Recently, here at Mellors, we have been encouraging our units to take part in Meat Free Mondays. This international campaign was launched in 2009 to improve individual health and the health of the planet. Be healthy! By just using one day a week to focus on a meatless diet. You can increase the amount of nutrients, minerals and fibre in your diet. Eating the right meat free food on just this one day can improve your heart health and reduce the risk of disease. Save the planet! Livestock production creates an extremely high amount of greenhouse gases (14.5%). On top of this the planet has given up a large sector of its agricultural land to livestock production. Including enormous areas in the Amazon rain forest. Slightly cutting down on meat consumption (red meat in particular) will contribute to alleviating this. New taste experiences! By participating in Meat free Mondays, you are leaving yourself open to try some delicious food! It is a great way to experiment with your diet and test out new dishes you wouldn’t usually try. As the ever growing range of meat free food continues to increase in popularity, food producers are constantly coming up with enjoyable alternatives which may lead to a more varied diet across the remaining 6 days of the week. Following an extremely competitive shortlisting process our 2019 Golden Whisk Live Final took place on Thursday 4th July at The Cheshire Cookery School in Altrincham. Our 3 finalists – Jackie Smith from Kingswinford School, Dan O’Callaghan from MOJ Liverpool and Averil Hill from Trinity Catholic College, Middlesbrough – battled it out in a live cook off against the clock! Sponsored by Unilever UK, this prestigious competition asked entrants to design and create a meat free dish that could be served in any Mellors unit. Our Area Managers, Ops Managers and Senior team visited sites throughout the North West, North East and Midlands to judge the pool of entrants and determine the best in each area. The live final was then judged by two of the Unilever UK team and our very own Sally Worthington (Health and Safety Manager) and Laura Norfolk (Marketing Manager). It was an extremely tough decision for the judges to choose between Jackie’s rainbow wrap, homemade vegetable crisps and salad, Averil’s Thai style sweet potato cake with Asian slaw and coriander mayo and Dan’s butternut squash, sweet potato and chickpea curry with buttered rice, flatbread and lime pickle but we’re extremely happy to announce that the winner is… Averil Hill from Trinity Catholic College!!! Averil’s dish was delicious and incredibly versatile and we’re really looking forward to seeing it being tried in other Mellors units! Well done to Averil for being crowned the 2019 winner, Dan and Jackie for their fantastic dishes in the final and to everyone who took part in the competition. We’re extremely proud to announce that, following the official audit process, Mellors Catering Services has been recommended for registration with National Quality Assurance (NQA) for the ISO 9001 accreditation. This internationally recognised accreditation demonstrates the commitment Mellors Catering Services makes to quality management across the business and the company’s keen customer focus. During the audit Mellors Catering Services impressed with the use of the kitchen diary process which is in place in each and every one of the more than 270 units. This system allows all Catering Managers to manage their supply chain and record a number of key performance metrics each day, ensuring that they and their teams can provide the high quality food and level of customer service our customers have come to expect. This accreditation is a real asset to the company and reflects how each and every member of staff strives for continuous improvement and it provides our clients and customers with the peace of mind that our standards are consistently monitored, externally and independently verified. Special thanks to Operations Director Janet Ellison and Health and Safety Manager Sally Worthington for their successful management of this important project. Fill in the form on our Contact Us page today for more information on our ISO 9001 accredited services. The 3rd annual Mellors Golden Whisk Competition has arrived for 2019! This year’s theme is Meat Free Mondays, with unit staff asked to submit their entries by 26th April. The competition aims to recognise our extremely talented unit staff by asking them to compete against each other to produce the most innovative, cost effective and easy to sell meat-free dish. All Mellors unit staff are eligible to enter. Each unit entry is then judged by their Area Manager and the winner for each area goes through to an Area Final. At each Area Final the Mellors Operations Managers will crown one winner, who will then go through to the Live Final taking place on 4th July! The Meat Free Monday theme is inspired by the work that UN Environment is doing to increase awareness of the limitations of our food system. Eating too much meat can lead to increased heart disease and higher greenhouse gases from meat production and with 75% of our food coming from 12 plants and 5 animal species, including cows, chicken and pigs, this is the perfect opportunity to promote the benefits of meat-free meals. To find out more about the limitations of our food system and what you can do to counteract them, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL3BQeteCc. To enter the 2019 Mellors Golden Whisk Competition contact your Area Manager today, entries close on 26th April. If you’re not currently a Mellors Client but would like more information about the services we offer please fill in the contact form here – https://www.mellorscatering.co.uk/contact-us. Mellors Catering have contributed through a number of ways from Collection tins at various locations, fundraising days, fundraising events such as It’s A Knockout, their Christmas Balls such as the one hosting Christmas just gone as a Casino Royal theme! All contributions to Zoe’s Place go towards the £1.6 million a year required to maintain the facilities for the babies and children here who have life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses.