Principals by CH&CO has made two key appointments to its operations team, reflecting its strong growth.
Colin Wills and Verity Butcher have joined the team in the roles of operations director for secondary schools and operations manager for London primary schools, respectively, as the specialist state school caterer welcomed 16 new schools to its portfolio for the 2018/19 school year.
A qualified chef, Colin Wills brings extensive culinary and operational experience spanning over 30 years, with the past 12 years of his career focused on the education sector. His intrinsic understanding of the challenges of everyday kitchen life combined with his management and operational expertise enables him to create excellent relationships with catering teams and clients, to deliver outstanding food and service experiences focused on creative and innovative solutions and strong results. Colin joins Principals by CH&CO from Pabulum Catering where he was regional business manager.
Verity Butcher knows the Principals by CH&CO business inside out. An organised and efficient operator, with a background in food retail management, 
Verity has worked with the business for the past 12 years, working her way up through the ranks from general assistant within a school kitchen. A qualified Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and ISO auditor, Verity is responsible for monitoring the performance of Principals’ London schools and is their main day-to-day contact. She is an excellent motivator and having worked her way up from kitchen to management, understands every part of school catering.
Peter McKenna, sales director for Principals by CH&CO, said: “We’ve had an incredible start to the 2018/19 school year with the addition of 16 schools to our portfolio. It’s great that Colin and Verity have joined the team, their valuable contribution will uphold our reputation of delivering innovative, creative solutions and building genuine partnerships with the schools we work with to be a positive part of each school community. Their excellent operational, management and customer skills will benefit our catering teams, our clients and, most importantly, the children we feed. Principals by CH&CO is in a period of continued growth that is seeing us expand and move into new geographical areas; Colin and Verity are the perfect candidates to support this and help maximise the opportunities.”
For the 2018/19 school year Principals by CH&CO opened in 16 new schools. The new partnerships have a total value in turnover of £7.5m for the duration of the contracts and have seen the specialist state school caterer strengthen its foothold in its homestay of Kent and break into London and Surrey. Principals by CH&CO has a strong reputation of developing unique solutions for each school it works with, growing uptake and generating interest in food in the classroom, dining hall and home.
