The Lexington leadership team and I are thrilled to bring you this update on what has been an exceptional 2024. This edition is packed with highlights, celebrating the incredible achievements we’ve accomplished together over the past year.
We reflect on the success of our BariStar and BakeStar 2024 competition. BariStar marked its impressive 10th anniversary, while BakeStar made a fantastic debut,
showcasing the remarkable talents of the baristas and bakers in our business.
We’ve also seen significant strides in our social value partnerships and CSR initiatives. Among the standout achievements was our industry-first allergy-aware menu—offering meals that prioritise allergen accessibility without compromising on quality. Another highlight was our annual Elior Charity Dinner held on World Mental Health Day, where we raised an outstanding £30,000 for Alzheimer’s UK, serving dishes that underscored the vital connection between food, mood, and brain health.
Lastly, this year has been all about celebrating our extraordinary people. In this issue, you’ll find inspiring stories of their achievements, alongside news of some exciting award wins. We hope you enjoy reading about these fantastic milestones as much as we’ve enjoyed reaching them together.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Matt
LEXINGTON LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
We held our annual Lexington Leadership Conference in September 2024. Over 150 passionate members of our Lexington community, together with our Lexington leadership team, gathered to celebrate generational differences in the workplace and our commitment to nurturing great talent!
Our guest speaker, Andy Goram, from Purple Story, explored generational differences and their impact on the workplace.
We hosted an insightful panel discussion on ‘Recruiting for Attitude’, highlighting the importance of soft skills and personality in the recruitment process.
A true highlight of the day was the return of our annual Star Awards which celebrated exceptional individuals who have shown unwavering commitment to our clients and communities.
Pictured: Special Contribution Award - Account Director, Shaun Fitzgibbon
BARISTAR AND BAKESTAR 2024
We recently hosted our BakeStar and BariStar 2024 event, which saw six bakers and six baristas battling it out in two parallel competitions.
BakeStar, in its inaugural year, and BariStar, in its 10th year, were co-hosted to raise the profile of our baking talent and enhance the guest experience combining bakery and patisserie with coffee. Aligning with UK Coffee Week, the event also raised funds for Project Waterfall, supporting clean water for coffeegrowing communities.
The competition’s plant-based theme intended to shine a spotlight on the importance of health, wellness, and sustainability, while adding an extra layer of challenge.
A prestigious panel of industry experts including Graham Hornigold from Longboys, International Pastry Chef, Claire Clarke, and CEO of Rosslyn, James Hennerbry, chose the winning concept.
The winning bake was a sweet pastry tartlet with layers of British apple, cobnut dacquoise, vegan vanilla cream, caramel and cobnut brittle. The winning barista drink was a banana bread latte. Both creations will be rolled out across our business in 2025.
FOOD INNOVATION FORUMS
Our food innovation forums focus on different topics but all aim to inspire menu innovations and celebrate the joy of seasonal ingredients.
HOSPITALITY FORUM
At our hospitality innovation forum, we dived into everything hospitality, fine-dining, and culinary creativity. Some of the standout moments included sustainable small plates, modern mezze, fine-dining desserts, exciting supplier showcases and seasonal coffee experiences.
CHRISTMAS FORUM
MINDFUL KITCHEN FORUM
Wellness, CSR, and ESG are a huge focus for both our clients and customers. With this in mind, our Mindful Kitchen forum showcased an array of sustainable, wellness-focused food, forward-thinking supply partners, and innovative ideas from the Lexington team.
To start the festive season off in style, we recently hosted our annual Festive Innovation Forum. We unveiled this year’s festive menu innovations, sharing creative ideas to make the most of seasonal ingredients and festive seasonal drink creations.
AWARDS
JON LILLEY - CHEF OF THE YEAR FOOD SERVICE CATEYS
Our very own Group Development Chef, Jon Lilley, was named Chef of the Year at the Foodservice Cateys awards hosted by The Caterer!
Jon’s well-deserved win reflects not only his 19 years of dedication to Lexington, but also his exceptional culinary talent, leadership, team development, and his relentless commitment to going above and beyond. He consistently delivers outstanding service and value to both our clients and customers.
Jon’s passion for sustainability and innovation is unmatched. He believes in sharing his knowledge and experiences to uplift his colleagues, drive innovation in the culinary world, and support charitable initiatives. His philosophy is simple: to make a positive impact through food.
