ESS Offshore's executive development chef wins award … and other food service news

ESS Offshore's executive development chef wins award ESS Offshore's executive development chef Robbie Robertson has been named as the Craft Guild of Chefs' Cost Sector Chef of the year. Robertson, was put forward for the award by Compass Group, parent company of ESS Offshore, where he has worked since 2004. He said: "To collect an award at such a prestigious event from the leading chefs' association is a dream come true."

Murrayfield contract announced The Scottish Rugby Union has appointed Prestige Scotland to provide the catering for Murrayfield, Edinburgh. The £3m, three-year contract will cover every aspect of the catering for the 67,800 seat stadium including conference and banqueting facilities for up to 1,200 people. The 20 full-time staff will be retained and no new positions are expected to be created. The contract had previously been held by the company, which is part of Sodexho Prestige, before the SRU took control of the catering last year.

Healthy schools meals for Scolarest Scolarest has won the contract to provide meals at Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby, and are determined to keep healthy food at the top of the menu. Scolarest were hired in consultation with the student council and will provide healthy options for breakfast, break-time, lunch and hospitality catering. The contract at the 780-pupil school is worth £519,000 in turnover and will last for three years.

Law firm contract for Charlton House Charlton House has been awarded the staff catering contract for commercial and insurance law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC). The three-year contract at the firm's new London site started in late June and is worth £600,000 in annual turnover. Twelve Charlton House staff will provide breakfast, lunch and extensive hospitality services for 500 RPC staff. They will also provide reception and switchboard services for the firm.

Norway airport concession announced Travel concessions business SSP is to operate all five convenience units at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway. This comes on top of a five year contract extension for the airport's existing Salmon House fine food outlet. The new contracts will run for five years from 1 January 2007 and are valued at 1bn NOK (£80m). Two of the outlets have been run by competitors and will be refurbished and re-opened in early 2007.

By Alix Young

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week -