The contract includes the delivery of the catering, hospitality, retail and domestic services at Wellington College as well as the hospitality and domestic services for Eagle House, the preparatory and pre-preparatory school for 360 pupils aged 3-13 located in nearby Sandhurst.
The Independents by Sodexo team has been the long-term partner at both schools, over 60 years at Wellington College and over 25 years at Eagle House. The revamped V&A Café has been designed to provide pupils and staff with a more relaxing space where they can take quick breaks and enjoy lunch away from the busy main dining hall.
Wellington College Sodexo’s 160-strong catering team serves 1,000 pupils for breakfast and supper with a lunchtime service for pupils and staff of up to 1,700 covers. The main dining hall caters for around 1,000 pupils every lunchtime, offering a wide range of options from hot meals, salads and soups.
Steve Hawkins, managing director of schools for Sodexo UK & Ireland, said: “Wellington College is a prestigious institution, and we are proud of our team there for delivering excellence every day and providing the client with the confidence to continue with us as their partner for a further ten years.
“We are exceptionally proud of the V&A Café, we worked closely with Sodexo’s projects team who have used their skills and expertise to create a vibrant high street feel within a school environment. Over the next few years we will continue to work closely with the college leadership team as it further enhances the student experience with the creation of a new sixth form centre.”
Sodexo is using Klimato to provide carbon labelling on a number of the main meals to help pupils understand and adopt a more sustainable diet. The kitchen teams are also using Sodexo’s WasteWatch food waste reduction programme to capture food waste data which provides insights into what is being wasted and why.
Stephen Crouch, chief operating officer at Wellington College, added: “We are especially grateful to Sodexo for the support and investment it has made in transforming the V&A Café which has become the beating heart of the College providing our pupils and staff alike with a food service mirroring that of the high street.
“Together with Sodexo’s talented team we are proud to continue to offer meal options in both the main dining hall and the V&C Café that are as tasty as they are nutritious, and as balanced as they are diverse.”