Jon’s dedication to mentorship and talent cultivation is truly impressive. As a strong advocate for apprenticeships, Jon provides young chefs and porters with opportunities through Lexington’s chef school and buddy system. Collaborating with the University of West London and New City College, Jon has seen 21 apprentices graduate over the past two years, with 14 in the current cohort.
A huge congratulations to Jon on this remarkable achievement.
ACE READY STEADY COOK - THIRD PLACE
Lexington chefs, Tim and Mahir, earnt an impressive third place finish for their performance at the ACE Ready Steady Cook Competition 2024.
Competing against 11 chef teams, they crafted a stunning duck dish using Gressingham duck and a vegetarian side from a mystery box of surprise ingredients.
Their final dishes were:
BBQ gressingham duck with pickled plum, furikake duck fat carrot, date & tamarind purée, heritage corn tortilla case, and master sauce
Charred dukkah corn ribs with sour glaze, baba ganoush in lemon green chutney dress, sumac
STREAT FOOD AWARDS:
Kitchen porter turned Chef de Partie, Ace Pitigo, took third place in Chef of the Year at the Contract Caterer Magazine’s StrEAT Food Awards, competing against 16 other chefs from the industry. Ace impressed the judges with his innovative dishes, including ‘Lechon Bad Boy and Ube’ - a Filipino-inspired creation featuring crispy pork belly sando, ube brioche, garlic aioli, lechon kawali sauce, and smacked cucumer.
CONTRACT CATERER OF THE YEAR
At the 2024 Contract Catering Awards, we were recognised for our significant industry contributions and accomplishments throughout the past year, being named winners of the prestigious Contract Caterer of the Year Award.
PARTNERSHIPS
FUTURE PLATE - DAN RAMPAT
Our Group New Business and Innovation Chef, has joined the UK’s largest collective of African and Caribbean chefs, The Future Plate in an associate role. Dan will continue his role at Lexington, while also championing African and Caribbean cuisine with this talented team.
CHANGE PLEASE
Our recruitment teams conducted a skills workshop for Change Please trainees at one of our flagship sites based in Marylebone earlier this year. We invited ten students from the Change Please training programme to experience contract catering at Lexington and training on interviewing.
PACT COFFEE
Pact Coffee is one of the UK’s leading independent specialty coffee roasters.
Our exclusive collaboration focuses primarily on coffee grown by Cafeina, a collective of 1,868 women in Brazil, formed in 2019 to empower, motivate and inspire women in the coffee industry, providing them with rightful visibility and ownership in a historically male dominated field where key decisions are often made by men.
We are proud to say that our exclusive partnership with Pact Coffee has increased
on a significant scale. In 2024, the increase in our workplaces serving pact coffee and therefore customers, Pact Coffee is roasting almost three times as much Cafeina coffee as they were in 2023. This has had a significant impact on the cafeina group and its expansion, helping them to recruit and help new members in a much larger way than ever before.
FARMER’S STORIES
Meet Laiz Figueiredo…
Are you the first coffee farmer in your family? No, our family has history and tradition in coffee production. My grandfather, now 92 years old, still goes to the farm every day and still inspires us a lot with his knowledge, his boldness and his way of doing business and expanding its activities and assets. My father improved his steps and I’m having the opportunity to work with them and learn this craft.
How has working with Pact improved things for you and/or your family?
I believe that we think we are closer to the Pact, understand how our coffee is sold and measure how much value was added in this partnership. Master our coffee linked to exporting coffees from strong and committed women was an achievement and recognition very special for us, we hope to strengthen this partnership even further and for it to be severity!
Are there any community projects you work on with your family and/or neighbours? We support local actions, such as the Church, the Elderly Centre and we want to get closer to schools to take information about rural activities for children, demystifying agriculture a little.
What do you hope to do on the farm in the future? I hope to continue the legacy of my grandparents and my father. I hope we have many quality coffees that can take our story to the end consumers!
Cafeina Blend by Laiz Figueiredo
Variety(s): Mundo Novo, Red Catuaí, Yellow Catucaí, Arara, Red Bourbon, Topázio, Obatã, Icatu, Acaiá
Farm altitude: 890m
Processing method: natural dry
Country: Brazil
Region: South of Minas
FAT MACY’S
Fat Macy’s is a social enterprise that supports people to move on from temporary accommodation through culinary and hospitality training, 1:1 support and access to a rental deposit.
