#HertsHeroes: Aramark, our catering supplier

As our catering provider at the University, Aramark are one of a number of areas still working on campus. For many of our students, campus is their home so Aramark are ensuring they can still shop for their essential items by keeping the campus shops open. Read on to find out more about why they are today’s Herts Heroes.

Providing for students and staff on campus

As soon as the UK went into lockdown, keeping the campus shops open was so important to us. We knew many students would still be living on campus, and that some staff would still be working onsite, so we wanted to ensure they had somewhere close by that they could pop to and get their shopping.

Like many of the supermarkets, the demand for certain items changed quite quickly. We therefore stared to review our supplies to ensure we always had good stock levels of items such as toilet rolls, pasta and bread. However, our most popular item hasn’t changed. Yes – pot noodles are still our most popular product, you guys love them! And to be honest, so do we.

Our shops are looked after by Pauline and Jackie so be sure to say hi to them when you are visiting. They are supported by David, Aramark Group Manager, Craig and Mike our Campus Managers, who have adjusted to new roles to ensure we can continue to provide a service on campus.

In addition to the shops, two of our chefs, Maria and Stuart have been working in the kitchen to provide hot meals for the staff and children in the day nursery. They also wanted to support the shops so have been making freshly baked baguettes each day.

Keeping our shops safe

To ensure our shops remain safe for our staff and customers, we have made a number of changes to our usual operations. Social distancing measures are in place so if you are on campus and pop in, remember to keep 2 meters apart from other individuals. We may also ask you to queue outside to ensure we do not have too many people in the stores at one time.

We have also enhanced our hygiene measures which means our cleaning schedules have increased and to help reduce contact between people, we have removed cash transactions.

Supporting the community

It been so good to see how so many areas of the University have been working hard to provide support where they can to get us through this pandemic.

We also wanted to do our bit so, as our cafes and restaurants had to close, we started to see where we could offer our fresh produce to ensure it didn’t go to waste. This saw our stocks transferred to the Pirbright Barracks for their new recruits who were being confined to barracks.

We are also proudly supporting the Ministry of Defence as Andrew, Head Chef at our Forum restaurant, works to provide catering for the Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace. Nazz, our Sous Chef also from the Forum Restaurant, is supporting the food provision at the Regent Park barracks, home of the Queen's Royal Hussars.

And lastly, we have been helping to look after Uno Bus and their drivers by ensuring they stay well hydrated in this warm weather with lots of bottled water. We have also sent them the occasional chocolate treat which has certainly put a smile on many faces!

Thank you

Thanks to the team for staying on campus to support our students and staff who are still there. We really appreciate all the work you are all doing.

Keep safe everyone. We really look forward to serving you all in our cafes and restaurants back on campus soon!