Restaurant Association score places them among the top global performers and reflects years of systemic work.
The Instagram engagements increased from 115 interactions per month to 1,000+ interactions per month, 312,833 accounts reached this year, with 1,485 new followers in the last quarter alone, demonstrating how the customer experience lives both onsite and online.
When introducing innovations such as new kiosks, cultural festivals, menu changes or the frictionless store it is the team that turns strategy into reality. Their creativity, warmth and problem-solving skills are fundamental to the student experience.
The success of Sussex University Food comes from understanding that university catering is no longer purely operational. It is emotional, cultural, educational and social.
This model is not only successful, but also replicable. By combining trend-led creativity, student-driven design, sustainable operations and an empowered workforce, Chartwells has created a blueprint for university catering that is future-proof, commercially robust and deeply human.