SOAS remains a guardian of specialised knowledge in language and periods and regions not available anywhere else in the UK. Democracy, development, human rights, identity, legal systems, religion, poverty and social change are subjects taught and debated constantly. SOAS has over 100 postgraduate programmes (taught and distance learning) in the social sciences, humanities and languages with a distinctive regional focus and global relevance.

The University has two central London campuses. The Russell Square buildings, located in Bloomsbury is its main campus, whilst Vernon Square, a mile or so to the North, in the heart of Islington operates as its second. Adjacent to the two SOAS student residences (Dinwiddy House and Paul Robeson House), this campus offers state of-the-art teaching and learning resources and an internet cafe alongside spacious social amenities.

Elior won the contract to provide food services to this prestigious multicultural establishment in August 2011.

The situation that Elior inherited

Despite the world renown of this university as a leader in its field, the catering operations had been underinvested over a number of years, and the changing needs of its customers and staff had been neglected for a very long time. There was a distinct lack of trust and communication between the food services people, staff and students were at a low point. Students spend that should have been going to the in-house university catering services was lost to food retailers in the area. What should have been an enjoyable aspect of life at the university was an inadequate service.

When Elior took over, a further challenge was the removal of all existing catering staff by the previous contract caterer. At the last minute Elior had to quickly find skilled and experienced people from other parts of its educational division and bring them onto the SOAS site.

First priorities

Our first priority was to engage with stakeholders of the University to fully understand their needs and to plan how we could adapt and develop the services to satisfy them. Knowing the exact customer profile at every university is a fundamental part of Elior’s approach to catering in these diverse establishments. An unusual aspect of the relationship with SOAS is that there are three influential stakeholder groups, the students, through the Students Union, the academic staff and the facilities management team at the university.

All had a role in improving the service to make a positive contribution to life at the university and to match the tastes, needs and budgets of the students.

Another key factor was that the strongly ethically and environmentally motivated students wanted a healthy menu based on food from responsible sources, and with a significant proportion of vegan and vegetarian meals.

This was a powerful influence on menu design. Any fish on the menu for example must be rated green by the marine conservation society, meaning that it is responsibly farmed and is some of the most sustainably produced seafood available. Although this menu was a new challenge for our staff, they approached it with professionalism, open mindedness and flexibility. As a result of talking to and listening to student’s representatives, big improvements have been made in rebalancing the menus to bring students back to the service.

As a further step in strengthening our relationships with students, our staff have trained SOAS students who want part time work to join the university’s food service staff.  

Another example of working with our customers is the menus we have designed based on the SOAS Students Union students recipe book.

Early impact

Numerous positive comments have been received reflecting the early impact that Elior’s approach has had on customer attitudes.

“Since Elior started work at SOAS they have completely overturned the situation that the University had regarding the relationship between students, staff and the catering team. Not only has the quality of food and standard of service improved to a remarkable degree, but they have also listened to the Students Union with regards to good practice and ethical policy, and have immediately adapted themselves to our requirements. They have also adapted to the requirements of the student community in other ways; the introduction of a brand new Pizza Machine was a direct result of Elior's understanding of student demands and a nuanced knowledge of available solutions in the market. Being able to press a button and watch a pizza being made in front of one's eyes within 3 minutes has not only made it easier for students to eat good food at any time they have available in their busy schedules, but has also shown that Elior indeed care about the students that they cater for.”

Ali Khan, Co-President for Finance and Communications SOAS Students’ Union

The enterprise office of the university also believed that important improvements had been achieved.

“I just wanted to send you a quick email just to say what you’ve done for SOAS has been fantastic. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you with regards to student enterprise and a complete contrast to last year. Not only have you incorporated the SOAS recipe book into the refectory menu and put up the promo material, you’re willing to get involved in training sessions, facilitate use of the kitchens so we’re not doing things off-site and generally been willing to help in whatever way possible. You’re sympathetic to the needs of the students, but also realistic; that helps encourage our students to be confident in their ideas and has taught them a valuable lesson in ‘stakeholder engagement’ which I could never have conveyed on paper.  We very much look forward to working with you and your team on edition 2 of the SOAS recipe book and incorporating Elior into our student enterprise competitions and events. Thank you once again for all your help; you really have made my life so much easier.”

Claire Hardesty
Business Development Manager, Enterprise Office

Future plans

Elior now plans to invest in its partnership with SOAS. A major new refurbishment programme starts in June 2012, which involves reequipping the kitchens, providing a new servery, expanding the main restaurant and introducing new vending machines. This work will enable us to improve the variety of food on the menus and make the whole service operation more environmentally efficient and sustainable.

A new staff restaurant will also be part of the refurbishment programme, giving staff a new deli and cafe.

The last few months have been the start of a journey in our relationship with SOAS and we will continue to develop our services to make this a flagship site within our specialist education business.