Tag: catering

Rebrand for Edinburgh First

The University of Edinburgh’s first-class hospitality and events portfolio, previously known as Edinburgh First, has ‘transitioned to a new identity closely aligned to the strong, globally recognised University brand’. 

The rebrand includes the relaunch of the brand’s enviable accommodation offering. The new Hospitality and Events Collection now includes The Scott Hotel, a boutique hotel with 36 stunning suites and spacious bedrooms, perfectly positioned to appeal to those business and leisure travellers who are looking for a five star luxury experience.

The hotels rebrand also includes KM Hotel & Apartments in Edinburgh’s old town, a mix of stylish, modern bedrooms and apartments and, finally, The Scholar Hotel, located in the beautiful grounds of the Pollock estate. This hotel now has a contemporary bar and restaurant, as well as rooms that have been designed to ensure maximum comfort and the best possible night’s sleep.   

The conference and events portfolio has always been a core part of The University of Edinburgh’s Hospitality and Events Collection, and the rebrand will further strengthen this connection to the University.

The University’s conference venues have always helped to attract global conferences and events with large delegate cohorts to the City of Edinburgh, and the team will work closely with academics and researchers to ensure that this grows even further. 

The rebrand represents the growth of the University of Edinburgh’s commercial arm and further positions The University of Edinburgh Hospitality and Events Collection as a major player in the hospitality and business tourism industry.  

Carina Svensen, Director, Accommodation, Catering and Events at The University of Edinburgh said: “The rebrand has been years in the making and our expert team has spent a lot of time analysing the market and exploring changing customer demands. Our transition has been expertly executed at every level to reflect the new hospitality, conference, and events landscape.  

“We’re looking forward to welcoming guests old and new into our hotels, apartments, and unique event spaces.” 

For more information, please visit: www.uoecollection.com

Awards coming thick and fast for North Edinburgh’s Scran Academy


Scran Academy’s work with young people has been recognised in two separate Industry Awards.

On Thursday 09 September 2021, John Loughton [founder] and the North Edinburgh charity won the Apprenticeships and Skills category at the 2021 Public Sector Catering Awards, that celebrate those working within public sector catering.  

Scran are also a finalist in the Charity of the Year category of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (SCVO) Scottish Charity Awards 2021, celebrating the best of Scotland’s voluntary sector and voted for by industry professionals and the public. The winner will be announced at an online ceremony, hosted by Sally Magnusson tomorrow (Friday 1 October). 

The Apprenticeships and Skills Award, sponsored by Brakes, recognised that Scran Academy’s catering operations are an integral part of Scran Academy and are essential to delivering confidence-building experiences for young people.

These include the Scran Café which is located in the NHS Comely Bank Centre and currently creates a welcoming haven for frontline NHS workers and clinical trainees.  

The charity also runs its Scran Van, which delivers free community meals, feeds youth groups and supports families across the city.  These provide our young people with opportunities to learn, gain new skills, work as a team and solve problems in real-life situations. 

Scran Academy was up against stiff competition from across the whole of the UK, including Hospitals, Universities, large catering companies and industry bodies. However, thanks to its team of volunteers, staff and young people, Scran’s unique model of bespoke educational support and training won the day.

Scran pipped, amongst others, University College Birmingham, Compass Group UK and Ireland and The National Association of Care Catering to take the award.

For the Charity of the Year Award, SCVO has recognised Scran for ‘coordinating a coalition of charities that produced, packaged and delivered nearly 150,000 meals during the first Covid-19 lockdown, supporting over 1,000 people per week at its height’.

None of this would have be possible without the 220 local people who gave tens-of-thousands of hours back to their communities. In 2020 SCRAN also delivered its most successful Christmas Hamper campaign, selling 222 in total.

The organisation also merged with Prep Table Scotland, opened the Scran Café in partnership with NHS Lothian and launched the Scran Van food truck to tackle holiday hunger across Edinburgh.

Scran Academy founder John Loughton, and Catering Manager, Will Bain, attended the Public Sector Catering Awards ceremony in London. 

Scran Academy Catering Manager, Will Bain, said: “It blew me away to be up against catering managers with hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees, and for them to give us recognition for the work we do at Scran.”

Founder of Scran Academy, John Loughton BEM, said: “This nomination is a real vote of confidence in our community work and a recognition in the power of food to change lives.

“Will Bain and his team-work magic at Scran, to ensure food is positive for all people, not just those that can afford it. At Scran we do hand-ups, not just hand-outs and young people go on to change their own lives once they realise people believe in them.”

Scran Academy’s focus is to help young people from across North Edinburgh to overcome learning and life barriers and lead more meaningful lives.

The community-based school Scran runs – the Scran Academy – uses food to support learners disengaged from mainstream school to access qualifications and work.

Despite being less than four years old, the charity has grown and last year scaled its impact to provide meals for thousands of people throughout the pandemic across the city.  

Trinity cook’s lamb is back on the menu at Edinburgh schools

Pupils at schools across the City of Edinburgh Council region will be able to enjoy a new lamb based dish from this month as the Scotch red meat makes a welcome return to school canteens.

Owen McLeod, Catering Manager at Trinity Academy, first crafted his Spring Scotch Lamb PGI koftas with a rainbow rice pot for the School Cook of the Year Competition in 2019 and the dish proved so popular it has made its way onto school lunch menus across the capital.

The City of Edinburgh Council already uses Scotch Beef PGI in its red meat dishes and the introduction of Scotch Lamb will for many pupils be the first time they experience the quality and taste of this type of red meat, not least from their school cafeterias.

Campbells Prime Meat at The Heatherfield near Linlithgow is the district’s regular supplier and will be providing the Scotch Lamb which is sourced from trusted Scottish farms that adhere to the highest animal welfare and quality production methods.

Cllr Ian Perry, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We are big believers in education through food and using it as an opportunity for pupils to try new flavours and styles of dishes that take expression from different cultures, so we thank Owen for inspiring our new Scotch Lamb dish for schools.

“We hope this will be the first of many and we look forward to continuing to provide high quality school meals to pupils throughout Edinburgh.”

Iain Brown, Director at Campbells Prime Meat, said: “We enjoy a fantastic working relationship with the catering teams across the City of Edinburgh Council region and are delighted to be expanding our partnership with them so they can offer Scotch Lamb in schools again.

“We take huge pride in only sourcing top quality red meat from local Scottish farms so it’s great to work with a schoolboard that values giving their pupils the best produce available.”

Lesley Cameron, Director of Marketing and Communications at Quality Meat Scotland, the industry body that promotes Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI, added: “It’s vitally important for children and young people to gain exposure to top quality, locally sourced ingredients at every stage of their development.

“Not only can it teach them the importance of supporting Scotland’s butchers and farmers, the way they are used can educate them about different cultures and tastes, as well as the nutritional value of meat in the diet.

“We are thrilled to see these two partners working hard to show Edinburgh school pupils the quality, provenance and depth of flavour found in Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI.”

For more information about Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork, visit https://www.scotchkitchen.com/

Birthday celebration for Scran Academy

11.30am – 1.30pm Saturday 12th October at Fet Lor Youth Club

All our friends, young people, supporters, families, volunteers and community – past and present – are warmly invited to celebrate two years of supporting young people. ALL WELCOME!

Free delicious food and drinks, entertainment, family games, raffle, relaunch, inspirational speeches and more.

Scran Academy is has become a special social enterprise that has big goals for the future. Come along and recognise the work of our young people and team as we launch our new website and brand kindly supported by The Union, our new company structure and mostly our new group of young leaders from Craigroyston and Leith Academy.