RoyalMnandi’s Marius Mostert in Mozambique

RoyalMnandi outsourced services company explains how the catering sector is creating a “home away from home” in its units outside of South Africa, in this case, Mozambique.

Many South African companies are under enormous pressure to lower their variable costs, increase their profits and improve quality. One answer is to outsource non-core business activities such as catering, maintenance, cleaning, security and related services.

“The outsourcing of these services can save companies millions of Rands in costs, and increase productivity and employee morale by allowing them to concentrate on their core business,” says Marius Mostert, operations executive for Mozambique for RoyalMnandi, a food service solutions company.

Mostert says the growth in many of the exploratory mining and industrial developments, particularly in Africa, has provided an investment opportunity for specialist outsourced companies that have the experience in providing successful services, especially within a complex industry that exists in the Mozambique and remote sites division.

RoyalMnandi’s Remote Site Service Division, which has extensive experience within this sector, provides a full risk-assessed catering and support service to clients operating in remote sites or those requiring support services in extra-ordinary conditions.

The service extends beyond ensuring the workers experience a “home away from home” recreational eating environment in extraordinary conditions. Many of the services have nothing to do with food and everything to do with logistics encompassing full Village Management at remote sites across Southern Africa.

Mostert says many of these contracts can extend from anything between two and seven years. The service therefore extends quite broadly and includes a variety of different elements including assisting with the clearing and demarcating of land where construction camps need to be erected. Layout and planning of the construction camps including the construction and erection of the following units in the construction camps is taken care of: accommodation units (permanent and semi-permanent), kitchen units, ablution units, entertainment units, security units (gate offices as well as guard accommodation), administration office units (including kitchens, toilets, boardrooms and storerooms), laundry units and dining rooms.

Other specialist services would cover anything from registration of camp residents to postal services, inventory, fuel supply, sewerage disposal, and pest and malaria control.

On the catering side, Mostert says there are usually a variety of different options available. These range from a restaurant type concept, with freshly prepared meals. One can then also include a take-away kiosk concept where the workers can purchase quick meals such as toasted sandwiches, burgers, hot chips, pap and vleis.

The Convenience store is also a kiosk concept selling items such as toiletries, resale items such as chips, cold drinks and chocolates, as well as dry and frozen goods. Most of the camps these days include a games room and sports bar concept to provide the workers with some form of entertainment when they are not hard at work.

“It’s important to be able to offer a full food service solution and understand that each client’s needs are different. Not only does the offering need to present correctly, it equally needs to balance the growing requirement for healthier options which assist in managing productivity and miner fatigue. It must also be produced in an environmentally conscious manner. There is a growing awareness amongst many clients, particularly in this sector, to reduce their carbon footprint in order to be a responsible corporate citizen,” says Mostert.

He notes that wellness is also increasingly important across the different sectors in the industry. “Where client needs are specific to wellness you need to be able to offer the services of a dietician who assists with menu planning in order to deliver the kind of meals that accommodate the health and wellness demands. While most companies place a high level of importance on food in the workplace, it becomes even more sensitive and notable in
companies where manual labour is the key driver to productivity. “Therefore, for clients in this sector, the kind of nutrition given to their workers has a direct impact on the productivity levels achieved.

“It is important for menus to reflect the preference of various cultural groups and include five-star executive meals. The bulk of our catering is the worker’s staple traditional meal, carefully balanced with the correct vegetables determined by a dietician to provide the right nutritional requirements for the particular site. Many of the workers operate under extreme conditions and hydration becomes critical,” he says.

Mostert believes there are significant opportunities for outsourced companies to partner with clients that are under pressure to improve service levels and drive down costs and provide a full turnkey operation. “We find a number of companies are increasingly focusing on entire quality management systems as opposed to adopting systems aimed primarily at reducing costs, which often has a negative effect on quality and safety.

“A full service integrated solution allows for the creation of tailor-made solutions that suit each client’s needs and provides a balance between HSEQ (health, safety, environment and quality) and cost savings,” concludes Mostert.