FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
The hospitality business has won a five-year catering services contract with Coleg Sir Gâr, a further education college in Carmarthenshire with five campuses across the county.
The contract, which commenced on 2 September, ahead of the start of the new academic term, sees BaxterStorey responsible for overseeing restaurants, cafes, retail, hospitality, and vending across all of the campuses, serving more than 5,000 students, 1,000 employees and visitors.
As part of the deal, BaxterStorey will make a major investment into Coleg Sir Gâr’s catering facilities to enhance the customer experience. This will include new heavy and light equipment, signage and branding, digital screens, and an Airstream food trailer serving street food and coffee outside the college’s Forge sports hall and fitness suite and international standard all-weather sports training pitch.
The business will also be creating a 24-hour area in the main reception area with new vending machines and the addition of a Starbucks-branded beverage machine so that snack and beverages are available 24/7.
Daryl Williams, BaxterStorey Operations Manager – Wales, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded this new flagship partnership with Coleg Sir Gâr, who were impressed by our enthusiasm, energy and ideas during the presentation and bid stages of the tender process.
“This is a very important new partnership for our business in Wales, especially as we continue to grow and develop our Welsh business. We see further education as an existing growth market with further opportunities that we’ll be exploring in the future.”
Frontline workers form the backbone of facilities management services, serving as the face of the brand and interacting directly with customers. Yet research by both L&G and the Living Wage Foundation reveals the majority feel overlooked and expendable.
Accelerating the problem is a growing technology gap. Despite having 2.7 billion deskless workers worldwide, representing 80 per cent of the global workforce, only one per cent of software and technology investments has been allocated to this segment. This means there is a huge disconnect between frontline workers and their headquarters, leading to lack of sufficient training, communication challenges and low employee retention.
For this webinar, FMJ has teamed up with frontline training platform Lingio to bring together a panel of experts, to discuss how easy-to-use and efficient AI tools can help create engaging and gamified learning experiences that fit the needs of underserved deskless workers. The result? Better software and learning experiences lead to improved staff engagement and reduced staff turnover by up to 95 per cent, according to McKinsey.
To register for the webinar taking place on 11 September at 11:00 am click here.
