LEX CASUAL DINING COMPETITION 2023
FOOD INNOVATION FORUMS
NEW FOOD BRANDS
LEXINGTON
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 2023
PARTNERSHIPS
NEW LONDON OPENINGS
FEEL THE FESTIVE
LEXINGTON INDEPENDENTS
LRS CELEBRATES 10 YEARS
SUPPLIER VISITS
GREEN FORCE UPDATE
DIGITAL INNOVATION
OUR PEOPLE PROMISE
CSR UPDATE
The Lexington leadership team and I are excited to share with you a snapshot of 2023. We have so much to share, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to celebrate all we have achieved together within these pages.
From the launch of a collection of innovative new food concepts, to the evolution of our social value partnerships and environmental initiatives, 2023 really has been a transitional year for our business. We have embraced technology with
the launch of our first fully digital site, we have recognised our brilliant people through our “people promise”, we have welcomed some brilliant new clients into the Lexington family, and we have also won a few awards along the way.
This year we were also delighted to announce that our parent company, Elior Group, had acquired Derichebourg Multiservices, creating a new global leader in contract catering and multiservices, with approximately 134,000 employees. It remains very much business as usual for Lexington of course, however I am confident that the acquisition will provide us with the opportunity of adding even more value to our clients, most notably through the potential for combined catering and service solutions in the future.
Daniel Derichebourg was appointed as Chairman and CEO of Elior Group, further to the acquisition.
2023 is a year that we are really proud of, and we are confident a springboard year for what is still to come in 2024 and beyond….
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Matt
At the final of our Lexington Casual Dining Competition, the team behind Akwaaba, a new Ghanaian food concept, was crowned as the 2023 winner.
Originally from Dunkwa-On-Offin in Ghana, Chef Andrew crafted the Akwaaba concept to showcase the core of the spirit of Ghanaian hospitality.
Our Casual Dining Competition is a team event open to all catering sites across Lexington’s catering arms. This includes Lexington Catering and Lexington Independents.
Each participating team is briefed to create a new casual dining concept that could be implemented at their own site or across the wider business.
In total 31 teams entered, with eight teams shortlisted to showcase their concepts in
the final. The final took place at OKN1, a collaborative kitchen and dining space at New City College, Hackney, and the home of Lexington’s Chef School.
Over 150 clients and guests attended to taste the food concepts developed by our finalists. It was a truly fantastic evening brimming with culinary innovation.
A prestigious panel of industry experts – including MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker, ex-Temper restaurants founder, Neil Rankin, Stevie Reece from Mr Pig Stuff, Pastry Chef and Cheese expert, Patrick Spinazza, Michal Seal, Marketing Director for Elior, and Opeoluwa Odutayo, recipe developer at Future Plates – chose the winning concept.
Dive into the highlights of this year’s seasonal food forums where our teams gather to witness menu innovations and embrace the joy of seasonal ingredients.
At our hospitality forum, we demonstrated the power of exquisite food to transform business meetings and events.
Lexington classics, including Trashed, our zero-waste food brand, and Rama Social, our Japanese food concept with Latin influence, were creatively adapted for a hospitality audience alongside our existing delivered-in food hospitality service, LexUnboxed.
Our fantastic food development team showcased new innovations using British seasonal ingredients, with a special focus on the hero of spring produce - the asparagus.
Industry experts Will Corby (Pact Coffee), Paul Grimshaw (DDP Fruit and Veg), Sam Turner (Symplicity), Nick Smith (2021 Chef of the Year winner), Chef Jon Lilley (Lexington Group Development Chef) and host Matthew Wood (Lexington Managing Director), joined us for insightful discussions on sustainability.
To kick off the festive season, we hosted a magical evening that brought together amazing people from across our business in the spirit of Christmas cuisine. Our food development team unveiled this year’s festive menu innovations, accompanied by tips for making the most of seasonal produce.
We were also joined by several of our amazing suppliers, showcasing their festive ranges.
Akwaaba, meaning ‘you are warmly welcome’ in Ghanaian, warmly welcomes you to experience Ghanaian home-style cuisine in all its glory.
Drawing culinary inspiration from Delhi, this concept brings you a tantalising selection of vegetarian and low-carbon Indian delicacies.
A passion for quality ingredients and bold flavours led our chefs to create a traditional flatbread base with layers of modern, confident flavours.
