Recently in Aramark Category

Although Kitchen Rat can't attest for the validity of this one, rumour has it that an issue fought over vociferously on the departure of former Aramark chief executive Bill Toner was, wait for it, a £50,000 wine cellar at his London pad.

Mr Toner, who left Aramark in 2005, had quite legitimately amassed the collection of fine wines at his South Bank home for the purpose of corporate entertaining, as was the vogue in those halycon days of greed in the City.

However, on having his contract terminated Aramark's American owners demanded the wine back and Toner had to ultimately relinquish it. Surely not the best way to avoid sour grapes.

Still, given the pursuit of disgraced RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin and his £703,000 pension pot, perhaps losing some fermented grape juice isn't all that bad in the larger scheme of things.

Where are they now? Bill Toner>>

Marcus Wareing enters into partnership with Aramark>>

Former Aramark UK chief executive Bill Toner has been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving the caterer in 2005.

Although there was tell that he had shaved off his strident quiff a while back and talk of him joining Jerry Brand's Host, which came to nothing in the end, the man that helped build Aramark into a major force in UK contract catering has been flying under the radar for some time now.

However, Kitchen Rat hears tell that Toner has sold his London pad, donated his expensive business suits to charity and moved to Scotland (admittedly to enjoy the odd round of golf) where he plans to devote himself to good causes (no, not the golf)...

Proof that real life can be stranger than fiction?

Marcus Wareing enters into partnership with caterer Aramark>>

Bill Toner to leave Aramark>>

Given that we're all bankers now thanks to the Government's bail out of UK lenders to the tune of £400b, an investment bank related catering story seemed timely.

Last week the Association of Catering Excellence held its annual Ready Steady Cook Team challenge, a popular and fiercely contested competition amongst the contract catering industry.

Ultimate honours went to Charlton House who beat fourteen of their peers to the coverted title.

I say fourteen teams but there were actually fifteen on the billing.

Alas at the eleventh hour industry heavy-weight Aramark called to say that they simply couldn't spare the required two-strong team of chefs as they were mobilising their £10m Goldman Sachs contract.

Well fair play Aramark. It's rare that you hear about such a literal 'all-hands-to-the-pumps' approach to launching a new contract, and rarer still at a caterer with an annual turnover of £400m and more than 12,000 employees in the UK.

I'm sure Goldman Sachs will be very happy and it's a case of credit where it's due rather than credit crunch for Aramark.

Lehman Brothers collapse bad news for Compass>>

Aramark wins BBC catering deal>>

Aramark to cater at all HBOS sites>>

Goldman Sachs says goodbye to catering manager during retender>>