Served. by Kanpla

School meal funding has always been tight in the UK, but in England it has now fallen badly behind. At £2.61 per child, per day, it lags Wales by 79p, Scotland by 69p, and Northern Ireland by 49p. The actual cost of delivering a quality school meal, according to a recent industry report, is £3.45 and climbing. In this Served. panel talk, we sat down with two experts who work both the kitchen and t...

Why food waste is designed into menus, planning, and leadership decisions Food waste in contract catering doesn’t start in the kitchen. It starts with decisions made long before service. Menus are planned. Volumes are padded. Safety margins become the norm. The result is one of the most expensive and persistent problems in foodservice. Each year, around 1.05 billion tonnes of food, nearly 20% of g...

2025 didn’t just pass - it exposed the fault lines in contract catering. Some operators moved forward. Others stood still. And a few quietly fell behind. As 2026 begins, the gap between front-runners and everyone else is widening - driven by data & AI, consolidation, experience design, and a growing demand for transparency. To understand what really changed in 2025 - and what will actually mat...

When Sodexo left Denmark during the pandemic, Christian Lunner faced a choice: walk away or build something new. In this Served. Founder Story, the CEO and Partner at SERWIZ shares how a management buy-out became one of Denmark’s fastest-growing FM and catering companies.

In this episode of Served. Founder Stories , Peter Baech sat down with Simon Houston FIH, Co-founder and Director of Houston & Hawkes, to explore his journey from university placement to leading one of the UK’s fastest-growing independent caterers. Founded in 2019, Houston & Hawkes has become known for its people-first culture, independent ownership, and B Corp certification - all achieved...

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have always been part of the contract catering world - but in recent years, M&A activity has accelerated. From billion-euro exits to independents joining forces with larger groups, consolidation is reshaping the landscape. Newest example being Compass Group 's acquisition of Vermaat for €1.5 billion. In this Served. panel talk, we sat down with two experts wh...

In this episode of Served., Peter Baech talks with Tony Johnson, CCXP , former Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Aramark and now CXO at 4xi Global Consulting . With more than 14 years in one of the world’s largest food service companies, Tony shares what he's learned about building a culture of service that actually works in contract catering. From what great service really means to balancing tech...

She started by making sandwiches at 5am. Now she leads global strategy for Sodexo . In this wide-ranging conversation, Catharine Barras shares career lessons, food tech trends, and her predictions for how we’ll eat and work in 2035. “If you don’t put your hand up, you’ll never be recognised.” - Catharine Barras. In episode 8 of Served. , we sat down with Catharine Barras, Global COO for Strategic...

Welcome back to Served. , where we dig into the ideas shaping the future of foodservice. This week, we’re talking about ESG, not as a PR exercise, but as a serious lever for performance in contract catering. Eline Henriksen caught up with Gina Camfield , Head of ESG at Aramark UK & Global Offshore, to find out what it really looks like when sustainability is part of the business model. From cu...

Welcome back to another edition of Served. , where we explore ideas shaping the future of foodservice. This week, we’re diving into a core ingredient of sustainable growth in contract catering: loyalty . Toby Bonnett sat down with George Gee (CLMP™) - widely known as The Loyalty Man - to unpack what truly drives customer loyalty, what most schemes get wrong, and how contract caterers can unlock me...

Tenders shape the future of contract catering. They determine who gets to serve food the food, and create experiences in offices, universities, and public institutions across the globe, but what actually matters when the decision of catering company is to be made? To dive deeper into this, we spoke with three experienced consultants in the industry - people who’ve sat through hundreds of tender pr...

In this episode of Served. , we had the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Chidley , Chief Commercial Officer for Compass Group in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. With over two decades in the industry - 17 of those years spent in the UK before moving to APAC - Chris has seen the industry change and adapt in many ways. Asia is the fastest-growing market for Contract Catering, with expectations for...

The world has developed rapidly over the last few years, where especially remote work caused by the pandemic has played a huge role in shaping how work is done. One of the key questions to ask: How will the future of work look like? And how will this affect workplace catering? To dive into this theme, we have had the pleasure of sitting down with Henrik Jarleskog , who is the Head of Future of Wor...

The Contract Catering industry is no stranger to bold leaders, but few have tackled the challenges and opportunities of the sector quite like Bill Toner . As the former CEO of CH&CO, Bill led an incredible journey of growth - starting with a 12-million-pound company and turning it into a 500-million-pound industry giant through a combination of organic growth and smart acquisitions. I recently...