Morag Freathy, managing director of Compass Group workplace catering business Eurest, has been named as the Foodservice Caterer of the Year at the 2023 Cateys Awards.
Eurest serves more than 4.5 million meals every year in organisations across the United Kingdom.
In the face of a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis, Freathy recognised that Eurest’s scale put the business in a unique position to influence the health and wellbeing of the nation’s workers.
Her environmental and social conscience has seen Eurest redirect its focus towards plant-based menus, a food waste programme and ambitious Net Zero goals as part of a campaign to ‘nudge’ the nation’s lifestyle.
Under Freathy's stewardship, over half of Eurest’s menus are now plant based and food waste has reduced by 40% since 2019, with a goal to reach 50% by 2025.
In the last year alone, the business saved 39 tonnes of food, representing 86,950 meals – up from 30% in 2019. Efforts which are also having a direct impact on the reduction of its clients’ own carbon footprints.
The change in culture has also seen Eurest partner with external experts including psychologists and nutritionists, as well as participate in a string of pioneering health and sustainability research trials with scientists from Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Competition judge, Frank Bothwell from international caterer Thomas Franks, comments: “The results speak for themselves.
The results speak for themselves. Morag has overdelivered where many would have struggled.
A deserved winner among strong competition”.
Freathy says: “This is an incredibly proud moment, not just for me, but for my team who work tirelessly every day to make a real difference.
“The economic climate in last few years has been challenging, but it also presented an opportunity for innovation and showed that my team are massively resilient.
“Some were going through personal challenges in the pandemic, but they were committed and passionate about their roles.
They really cared.
That gave me the belief that we could drive successful change and for that I’m eternally grateful."
The win follows a string of recent successes for Eurest which took home the Sustainability in Labelling Award at last month’s Footprint Awards.
The business was also named B&I Caterer of the Year and winner of the CSER Award at the Foodservice Cateys last October.
