Vacherin signs five-year contract with Ortus

Foodservice company Vacherin has signed a five-year deal to manage building and venue sales at Ortus learning and events centre in Camberwell, London.

The announcement comes after Vacherin increased sales at the Ortus café by 30% in a year by launching a programme to engage the local community while reflecting Ortus' environmental values, and serving healthy food.

Vacherin will manage three aspects at Ortus; the 1,500 sq m building, sales and marketing for events and catering at its café. Vacherin has recruited Antoine Pierrat-Brichon as general manager to lead operations.

Pierrat-Brichon has over 15 years' experience in the industry and has worked at venues including the Brooklands Museum, the River & Rowing Museum and the Lanesborough.

Vacherin and Ortus share the same values when it comes to environmental impact. The annual Vacherin Cares report, published in April 2017, showed that last year Vacherin become a zero waste-to-landfill company; converted over 5,000kg of coffee grounds and 6,000 litres of rapeseed oil to biofuel; and served 3,900kg of cosmetically rejected fruit and vegetables.

Ortus supplies surplus goods to the Maudsley Charity to support mental health projects in Maudsley and Bethlem hospitals.

Rebecca Gray, chief executive of the Maudsley Charity said: "Vacherin is an ideal partner for the charity. They will support our vision for Ortus which is to facilitate learning and deliver exceptional service in this unique space. Any surplus from the Ortus goes back to the Maudsley Charity to be invested in projects that benefit patients and staff from South London and Maudsley Foundatiion Trust.

"The word Ortus means ‘a rising or a beginning' and we trust that this is the start of a positive and productive new relationship."

Zoë Watts, commercial director of Vacherin said: "This is an exceptional achievement for us and we are extremely proud to be deepening our relationship with the Maudsley Charity and Ortus. We thank them profusely for putting their trust in us. This gives us a stronger presence in the educational, academic and wellbeing sectors and expands our skillset into the venue sales world - which is an area where I have previous experience. We will aim to build on this platform."

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