Whilst we have much work to be incredibly proud of, I was struck by the continuing frustrations our various sectors have in common: the need to provide more with flat budgets that are under more pressure than ever from increasing consumer demands and inadvertent cost rises including the forthcoming National Insurance uplift, and the continuing comparisons that arise between and across sectors which don't take into account the differences in the service styles and statutory compliance that is needed for these.
One thing that was abundantly clear to me as we talked was the need to reframe our arguments, and to just do things a little differently from how we've approached them in the past.
That includes how we engage with political and strategic decision makers at all levels. We, as organisations and collectively as a public sector catering group, need to move from a more defensive tack to proactively framing our arguments and being clearer in articulating what value we bring to the political table.
If we want to be more actively involved at a time when politicians are increasing the demands they place on public sector caterers, we have to be more direct in our engagement and tell them what we have to offer: our expertise, our experience and our front line views from the environments we work in.
How do we achieve this? Perhaps developing a means of doing this via an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is one such way of having a more informed approach, by building longer term relationships with what is, in effect, a new generation of politicians.
In this way we can offer them the opportunity to better understand what we do, and how we can be part of the wider shift to preventative intervention: that public food is a means to address health inequalities, to prevent malnutrition and obesity, a way of educating our children, young people and students about food, and a way of genuinely supporting our primary producers, farmers and supply chain partners to grow the local food market and offset the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss.
If we continue to battle with the complexities of our industry, is it any wonder why politicians, NGOs and others struggle to understand our value?
It's time for us to get specific, and that's the work we, as an organisation, need to focus on between now and our next catch up in April. It's time for all parts of the public food system to leverage their connections.
