The Roger Davis Outstanding Achievement Award represents the highest accolade that can be bestowed upon an individual within education catering. It is awarded to the person who has, above all others, demonstrated outstanding levels of service and commitment.
During his twelve years in school catering, Mark has played a key role in several important cultural shifts within the industry. Persistently keen to put ISS forward to trial new initiatives and support campaigns dedicated to improving school food, he has utilised the company’s position as a large contract caterer to successfully embed programmes such as the ‘Food for Life Served Here’ accreditation scheme and the School Catering Professional Standards, setting industry standards high and subsequently effecting change across hundreds of schools and for thousands of pupils and school cooks.
Mark established partnerships with organisations such as charity, School Food Matters, and individuals like TV gardener, Chris Collins, early on in his position as Managing Director, ISS Education. These initiative enabled the Education business to become more than just caterers – helping schools to educate children about where their food comes from and how to harvest and prepare it. This, along with better quality school food, has helped to raise perceptions of school caterers and the meals they serve.
In recent months, ISS has been recognised for its award-winning primary school service excellence model, Feeding Excellence Every Day (FEED), and secondary school concept, Tiller & Hobs. Mark was heavily involved in the creation and development of both initiatives which are focused on creating excellent dining experiences for pupils through great food, served in relaxing and inspiring environments by trained and welcoming school cooks.
Patricia Fellows, MBE and Former LACA Chair said: “I am delighted that Mark has won this prestigious LACA Award; so richly deserved. Mark is passionate about ensuring that children receive a healthy, nutritious and appetising school meal. He has not only shown huge commitment to ISS but to school meals provision as a whole, encouraging all of us to work together to secure the future of our industry.”
Mark commented: “I am deeply honoured to have been presented with this award, and I want to thank LACA for recognising me. I have had an incredible journey during my time working in school catering, and to stand back now and see how far we’ve coming is humbling. Of course, I could not have done any of it without my fantastic team supporting me; I want to thank them for all their hard work, and I am sure we will continue to improve and innovate for a long time to come.”
