West Sussex County Council has selected Royal Voluntary Service to deliver Meals on Wheels across the region for five years from November. Under the new contract it will provide over 350,000 meals to individuals and 12,500 meals to day centres a year.
This partnership will see Compass supplying the charity with Steamplicity meals. These meals are cooked as required in minutes, using fresh food under steam pressure to retain all the taste and goodness of the ingredients.
There are over 30 nutritious meals to choose from including traditional favourites such as: roast beef with Yorkshire pudding; Shepherd’s pie; fish and chips; lasagne and chicken and mushroom pie.
Various special diets will also be catered for and Compass, Royal Voluntary Service and West Sussex County Council will review and update menus twice a year based on customer feedback. In an improvement to the current service, customers will be able to choose their meal the day before delivery and opt to receive it hot or chilled. Dishes can either be cooked from fresh en route to the customer in a specially developed delivery vehicle – or if chilled, they can be steamed in the recipient’s microwave at the next mealtime.
Steven Cenci, managing director for healthcare at Compass Group UK & Ireland commented: “We are delighted to be working with the Royal Voluntary Service and West Sussex County Council to bring Steamplicity to people in their homes through Meals on Wheels.
"Our partnership puts the customer at the heart of the dining experience and we’re excited to be delivering great choice and quality, fresh food to people across West Sussex. In addition to providing the option to have the meals hot or chilled we’ll also be bringing touches of home, such as china plates, to make sure that the food is appetising in every way.”
John Figgins, county catering service manager at West Sussex County Council, added: “We are delighted to have awarded this vital service to the Royal Voluntary Service working in partnership with Compass. I know we have made the right decision for our residents and I am very excited about this partnership. The new range of fresh meals will enable more flexibility in terms of both delivery, times customers can eat and heating of dishes.”