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Bidfood’s Gavin Squires says funding and recruitment are key

14th Nov 2024 - 04:00
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Gavin Squires, Bidfood’s business development controller for education and healthcare, has spent 25 years in the catering industry. Now a leading voice within the public sector, he talks about what he’s learnt and the issues the industry faces.

Question: What made you pick a career in foodservice?

Gavin Squires: It’s an industry I naturally found myself in after studying Food Science at GCSE and A Level. It became a perfect fit for me and I’m proud to have worked at Bidfood, specialists within the public sector, for almost 20 years now.

We’re long-standing partners of vital industry bodies including; NACC, PSC, TUCO, APPG and LACA, and I’m delighted to continue my role on the LACA Board representing partners and suppliers, which I’ve held for the past six years. I’m also incredibly proud of the team for being named LACA Supplier of the Year 2024.

There’s so much activity within foodservice, but in particular within the public sector, meaning no two days are ever the same. I’ve learnt so much over my career and met some incredible people along the way. I think the fast pace, the versatility, the amazing people who work tirelessly and how rewarding it is to feed children, residents, patients, prisoners and consumers every day has kept me more than fulfilled.

Q: What have been the biggest changes over the past 25 years?

GS: One of the most interesting changes over this time has been the diversification of customers into different sectors and how the market is changing to accommodate this. Customers are more frequently expanding across sectors and it’s important as wholesalers to be able to support them with their ever-changing needs and the blurred lines between sector requirements.

We also can’t forget the rise in allergens, legislation to support this rise, and what this has meant for the industry. Ensuring that consumers are safely consuming food and staff are adequately trained on allergens has never been so important.

This has posed a real challenge for the sector due to resourcing issues and staff turnover. We’ve made it our mission to support our customers and make their lives easier by developing MyRecipes, which gives customers access to allergen data and costings to help build recipes and menus in accordance with Government legislation.

Other areas we’ve seen change in have been supply challenges and food inflation, due to the likes of Brexit, Covid-19 and International unrest. This has required us to be agile and adaptable to the times, offering support in areas such as menu rationalisation, cost mitigation and chef development to help customers make the most of their budgets, as well as providing comprehensive documents such as our Navigator report, which allows customers to navigate market prices and availability.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the sector?

GS: Ultimately the two key challenges for the public sector are recruitment and funding.

Focusing on funding, we all need to remember the fantastic work organisations and individuals working within public sector catering carry out day in, day out, feeding children, university students, residents, patients, hard-working staff and prisoners. How they manage this on a shoestring budget is admirable.

The funding levels are currently running at an all-time low when you compare the rapid rise over the years for minimum national living wage and food inflation. Funding has simply not been addressed and that’s why there are so many organisations and individuals lobbying Government for increased funding across the sector.

I’m continuing to actively use my voice to try and bring about positive change by lobbying Government to acknowledge and action the severity of public sector catering funding. This includes creating and submitting a paper, on multiple occasions, on behalf of the industry to both the Government and Shadow Cabinet to raise awareness of the severity of the situation surrounding funding. It’s an issue close to our hearts and we will continue to fight this fight.”

Q: What are your hopes for industry support from the new Government?

GS: It’s too early to say my thoughts on the new Government, but we’re eagerly awaiting the budget at the end of October. However, they did make a commitment within their manifesto, which has been met with a mixed reaction, to provide free breakfast clubs in ‘every primary school, accessible to all children’. Whilst some feel this is a great initiative, others, including myself, feel the investment would be better targeted at school lunches.

Whilst breakfast is important, there are many complications that come with it, including staffing, allergen management, dietary requirements, safeguarding, food safety and high-sugar products. By investing in schools lunches, you’re investing in the most important provision to sustain a child for the whole school day.

As you can probably tell, this is a topic which is incredibly important to me. I’m currently fortunate enough to sit on the LACA Board, working alongside industry figureheads including Dr Andrew Kemp MBE, Patricia Fellows MBE and LACA chairs, to drive the message to Government to increase funding, as well as sitting on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for school food.

Q: What can the industry do better to attract the support it needs to meet the challenges ahead?

GS: Anyone who works within this sector will feel passionately about ensuring challenges like funding and staffing are overcome. I’d like to see one clear voice speaking on behalf of the industry, with one clear message.

Not only will this help drive home the importance of the message itself, but also will mean we’re fighting for the same goal, delivering the same points consistently and collaboratively to give us the best chance to instil real, positive change.

Public sector catering feels like a lone voice while championing our efforts lobbying Government and desperately requires more support from UKHospitality and the continued support from the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD) to include us as a key part of the hospitality industry for away from home feeding.

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Written by
Edward Waddell