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Serving up award-winning food
Almond Catering has quickly become Scotland's largest independent contract caterer, having picked up £7m-worth of contracts in its first six months of operation.
Established in 2004 and now with over 300 talented staff servicing 45 major clients from British Aerospace to VisitScotland, the firm was recently named among the top ten new businesses in The Herald newspaper's Best in Business listings.
Catering in Scotland looks at the recognition Almond has received in the last month for the award-winning quality of its food, service and hygiene…
As CIS Excellence Healthy Eating Award-winners and recipients of an EatScotland Award at the Almond-run Ocean Point Seven restaurant, Almond are quickly climbing the ladder of success in contract catering.
'It has been a great 2006 for us so far and we are delighted to receive these awards which demonstrate our commitment to exceptional standards of food and service,' says Mike Ball, Operations Director at Almond, who picked up the CIS Excellence Award for Healthy Eating on behalf of the firm.
'The awards are testament to the hard work of our staff who put so much care and passion into their jobs, from our chefs who prepare the food, to our managers and assistants who are responsible for presentation and service.'
And in February the firm won the contract for HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane where it now serves meals on site for the 3,000-strong workforce. Mike Ball is also on the working group set up by the Scottish Executive to oversee a new healthy living award which will eventually replace the Executive's current Scottish Healthy Choices Scheme.
Almond, which follows a 'Simply Fresh Food' ethos, was given the CIS Excellence Healthy Eating Award in acknowledgement of the research, training and evaluation used to support its 'high commitment to healthy eating'. The firm was also highly commended for its 'client communication and promotion including the use of intranet and newsletters'.
'At Almond we don't dictate to people what they should or shouldn't eat but we do believe that what you eat has an impact on how good you feel,' continues Mike. 'We work closely with occupational health teams and clients who have aspirations to improve the health of their employees by recommending a wide range of foods that can be combined to form a healthy, balanced diet.'
The company's philosophy was also key to Ocean Point Seven securing the EatScotland Award. The staff and customer restaurant located within VisitScotland's Edinburgh headquarters was noted for its menu, which Assessors reported to be 'well-balanced and made every day, on the premises, from fresh ingredients.'
This article has been edited from the original. To view the feature in full, please see Catering in Scotland magazine. To join our database, go to Media Pack on this website and click on Subscribe.
