Don't let them eat cake

On the whole, I'm not impressed by the UK's catering and hospitality industry. Things may be improving, but over many years, the dismal food served in chain pubs and restaurants helped to secure the UK's reputation as a food-hating nation, whilst the the industry contains many employers who treat their staff disgracefully.

I was therefore saddened, but not surprised to hear a recent example of corporate catering bastardy from my own neck of the woods. There's a small nursery on the Open University campus in Milton Keynes used mainly, but not exclusively, by children of Open University staff. In order to raise money for the nursery, nursery staff and parents came up with the idea of having a cake sale. A little bit of home-made victoria sponge or carrot cake to raise a few pennies for a nursery looking after pre-school kids. What could be more innocent and wholesome? What sort of petty-minded, nasty, pompous, killjoy jobsworth could possibly object? Step forward the company responsible for the Open University's catering (appointed as the result of a catering "Strategy", involving a "Proposed Ideal Food Model" intended to " support the process of consumer focus", with references to "menu and market engineering" something called "Operating Buzz" and similar abominations of marketing jargon)

Anyway, the corporate catering behemoth thusly appointed, proceeded to go puce in the face and wave a badly-drafted catering contract under everyone's noses, pointing out that it was the only entity entitled to sell food on campus and claiming that a little cake stall would damage corporate profits. They probably dragged health and safety concerns into the mix somewhere as well. Arseholes. And their food's not much cop, either.