As a result of our partnership:
• Hospitality training hours have increased by 120% within Fat Macy’s
• Seven trainees have completed the programme as a result, with another expected to complete by the end of the year
• Four trainees have found work as a result of gaining experience with Lexington
Isaac and his P+E officer, Joel
A big congratulations to Safa, Isaac, and Karl, who successfully completed the Milestone Programme this summer. A significant portion of their training took place at our Fat Macy’s on Five location.
Pictured:
We celebrated one year of our partnership this December and what better way to celebrate than a Sohalia restaurant takeover. Delicious Lebanese inspired dishes, served by fantastic trainees from Fat Macy’s!
Sohaila is Fat Macy’s mission-driven restaurant based in Shoreditch that serves authentic Lebanese sharingplates paired with natural wines.
CHRISTMAS MARKETS
2025
Don’t miss out on our top picks for Christmas markets this festive season in London!
Southbank Centre
Christmas Market
(1 Nov - 26 Dec)
Kingston
Christmas Market
(14 Nov - 5 Jan)
Covent Garden
Christmas Market
(12 Nov - 1 Jan)
Borough Market
Christmas Market
(2 Dec - 24 Dec)
Greenwich
Christmas Market
(From 20 Nov)
FESTIVE ACTIVITY
Over the past few weeks, our sites have embraced the festive spirit with delicious festive dinners and markets. Check out some of the highlights here.
Festive Dinners
Festive dinners have been a huge success this Christmas season, offering a variety of meat, vegetarian, and vegan options for our customers to enjoy, served by our fantastic teams.
London Business School Christmas Fair
Students at London Business School celebrated with a festive fair featuring festive street food, wreath and hamper making, customising your own tote, toy donation drive and an allergy-friendly Christmas menu.
BT Adastral Park
The team at BT Adastral in Ipswich raised a staggering £2,004 for Ipswich Food Bank through their annual Christmas market with a range of stalls, events and charity drives. The catering team pulled out the stops to raise as much for charity as possible with a hamper raffle and ‘tea with Santa’ event for local children.
Make the most of your festive leftovers with this delicious creation: a leftover turkey and ham pie. Not only is it fun to make, but it also ensures that perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste!
THIS CHRISTMAS MOMENTS
Watch as our Lexington Senior Leadership Team talks you through how to create this dish at home.
We filmed this recipe video at Ronald McDonald Evelina London House, where our chefs later hosted a festive lunch for the residents. It was rewarding to bring a touch of festive cheer to families during a challenging time. To learn more about the house and their remarkable work, visit: https://rmhc.org.uk/our-houses/evelina-london-house/
LEXINGTON INDEPENDENTS
Surbiton High School - site of the year at the Lexington Leadership Conference
Congratulations to our Lexington team at Surbiton High School for winning the Lexington Independents Site of the Year award at this year’s Lexington Leadership Conference!
Led by Didi, the team has shown tremendous dedication throughout the year, building a strong partnership with Surbiton High School. Their efforts to promote healthy eating, deliver valuable sessions, and bring innovative ideas to food service have truly stood out.
A special mention as well to our team at Kent College Pembury for their well-deserved nomination!
Roald Dahl Day September 13th
On Roald Dahl Story Day our Lex Independents teams brought his stories to life in delicious ways across our schools. This included creative recipes inspired by iconic tales like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George’s Marvellous Medicine, and James and the Giant Peach
Diwali
Diwali, a Hindu holiday, symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Known as the Festival of Lights, it features homes, shops, and public spaces lit up with traditional oil lamps called diyas.
To bring the spirit of Diwali to our schools, our teams created a festive atmosphere with decorations and served classic Indian dishes. Celebrating and learning about diverse cultures is important to us, and we were thrilled to share this joyful occasion with students and staff.
CSR workshop at Kent College
We had the pleasure of presenting a sustainability and nutrition assembly to both primary and secondary students at Kent College Pembury.
This session was inspired by a thoughtful letter from a student asking about Lexington’s commitment to sustainability.
During the assembly, we emphasised the mindful choices we make in our kitchens and supply chains to ensure our food is sourced sustainably. We also introduced The EatWell Guide to help students learn all about how to maintain healthy and nutritious eating.
Christmas Dinners
In the run up to Christmas, our students have been feasting on traditional Christmas dinners. Here’s some of our kitchen team getting in the festive mood!
