I was at the Association of Catering Excellence conference on sustainability yesterday, held at the impressive Bank Street offices in Canary Wharf, home to investment bank Lehman Brothers.
A slick event, which although only a day in length had plenty to digest on the issues of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, which let's be fair the latter of which isn't the most sexy subject on paper.
Commendably, well chosen speakers such as chefs Oliver Rowe and Michael Caines and the ever entertaining Geoff Ward helped make sense of an area of debate that tends to leave you with more questions than answers.
I will of course be writing a report in next week's Caterer - once I catch my breath - so look out for that. I'll leave you with conference chairman Chris Sheppardson's thoughts on the interesting times we live in (in contract catering).
Chris did some crystal ball gazing and suggested the traditional big four players in the catering field - Compass, Sodexho, Aramark and Elior - would become seven by the London Olympics in 2012. The question, he asked, is who else will join them? OCS? ISS? Maybe a new champion from further consolidation amongst the leading independents?
"We live in a time of change with private equity companies keen to enter the market, also" said Shepperdson. "Certainly by 2012 we can expect to see fewer caterers in the market, perhaps 40% fewer than today and a very different business landscape".
The message, which dovetailed perfectly with the conference and the increasing importance of sustainable business practices, was that change happens and leaves those unprepared for it behind.
Interesting times indeed.
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