Mexican flavours and fresh produce are what define Quintana, which draws inspiration from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Caleña pays homage to Chef Jeanette’s Dominican birthplace and Spanish upbringing, as well as the beloved South American staple: the Arepa.
This concept unveils extraordinary dessert and cocktail pairings that will delight vegans and non-vegans alike.
Immerse yourself in the vibrant tastes of each destination along the ancient trading route, the Silk Road.
Puck elevates the classic breakfast bun and brings innovation, and superior quality to breakfast.
Watch this space as we launch The Mindful Kitchen in January 2024.
This concept will embrace conscious consumption and champion clean, nutritional and sustainable food choices.
We held our annual Lexington Leadership Conference in June 2023.
Over 150 passionate members of our Lexington community, together with our Lexington leadership team, gathered to
celebrate success, exceptional talent, and appreciate what it truly means to be part of our people-first business.
We heard from the all-inspiring Shane Cooke, former Chef turned life coach, who shared his fascinating journey from hospitality to spiritual wellness.
A compelling panel discussion took place, featuring The Gut Stuff, Sessions Market, Jaspar Wellbeing and The Royal Horse Guards Hotel, where we delved into the topic of professional values.
A true conference highlight, our annual Lexington Star Awards awarded our teams for their unwavering commitment to our customers and client communities.
We indulged in some delicious food and drink to round off the evening. This included a zero waste ‘circle’ burger concept served up by our very own chef school graduates and apprentices.
This year marks a significant milestone for LRS who celebrated their 10 year anniversary.
We are immensely proud of the progress we have made over the years, growing from strength to strength and establishing ourselves as a leading reception service provider in the industry. We owe this success to the unwavering dedication and hard work of our exceptional team members, and the trust of our clients.
Roberto Castella, Operations Manager
Throughout the year, the LRS team has actively participated in various CSR initiatives. One noteworthy project is the ongoing collaboration with Refettorio Felix, where our team members have volunteered their time and expertise to support this incredible organisation’s mission of fighting food waste and providing food to those in need.
We are thrilled to announce that 11 team members have been promoted within LRS this year. This brings the total number of managers who have risen through the ranks to an impressive 64. These promotions are a testament to our commitment to nurturing talent and providing growth opportunities within our organisation.
We are excited to share the following partnerships from
In 2023, our partnership with leading street food provider, Sessions, has been hugely successful, with brands like Little Bao Boy, serving up homemade bao buns with a contemporary twist, making waves across our sites.
We are thrilled to be expanding the spectrum of Sessions brands in 2023, where we will see more independent, founder-led street food brands showcased at our sites.
Lexington is the first contract caterer to partner with The Gut Stuff - a hub to educate and empower about gut health founded by twins Lisa and Alana Macfarlane.
Our ‘Gut-loving kitchen’, in partnership with The Gut Stuff, provides unique food menus that are good for the gut and educate our customers on the importance of choosing food that supports gut health.
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 farmers in an industry which is traditionally male-dominated in Brazil.
Once the Cafeina coffee is imported, Pact will roast it in its carbon-neutral roastery in Surrey and deliver it to Lexington offices days later.
The Future Plate is a culinary village made up of leading Black chefs, united by their vision to influence the world palate and amplify African and Caribbean cuisine and culture.
In 2023, we have supported this SME in holding its largest event to date, Rumble in the Jungle, by giving them access to Lexington’s supply chain and providing hospitality consulting.
NEMI Teas is a London-based social enterprise tea supplier focused on empowering refugees by providing them with employment and leadership opportunities.
In 2023, NEMI Teas were launched across our catering and hospitality operation with tremendous success.
Fat Macy’s is a social enterprise that supports people to move on from temporary accommodation through hospitality training, 1:1 support and access to a rental deposit for their own permanent home.
We have partnered with Fat Macy’s to open a branded café called ‘Fat Macy’s on Five’, in one of our flagship London sites. In this exclusive collaboration, we’re serving Fat Macy’s signature Middle Eastern cuisine for breakfast and lunch, accompanied by Pact Coffee and Nemi Teas, making it an ethically driven, fully sustainable and socially minded space.
The café serves as a training space for people going through the Fat Macy’s programme, offering them an opportunity to work in a unique environment and gain invaluable hospitality skills. We’re incredibly proud to be working with such an innovative and impactful brand who are making a real difference for young people in the city.
