UCL protest gives catering firm the bird

Some 2,000 staff and students have joined a campaign to stop University College London contracting out its refectory serv ices to Scolarest, the catering firm that gained notoriety for serving food such as Turkey Twizzlers in schools, writes Phil Baty.

Catering staff union Unison said that 94 per cent of refectory staff, on an 85 per cent turnout, voted to keep the service in-house and that 2,000 had signed a petition against the plan.

Unison, which held a demonstration against the move outside UCL's governing council meeting last week, said the university had failed to evaluate the in-house catering option properly.

Guy Kershaw, deputy director of estates and facilities at UCL, said that the in-house option had been thoroughly evaluated and would not provide the benefits that are expected from Scolarest.