Foodservice Cateys 2022: General Manager of the Year – Nicola Collinson, Aramark

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Nicola Collinson stepped up to the post of general manager at the Defence School of Transport (DST) in Leconfield in difficult circumstances after her predecessor passed away. Since taking on the role she has gone above and beyond to support staff during a challenging time, while ensuring a high standard of service was provided across the site.

The DST is the largest residential driver training school in the world, and it teaches personnel from the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines. More than 90 staff work at the site, which operates 365 days a year and serves a population of 1,700 people.

Catering requirements range from fine dining for VIPs and royal visits to cooking hundreds of hot dogs on the parade ground or creating 10,000 packed meals every month.

Collinson has worked at the site for 21 years and was the first woman to take on the general manager role in almost two decades when she moved into the post a year ago. She has been dedicated to supporting staff and identified when a team member was suffering from anxiety and helped them access support. Her work has included encouraging conversation around the menopause and has helped a number of colleagues over the last year.

Under her leadership, staff are encouraged to pursue new qualifications, with one manager having recently completed his Level 4 GNVQ in catering and another undertaking a Level 3 in catering supervision. Collinson has also signed up four apprentices in 2022, the most since Aramark took over the site in 2018, and taken three young people on via the government Kickstart scheme.

Collinson has embraced digital marketing to run promotions and campaigns across the catering facilities throughout the year, including on-site offers such as ‘Free Wing Wednesdays' in 2021, meal deals and offers at tills. Over the past year this has resulted in a 20% rise in footfall and 28% increase in net sales, equating to a 7% increase in spend per head.

Collinson has also advanced the use of feedback on site to help the team improve their services. Everyone on the site can use the Hub app and is encouraged to leave reviews of the catering facilities they use. DST Leconfield has 2,000 users, the highest number within Aramark's network, which marks a 5% increase on the previous year.

As part of her dedication to her role Collison makes the effort to see every member of staff each day and visits each area of the site to check on and gather informal feedback from customers. Her expertise is highly valued by the team, and she has also been asked by the regimental catering warrant officer, who audits the site daily, to design the mess and canteen areas to improve the customer experience and improve efficiency.

The judges were highly impressed with Collinson's entry and felt she was clearly held in high esteem by all who she worked with, making her a worthy winner of the award.

What the judges said

"An outstanding nomination, where Nicola's passion, care for her team and professionalism shines through. It is also clear from the wonderful testimonials the high esteem in which she is held by everyone she engages with." Greg Mace

The shortlist

Claire Clark, Wilson Vale

Nicola Collinson, Aramark

Bonnie Dankbars, Elior

Past winners

2019 Trevor Bostridge, Bartlett Mitchell (previously Catering Manager of the Year)

2017 Paul Bate, Amadeus

2016 Murray Soper, Bartlett Mitchell

2015 Emma Williams, Green & Fortune

2014 Jamie Stevenson, BaxterStorey

2013 Renier Oberholzer, Harbour & Jones