The transfer of catering and conference services to Chartwells, the University’s new partner, takes place this weekend. 

Colleagues in catering and conferences, as well as communications, finance, human resources, and IT Services have been working closely with Chartwells throughout the summer to prepare for the transfer. 

The final handover will begin this afternoon (Friday 30 August) and conclude on Sunday evening (1 September), from which point Chartwells will have operational responsibility for campus cafes and restaurants, hospitality and conference services. 

Catering outlets will be open for their usual hours and improved menus will start to operate across cafes from Monday morning. Details will be available next week on a new set of SussexFood web pages. 

The SussexFood visual identity has been refreshed and new signage will be installed in Arts Piazza, Dine Central, Doctors’ Orders, Eat Central and Jubilee. 

Staff, students and other customers will also, for the first time, be able to pay for their food and drink on campus using a debit or credit card (£3 minimum transaction). 

The Library café will be the first to have a substantial overhaul following the transfer of services to Chartwells. 

It will not be serving food for a week from Monday 9 September while improvements are made to the food preparation area, including the installation of new equipment to enable fresh baking on the premises. 

Once re-opened, the café will offer customers “fresh baking with a contemporary twist”. 

A programme of refurbishment of other cafés will be planned and implemented in the coming months. 

Staff ordering hospitality in September should do so in the normal way (see the catering web pages). An improved, online system for ordering catering for events will be available from the start of October. 

Similarly, conference services will initially operate as before, with a new approach being developed in time for 2014. 

All staff who are transferring over to Chartwells have completed training on food production, new health and safety systems, and the new point-of-sale equipment. 

They have also all had one-to-one meetings with Chartwells colleagues to discuss ideas and new opportunities, as well as receiving reassurance on the protection of core terms and conditions and the pension arrangements that the University agreed with the trades unions. 

A number of key new appointments are also being made:

• Amy Smith starts on 1 September as Contract Director
• Justin Gillan has been promoted from Sous Chef to Head Chef
• Interviews take place today with Sussex graduates to appoint a new Marketing and Communications Manager
• The process has begun to recruit a Conference Services Manager 

John Duffy, Registrar and Secretary, says: “The University is very pleased to welcome Chartwells as its new partner and we look forward to working with them from Sunday. 

“Thank you to catering and conferences staff for their positive approach and input in helping Chartwells prepare for the transfer.”