Catering consistency with in-house catering at St. John’s Academy and the Future Generation Trust

Catering consistency across a Multi Academy trust

When Stuart Ayres, Head Teacher at St. John’s Academy decided that he wanted to move away from local authority catering, he looked around for options. By chance, a CMC advertising email hit his in box and Stuart realised that this was the solution the school had been looking for; the freedom to make catering decisions based on the school’s personal needs but with the support of an expert in the industry. “We’d been frustrated with our inability to influence catering within our setting and were seeking a suitable partner,” says Stuart. “Our initial meetings with Gary Stewart were productive and the service was clearly explained in an honest and transparent manner.”

Following consultation with Stuart, CMC produced a first year budget projection for the school’s catering together with a proposal for how we would work with the school to implement their catering in house. Stuart and the governors found the CMC management fee competitive and after speaking to other headteachers who had been working with CMC for over 12 months, they made the decision to take the plunge and employ CMC as their in-house catering consultants.

In April 2013 the school’s new, in-house catering service launched and they’ve never looked back. The school feel their catering is unrecognisable from their previous service and has gone from strength to strength. CMC Consultant, Stephen Evans, worked hands on with the catering team to introduce new menus and locally sourced produce. This has increased meal standards which in turn has lead to an increase in sales. This factor, together with sound budgeting and planning has enabled the school to invest back into the service. The school has financed new equipment and a kitchen refurbishment.

Two years later, in 2015, St. John’s Academy, together with a small group of local schools formed Future Generation Trust and Stuart was appointed CEO. Stuart wanted the other Trust schools to enjoy the same flexibility and support with their catering services as St. John’s had and introduced CMC to the other academy schools. Stuart feels that this has offered considerable value to the academy trust. Having CMC as their consultant has enabled consistency across the trusts catering.

CMC has provided me with great reassurance that the catering section of our Trust is in safe hands. Their considerable experience and expertise ensures that their advice and support is always in the best interests of the individual academy. Their passion for catering shines through and they have been totally committed to producing good quality food. I have no hesitation in recommending CMC to any individual school or Multi Academy Trust.
Here is a company that is as passionate about catering as I am about education.