Karen Pardoe Email & Phone Number

Derby, England, United Kingdom

Ipswich, United Kingdom

Overall responsibility for the management of catering in 218 primary and secondary schools leading a team of two Lead Operations Managers, eleven Contract Managers and a Development ChefFinancial year 2019/20: sales exceeded by £100k, profit margin of 4.9% achieved. Actual labour 38% v budget 40% and food costs of 38.6% against a budget of 39%Completion of the financial month end process, forecasts, and budgets (annual turnover £10 million 2022). Full account management of the clients including contract negotiation and client meetingsService standards improved with a catering strategy focusing on innovation and continuous audit monitoring Achieved service retention at the company KPI of 95% and training compliance at 98% (target 90%)Inspiring Leader – Making the Difference Awards 2021

Rugby School

Successfully managed the catering operation in 14 boarding houses and 2 day houses providing 2,500 meals daily, and the catering for the school’s hospitality eventsActively managed the delivery of the school’s catering budget of £2.4 million and identified cost efficienciesCompleted budgets and weekly and monthly accounts for Compass using SAP. Completion of all financial monthly reports for the school’s BursaryWorked directly alongside the commercial school enterprise to manage and deliver the catering for Easter and summer lets and external events (e.g. weddings)Held full responsibility for managing, developing, and training a team of 80, ensuring all company objectives were achieved

Kings Lynn Norfolk

Redeveloped the catering service (patient feeding, restaurant, and hospitality) to make it a commercially viable operation reflecting modern trendsDelivered a sales increase of 9% and increase in the GP of 4%, with food cost efficiencies of £37k; successfully transforming and relaunching the retail range (including merchandising) to bring in line with the high street Introduced the compilation and completion of a separate Weekly Operating Report for the restaurant and patient feeding to provide profit and loss financial information for each account

Raf Marham

Held overall responsibility for all Catering, Retail, and Leisure with a contract turnover of £4.2million, overseeing management of a team of 130 and seven ManagersHeld full responsibility for the management of mess catering, which involved 3 messes for RAF personnel Managed the retail outlets of 2 SPAR shops which were used by contractors, personnel, and families. Introduced Costa coffee offer in both shopsIntroduced new food and drink concepts, Costa coffee and updated menus into the two barsLed and developed a multi-disciplinary team, including service personnel, whilst maintaining full financial accountability for the contract

Managed the delivery of the Business Improvement Plan for 2013 and additional projects as determined by the Divisional Director, providing key support to the Regional Directors and General Managers in achieving contract budgetsProject managed both labour restructures and developed a productivity template to identify labour to sales ratio and drive additional labour savingsSuccessfully oversaw the completion of the productivity exercise in three contracts implementing labour savings

Managed the overall facilities (Hard and Soft Services) of the conference centre and administration office (separate location) with an annual turnover of £2.8 million with a team of 85 employeesOversaw the financial management of the contract’s budget including forecasting and monthly financial reviews with the client and senior management teamCompleted monthly, quarterly, and annual Quality Assurance Audits in partnership with the client and achievement of reward target with a Risk and Reward model

The role involved the management of education contracts including one primary school, eleven secondary schools, two independent schools and three colleges with a turnover of £2.9m and management of a team of 80 across the contracts