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Aspens secures 3 year deal with North Birmingham Academy

Aspens Services has been awarded a new three-year foodservice deal by North Birmingham Academy, part of the expanding E-ACT group of Academies.

The foodservice deal starts in January 2012 and will enable Aspens to continue to work closely with the Academy, which is set to move into brand-new buildings currently under construction. Aspens is advising on the design and layout of the new dining facilities which will cater for up to 1,200 students.

At the same time, the company is celebrating securing the Soil Association's Food for Life Silver Catering Mark for the Academy's catering service, recognising its high standard of healthy and sustainable meals using locally-sourced and organic produce.

Aspens has worked with North Birmingham Academy providing advice on the new kitchen and catering areas, including a branded Costa coffee shop, being built as part of its major redevelopment. The Academy will move into new buildings in 2013 with student numbers set to rise to 1,200 in the new buildings.

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School meals go pop!

Aspens Services helped serve up a major surprise for students at St Chad's Catholic and Church of England High School, Runcorn, by taking on British girl group Parade as catering assistants.

The five members of the pop group stunned students at the school when they dished up the lunchtime menu. Their stint behind the counter was filmed for an episode of Channel 4 show Live and Lost shown on November 20th. St Chad's student Ashlee Brown contacted the programme and suggested the pop stars join the catering team as part of a challenge where the group members have five days to get to a secret gig, with just £20 and a smart phone.

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Tasty Treats for Harvest

MORE than 250 pupils at Churchill Primary School tucked into a hearty harvest lunch of home-grown fruit and vegetables. School catering company Aspens Services helped the school arrange the tasty dinner, using ingredients grown by teachers and pupils' parents, as well as the school's own garden.

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Cracking News!

Aspens has won a Gold 'Eggsellence' Award by the British Hen Welfare Trust. The Trust - a national campaigning charity whose celebrity patrons include chefs Jamie Oliver and Antony Worrall Thompson - presents the certificate to companies and restaurants which use only British free-range eggs in their menus.

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Aspens wins new education catering deals worth £9 million

Aspens Services has scored a string of new education catering deals worth £9m in revenue. Our nine new school and academy contracts mean we will serve and extra 1.9 million meals annually from September.

Aspens' new clients include: St Chad's Catholic and Church of England School, Runcorn, Cheshire; Chesterton Community College, Cambridge; and Wolgarston High School, Penkridge, Staffordshire.

You can read the rest of this article on CatererSearch.com or in September's issue of
Cost Sector Catering Magazine.

FM-World: Aspens wins Academy Catering Contract

Aspens Services has won a five-year catering contract at the three Grace Academy sites in the West Midlands. From September, we will provide catering at sites in Solihull, Coventry and Darlaston, near Walsall. The contract includes catering, hospitality and vending services at the three Academies.

You can find the full article on Aspens' new catering contracts at FM-World as well as further coverage of this story on the TheBusinessDesk.com website.

Worcester News: Aspens Hit Gold

We are one of the only caterers in the country to be awarded the Soil Association's Food for Life Gold Catering Mark. This has been achieved for our work at Worcestershire County Council. Read the Worcester News' report on Aspens being awarded the Food for life Gold.

John Roe, managing partner for Aspens Services said:

"We are delighted at our success in achieving gold. We set our sights on this scheme when we founded the company as we wanted to give our customers the reassurance of high quality food standards, traceability and provenance that this award brings. We have an ongoing commitment in promoting truly locally sourced food to support the local communities that we serve. This award forms an important part of our strategy."

The company worked hard to achieve the Gold Catering Mark for recognition of its greater use of fresh, seasonal and organic ingredients including high welfare meat and sustainable fish.

Peter Douglas, inspector for the Soil Association commented:

"The management and staff of Aspens Services are enthusiastic about the origin of ingredients, commitment to the quality of the food they serve and how they communicate this message to their customers."

The Food for Life Catering Mark is an accreditation scheme that provides a step-by-step route to sustainable catering. Open to caterers in both the public and private sectors, the Mark has three tiers: bronze, silver and gold, with the gold standard requiring the caterer's menu to be 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and 30% organic. Few other contract caterers in the country have achieved this standard.