From the team behind Mamasons dirty ice cream and Filipino bakery Panadera open modern Filipino cuisine, lovingly created by marrying Filipino heritage with British techniques and ingredients.
Modern Mexican restaurant and tequila bar, brings the flavours of Tulum to the King’s Road with an all-day tapas style offering, boasting a diverse range of intoxicating flavours and aromas, including ceviches, tacos and tostadas. The bar contains one of the largest collections of agave spirits in Europe.
From the team behind Frank’s Café in Peckham, Bambi is a music-driven restaurant and wine bar in London Fields showcasing wine-friendly dishes and vinyl sound. Bambi is a lively space where music is a key part of the experience.
Michelin-starred chef Tom Brown opens his second East London venture. A vibey seafood bar where exquisitely crafted dishes are bathed in a neon glow and a hip-hop soundtrack. With more counter dining than tables, it’s got the feel of a late-night hangout.
It does what it says on the tin very well and with a twist, combining sustainable British seasonal produce with classic Italian cooking due to the influence of owner, Roberto Costa. The menu features 200 wines with a focus on 3 different grapes, Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Nebbiolo.
From the guys who brought us Som Saa, Kolae is a southern Thai grill & bar nestled in the heart of Borough Market, combines industrial with cosy chic, soft wood, exposed brick, fabric lampshades and an open kitchen; there’s no other way to say it, Kolae is cool, the menu comprised of smalls, larges and sides.
We are proud to look after Putney High School, one of the UK’s leading independent girls’ schools, catering to over 900 students daily.
Our commitment extends to innovation, introducing digital touchpoints across the catering operation to enhance efficiency.
At Kent College, since taking over the contract in 2022, we have minimised paper usage significantly. Anticipate exciting developments as we gear up for the grand opening of a new cafe space in the sixth form library in the new year.
We are thrilled to have taken over the catering services at United Learning, we are also delighted to welcome new team members joining us from 14 new schools.
We delivered an engaging session for 25 preschoolers, exploring the significance of food under the theme of the hungry caterpillar.
The children actively participated in feeding the caterpillar nutritious foods, making choices about what energises it positively. Through tasting and describing various fruits and vegetables, we aimed to cultivate a positive perspective on healthy eating, influencing their early eating habits.
Meet Leah, Nutritionist at Lexington Independents
Leah supports the food team in providing essential nutritional and medical diet advice to foster children’s growth. She is part of our mission to fuel learning and promote a positive relationship with food and drink among the students we serve.
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.
Owned by Andy Allen, a third-generation farmer on the land, Portwood Asparagus harvests 11 hectares of asparagus daily, with 250 tonnes of asparagus produced annually.
Our team saw first-hand where the asparagus they serve on our client sites is grown, graded by size, and delivered from farm to fork in less than 24 hours.
They also took part in a friendly face-off to see who could create the best and most innovative asparagus dish.
We are proud to have worked with Change Please for many years; a remarkable social enterprise and coffee partner where 100% of profits go towards transforming the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness.
We met with Change Please founder, Cemal Ezel, at the Change Please Academy in Peckham where we learnt more about the company’s ongoing impact worldwide.
We also had a tour of one of their ‘Driving for Change’ buses. Each bus embarks on a visit to a different UK city each day to provide those experiencing homelessness in the surrounding areas with access to vital services.
Lexington Green Force is a network of 153 individuals committed to championing positive environmental and social practices. Discover their achievements from this year!
On the quest to preserve the beauty of our beaches and ensure the safety of ocean wildlife, our Green Force champions joined forces with The Marine Conservation Society for a cleanup at Southwick Beach.
The team diligently collected litter, recording each item discovered in a 100m stretch to help lobby for legislative changes to combat marine pollution. Together, we collected 9 kg - a great result!
Despite the rain, the team were in high spirits and got stuck in cleaning up litter, weeding and replanting the flower beds at the entrance of New Barnet Station.
The project was organised in conjunction with local social enterprise, The Flower Bank, who rescue used flowers from retailers and events. We are proud to share that we are collaborating with The Flower Bank to donate flowers from receptions at LRS sites.
To commemorate World Homeless Day on the 10th of October, we designed a campaign in collaboration with housing and homelessness charity, Shelter.
