Innovate Services sees sales soar after Chiswick School revamp
Education caterer Innovate Services has seen sales at its new contract at Chiswick School jump by 26% following its renovation of the facilities over the summer holiday.
Innovate was budgeted to invest £100,000 in the revamp of the West London school's outdated 1970s canteen in a project that took just five weeks to complete.
Tony Ryan, head teacher at the school for 1,200 students aged 11-18, described the reason for awarding the contract to Innovate: "What attracted us to Innovate was its different approach; an approach that has a retail ‘high street' mentality, which didn't come from any other companies.
"We liked their view on transforming the environment as well as managing the catering service. It was just what we wanted and at the end of the day, why should students put up with any less."
The renovation saw the canteen given restaurant style catering facilities, including suspended ceilings, mood lighting and distinct break out areas. A new serving area, check out process and biometric payment system was also introduced.
The new food offer incorporates a range of snacks, sandwiches, stir-fries from the Teppan grill, soups, paninis, Simply Fantastico pasta from Innovate's Gino D'Acampo range and a salad bar, together with hot and cold drinks. Breakfast is now also available.
"It was an extremely exciting project to work on in a very tight time frame, but we knew after a discussion with Chiswick School that we could turn it around in the summer downtime and have it fully operational for the start of the autumn term," explained Sarah Barnard, director of concept and innovation at Innovate.
"The transformation has been quite amazing and we've had great feedback from the school, staff and students."
Innovate also created a video, detailing the refurbishment:
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