The Expo, which is free to attend, is the only national event to bring together chefs and caterers from across all areas of the public sector – from schools to hospitals, universities, catering colleges, the social care sector, and prisons through to the military.
The Expo features have been specially developed to engage with contacts at all levels from chief executives, through to unit catering managers and chefs.
The panellists will look at how collaboration and joint action, including liaison with Government on topics such as procurement, food standards and sustainability, can benefit the industry and its customers. The panellists include:
- Anita Brown, chair of LACA: Anita said she aims to prioritise and continue with the ‘If not now, when?’ campaign, with the focus being the huge differences in funding across the four nations.
- Chris Ross, chair of ASSIST FM: At the LACA Main Event Chris noted that the school meals service in Scotland had an ageing workforce, so they were looking at new ways to recruit and retain colleagues.
- Amanda Pettingill, vice chair of TUCO: Amanda has a wealth of experience within the catering industry including work within contract catering, hotels, exhibition centres, sport and the education sectors.
The Public Sector Catering Expo, which is running for two days from 31 October to 1 November, includes the launch of some cutting-edge sector research, keynote speakers such as Tim Spector and Gregg Wallace, live cooking demos, networking and a lively exhibition. And this is all running alongside the military catering event – Exercise Joint Caterer.