Across sites in London, Bristol, Birmingham, and Glasgow, the campaign conveyed the challenges faced by individuals in temporary housing.
This included a realistic portrayal of typical cooking facilities and meals available in temporary accommodations. The lunch menu for the day was designed to complement this
In just two hours of lunch service, we raised £433, enough to impact 72 individuals seeking legal assistance and support 7 legal representatives in complex court hearings.
Shelter said: ”Working with Lexington Catering on this partnership was an absolute pleasure. The installation allowed us to show how some individuals and families have to try to survive with the most meagre of facilities – something that no person should face when they are experiencing homelessness.”
We are thrilled to share a selection of CSR initiatives from the last 12 months:
As contract caterers, we recognise the paramount role that daily eating habits play in maintaining overall health and wellbeing.
That’s why this year, fuelled by the growth of our dietetics team, we organised over seven educational dietitian pop-up events for our clients.
Food and mood event held during Stress Awareness Week. Engaging discussions unfolded about the impact of specific foods or the lack of vitamins and minerals on our everyday mood.
To World Heart Day, we dived deep into heart health tips. From a heart-healthy shopping list to easy food swaps for a healthier heart.
We have proudly partnered with Cauli, the UK’s first tech-enabled reusable food and drink packaging solution provider. The high quality, 100% recyclable CauliBoxes and CauliCups can be used more than 400 times, and are perfect for workplace dining.
Through the implementation of Klipspringer’s Food Monitor, we have minimised premature changes of perfectly usable oil to avoid unnecessary waste in our cooking oil management.
The oil change rate of one team went from weekly to near fortnightly, resulting in 17 fewer oil changes per year.
We have saved 25,821 disposables from going to waste, equivalent to just over 6,000kg of Co2 emissions saved.
This year marked the debut of our second cohort of mentees in our women-toring program, an empowering mentoring initiative tailored for our female colleagues. It’s a program we’re incredibly proud of and part of our wider commitment to equal opportunity in an inclusive culture that celebrates diversity.
In January, 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 a quarter of our target, through a combination of company led and individual colleague personal contributions.
Some amazing contributions from 2023 include a sponsored ‘Trek26’ for Alzheimer’s
Society, covering a total of 26 miles in 10 hours. This incredible effort collectively raised £10,500 to support our charity partner, Alzheimer’s UK.
Colleague
Water Unite:
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JUST
We take CSR incredibly seriously and are continuously improving our business impact on the environment. In April 2023, our efforts were recognised by the Corporate Caterer, as we were awarded the title of CSR Corporate Caterer of the year, for the 2nd year running.
We have approximately 80 key performance indicators to ensure we remain forward focused on our mission to a more sustainable planet. Our KPI’s fall across all areas of CSR and are reported on at least an annual basis. All the targets set out below will support a 12% reduction in our carbon footprint, which is aligned to the recommendations outlined within the Paris Climate Agreement and are set to be achieved by 2025.
We have introduced new Click & Collect, Pre-Order and Scan & Go features in the LexEats app to revolutionise the restaurant experience at our client site in Marylebone.
Customers can now pre-order their meals from their desk or scan the items they wish to purchase and pay directly through the app.
This has successfully reduced waiting times and improved efficiency during peak hours, eliminating the need for queuing at the checkout counter.
We have embraced a new digitalisation innovation for in-room hospitality ordering, utilising iPads to streamline the process and significantly reduce our reliance on paper. This solution not only enhances efficiency but also aligns with our commitment to minimise paper usage in our catering operations.
We have launched our eco points scheme across our in-app ordering systems designed to encourage greener food choices.
Customers ordering through the Breaz and LexEats app have the opportunity to collect Ecopoints. For every ten points, a tree will be planted on the customer’s behalf.
This year we have defined our promise to value our colleagues like we value our customers, making them feel appreciated, supported and fulfilled.
We aspire to do this through our focus on eight key areas:
• Offering roles to support our colleagues’ way of life
• Employing people who care
• Trusting our colleagues to deliver
• Giving thanks for a job well done
• Keeping our colleagues informed
• Listening to our colleagues
• Providing opportunities for growth and progression
• Supporting our colleagues through life’s ups and downs
We are proud that the People Promise has been shortlisted in the Workplace Culture Category at this year’s Personnel Today Awards. Click here for an example of one of the videos and hear what our colleagues told us about working for the Company.
