ARAMARK has awarded its catering team at The Food & Environment Research Agency (FERA) its prestigious Corporate Responsibility Award for 2009.
As part of its core CR programme, ARAMARK runs an annual CR Award to motivate and educate staff on environmental, sustainable and ethical issues aimed at its various client sites around the UK. To be in the running to be crowned the winner, staff must be instrumental in implementing new CR initiatives in order to pick up maximum points throughout the year.
Stuart Wood, Catering Manager at FERA explained:
“After achieving third place last year (2008), we were determined to win, which is why our team created an innovative programme to target all areas of CR that fitted in with our business. For example, we earned valuable points by supporting our local community with school visits, hosted fundraising events and reduced oven-on times in our kitchens. We gained further points by running two FLORA healthy heart days for FERA staff and by supporting the use of locally sourced meat and vegetables, in association with British Food Fortnight (BFF).”
ARAMARK awarded its team at FERA £5,000 to donate to charity as part of their win. The on-site team decided to support three local charities: Nuzzlets (Rescued Animals for Therapy and Education) has been given £4,000 to spend on a multi-use mobile classroom to educate children about planting fruit and vegetables and healthy eating. A further £500 has been given to the Special Care Baby Unit at York District Hospital and £500 to the York District Motor Neurone Disease charity.
Val Carter, Corporate Responsibility Director, ARAMARK, explained:
“ARAMARK is committed to CR throughout its business portfolio and this competition is a great way to motivate staff members on social, environmental and sustainable issues. This year is the second time we have run the award and the quality of entries has been incredibly strong. We encourage entrants for 2010 to continue to push boundaries and make a real difference throughout their business.”
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