LEXINGTON RECEPTION SERVICES
SHORTLISTED SITE - LLOYD’S OF LONDON AT 2024 FOOD SERVICE CATEYS
Lexington Reception Services (LRS) at Lloyd’s was shortlisted at the 2024 Food Service Cateys for Front of House Team of the Year
This nomination focused on the last 12 months and showcased our commitment to outstanding service, excellent communication skills and a relentless desire to go ‘above and beyond’ for clients and/or customers
A huge congratulations to John Ethagh and Diego De Candido from our Lloyds of London front-of-house team for winning the Lloyd’s Spotlight Recognition Award. This well-deserved recognition celebrates their exceptional customer service, and we couldn’t be prouder. Well done to this amazing duo!
NATIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
WEEK - CUSTOMER SERVICE CHAMPION AWARD
We were excited to announce our customer service award winners to round off National Customer Service Week 2024! These team members have been recognised for embodying the key principles of great service that we’ve highlighted this week. We’re proud to have them on our team.
SUPPLIER VISITS
We take great pleasure in teaming up with local suppliers who are committed to delivering top-quality seasonal ingredients. Our visits to their sites offer us a firsthand understanding of the passion that goes into crafting each product.
H. FORMAN & SON
We had the pleasure of visiting the renowned H Forman and Son smokehouse in Fish Island, East End. Since 1905, this iconic family business has set the standard for curing and smoking fish, with a dedication to the craft that’s truly inspiring.
Our chefs saw firsthand where the premium ingredients we proudly serve come from. The craftsmanship behind their world-famous smoked salmon, including the meticulous hand-removal of every bone, really stood out. Everything is made to order and tailored to each client, ensuring a bespoke experience
FARRINGTON OILS
We were welcomed by Farrington Oils Ltd to tour around their production facility and learn all about their Mellow Yellow Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil. As Britain’s original ‘seed to bottle’ producer of Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil, it was fascinating to learn more about this healthy, tasty and brilliantly versatile cooking oil.
ALSOP & WALKER
We visited artisan cheese makers, Alsop and Walker, based in East Sussex, where we delved into the art of cheese-making, learning about the unique processes behind both hard and soft cheeses. We had the chance to participate in the first stage of cheese curing, and of course, finished with a delicious tasting.
RINGDEN FARM
LA TUA PASTA
It was great to see firsthand the works and processes of La Tua Pasta, an authentic ‘Pastificio’ (artisan pasta maker) and specialist in making fresh pasta in the vein of Italian tradition. Founded in 2006 by Francesco Boggian and his wife Caroline. Francesco decided to bring a piece of Italy to the UK by making truly authentic Italian pasta.
We headed to Ringden Farm to see the apple orchards and witness the journey from apple to juice. It was a memorable experience and incredibly valuable for our chef teams to see firsthand where the ingredients they work with every day are sourced.
EAT CURIOUS
Our food team visited this British plant-based food development company dedicated to bringing innovation and sustainability to plant-based food in action. We saw firsthand how their 100% plant-based product is created and learnt interestingly how it is free from all 14 main allergens.
REGENERATIVE FARM VISITS
Our CSR team had the privilege of visiting the regenerative dairy farm, First Milk, in Penrith, Cumbria. It was an eye-opening experience learning about the innovative practices they use and their profound positive impact on biodiversity. These methods not only reduce the environmental footprint but also protect and enhance the farms natural resources.
GLEBE FARM
We hosted a carbon net-zero roundtable at Glebe Farm with seven of our suppliers. These experiences were invaluable, allowing our teams to see firsthand how our supply chain is progressing toward net-zero goals. This directly supports our own net-zero objectives, as these suppliers contribute to a portion of our Scope three emissions.
GREEN FORCE UPDATE
BRIGHTON BEACH CLEAN
Our Green Force teams were back in action with the Marine Conservation Society for a beach clean at the beautiful Brighton Beach! The day kicked off with a beach clean survey, where our teams worked along a 100m stretch, documenting every piece of litter collected.
This data is vital for the Marine Conservation Society, supporting their efforts to push for policy changes to tackle marine pollution.
We wrapped up the day with a general clean, removing a daily total of 7 kilograms of waste and keeping it from polluting our seas.
REFETTORIO FELIX
Our talented chefs had a fantastic time preparing and serving hearty winter dishes to those in need, including leek and potato soup with Welsh rarebit, butter bean stew, and sticky toffee pudding.
