THE FCSI INTERVIEW
crisps. It was festooned with the wrong products. I drove six hours home and designed in my head what was known as ‘Te GY5 stand’.”
Te stand gave institutions
the option to buy an impulse purchase stand and stock it with fruit and healthy snacks, rather than going to brands for display kits. Edwards and his colleague sold 50 of the stands. It set GY5’s focus. Most management consultancy and design work now comes from schools, from primary through to multi- academy trusts. “A big part is monitoring of compliance and delivery,” Edwards explains. “I’m in a school every other day tasting food. I’m checking everything from allergens to acrylamide through to marketing.” Allergen management is
the feather in Edwards’ cap. He leads the Allergen Accreditation program for all UK catering organizations, and in 2013 devised a framework and training for foodservice based on Food Standards Agency guidance for foodservice. “We’re about that customer care journey. Te framework is designed for anybody. If you adopt an allergy program, you improve your overall food safety and provenance standards.”
COMBINED EXPERTISE
While Edwards leads every GY5 project, he attributes its ability to “manage any project and put whatever level of resource in” to combined expertise in the FCSI network. “When we’re pitching for work, we present a wider team and bank of knowledge. FCSI is an
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IN HIS OWN WORDS: TOP THREE PROJECTS Ealing School Meals started in 2005. We have supported three full tenders since, and we monitor the entire estate. This represented my first foray into improving school meals for a very large group – no easy task – but it set this local authority up as a leading light. For a school in the West Country,
Professional and Allied membership of FCSI UK & Ireland has grown significantly in recent years
“We’re extremely proud to have rebuilt a society, and I’m very
proud that clients recognize the power of FCSI”
armory that makes us powerful.” It’s clearly a formula that
works. Some of GY5’s client relationships – such as one with Ealing Council, a £10m school meals project – exceed 20 years. It’s also proof of Edwards’ innate ability to build connections and his steady pair of hands. It made him a natural fit for taking over as FCSI UK & Ireland chair in 2016. “I was delighted to take over.
But the challenge was to keep it alive at a time when there were just a handful of members. Tere was a clean-slate opportunity. Te first challenge was to go
to our EAME colleagues to present myself and a new board, supported by Ken Winch FFCSI – a phoenix out of the ashes! We were welcomed with open arms. I was able to explain that we needed subsidizing for 12 months and some support to give us enough time to get back on our feet. Tey couldn’t have been more welcoming and supportive.” Since then, membership has
rocketed and the UK & Ireland arm is now in growth, with new membership enquiries nearly every month. “We’re extremely proud to have rebuilt a society, and I’m very proud that clients recognize the power of FCSI and see that as important when they select a consultant. I love the fact that our Allied members want to support us. It’s a good society, good for the UK and it’s got great reach globally. It’s good to be a part of something bigger.” And that something bigger
is on an “upward trajectory”. Edwards and the board have just
we designed the layout of a kitchen for a superb new building opened by Prue Leith in 2000. That was a great example of creating a fast throughput dining experience with four serving stations. We were the only independent consultant to be a part of the School FEAST campaign, a UK government-led initiative that began in the late 2000s. We were a local center (part of a network of centers nationally) that brought together training and other organizations to improve school food. It was a lot of work, but great fun and we got involved with schools and caterers across the south of England.
appointed a vice chair, Glenn Campbell FCSI, who Edwards says “has been brilliant” helping him and the board over the past few months. And there’s the FCSI EAME 2026 Conference in Liverpool, UK, next May, for which Edwards and the board are putting together a committee. “We can only put the committee together because of the interest and the dedication shown by all our members. It’s put the UK on a strong platform to host such a major event. We’re very proud of that.” After all, it takes a village.
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