AON staff delighted with enhanced Catering Service
AON Ltd in Caterham on the Hill were not happy with the catering services provided by their previous contractor. So they asked Pride to look at their operation and come up with proposals.

With 250 mainly young employees based at AON’s busy call centre, Pride felt they could make dramatic changes. Tim Price, Director at Pride explains their approach:

“We wanted to create a “spiral of success” where the more happy customers we serve, the more comprehensive the service becomes and this draws in yet more custom. It really is critical to get this momentum going quickly. So we revamped the restaurant and servery and put in modern modular equipment where the vending machines had once been. Crucially, we wanted to improve significantly the food offer to include a quality hot dish of the day with a range of freshly cooked hot breakfast items plus fresh soup, panninis, and baguettes. Focus and simplicity was key – our offer needed to be appropriate for the young hungry market. All this created a 'wow' factor from Day One. Customers love it and numbers served are really buoyant.

The new arrangement was good for all concerned – Pride invested in the catering facilities to improve the menu range and food presentation. The vending machines were relocated out of the prime seating area and in went a smart deli bar with a hot meal service point. The results have been fantastic – it is really popular with staff who benefit from a fresh nutritious meal service."

Andy Thomson at AON was over the moon:

“Pride confirmed our suspicions that our previous contractor was not making the most of the facilities and it was costing us a lot in subsidy for poor take-up from the staff.

Pride read the situation well – we needed to make the available subsidy really work hard so our people felt they had a good staff benefit. Certainly we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and Pride came up with a really practical modular approach, which they developed as the services became more popular. Pride went on to develop an extensive hospitality catering service for regular directors dining and visitors. We have been delighted”