A big thank you to Refettorio Felix for having us, and to DDP, Vegetarian Express, and Belazu for their generous ingredient donations.
We were also thrilled to support Refettorio Felix, alongside our client at One Bartholomew, with a donation of fresh, hand-grown herbs and produce from their rooftop garden. The chefs at Refettorio Felix were very pleased with this beautiful array of produce.
LIFETIME OF ENRICHMENT
Last year, we launched our Lifetime of Enrichment campaign with a target to deliver 28,835 days – the average lifetime – of social value by 2025.
Since its launch we have delivered over half of our target, through a combination of company led and individual colleague personal contributions. Some amazing contributions from 2024 include the Great British Spring Clean in which our teams
collected litter items in Macclesfield and London to help with the importance of ecosystem health in our local area. This incredible effort collectively picked over 2,394 litter items in total.
CSR UPDATE
THE MINDFUL KITCHEN
We marked an exciting milestone as we collaborated with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation to launch an allergy aware menu, designed to exclude all 14 major allergens. This enabled our customers to ‘experience a menu without limits’.
With this industry-first initiative, we hope to drive awareness of the importance of allergen management, inclusivity, and education around allergy-related issues.
We were thrilled to have Rachel Hodson from the Natasha Allergy Foundation and our Head of Nutrition, Hannah Locket, join us on the day to discuss the allergy-aware menu
and the importance of taking food allergy seriously with our customers. The response was incredible, with customers doubling compared to a regular day.
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and the driving force behind Natasha’s Law, said:
“We are delighted that Lexington is taking another step towards supporting the food allergic community. Lexington’s new Allergy Aware menu has been created so that the meals contain none of the top 14 allergens. This not only raises awareness of food allergies but means people with allergies can enjoy meals with greater confidence that they are free from potentially harmful allergens.”
A huge thank you to our incredible chef and nutrition team, and to Rachel from the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation for making this initiative a success.
ELIOR CHARITY DINNER
This year’s annual charity dinner was dedicated to raising funds for Alzheimer’s UK, our charity partner for the past year. Held on World Mental Health Day, 10th October, each of the nine fine-dining dishes our chefs created featured ingredients chosen to promote wellbeing, showcasing the powerful link between food, mood, and brain health.
It was a memorable evening spent with our clients, suppliers, and friends, and together we raised an incredible £30,000 for Alzheimer’s UK
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, our guests, suppliers and to our amazing chefs and team members who volunteered their time to make the night a success.
WiTHL DANG PHAM
Dang Pham, an Executive Project Chef for leading caterer, Lexington, has graduated from the award-winning Ethnic Future Leaders Programme (EFL).
The programme, run by WiHTL, aims to improve ethnic diversity in leadership through identifying and investing in employees from diverse ethnic backgrounds who demonstrate leadership potential, and supports their progression into more senior roles across the hospitality, travel, leisure and retail sectors.
Pham, executive project chef for Lexington, was nominated for the position by his line manager and managing director, Matt Wood. Having personally experienced racism whilst growing up, Dang was motivated to participate in the program, forging new connections with professionals from similar backgrounds across the industry.
WOMENTORING GRADUATION LUNCH
We recently held our graduation lunch for the second cohort of mentees on our wo-mentoring programme, our mentoring initiative for female colleagues. Inspiring growth and progression, this 12-month programme creates impact through connection, providing opportunities for our talented colleagues to be supported and empowered by established mentors. It’s also a key part of our wider commitment to equal opportunity. Congratulations to this year’s mentees and mentors!
CARBON LABELLING
As part of our net zero targets, we are prioritising menu design and raising awareness of the carbon impact of food through carbon labelling trials in some sites.
Carbon labelling helps our customers quantify their impact, just like nutrition labels help quantify food intake. Adopting carbon labelling is helping to create more transparency about how our food choices impact the environme
FOODPRINT REPORTING ASSISTANT
Food waste is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. The Foodprint Reporting Assistant is our internal app for tracking food waste and other essential metrics. Designed to promote CSR behaviours and practices across our sites, it provides a platform for local teams to report their food waste prevention progress.
In November, the Foodprint Reporting Assistant won the Best Food Waste Prevention Project Award and was awarded ‘highly commended’ for the Best Waste Reduction Technology Award at the 2024 Waste2Zero Awards!
