ESS to deliver catering services for Landmarc under £560m Army contract

ESS, the defence, marine and aerospace provider at Compass Group UK & Ireland, has won a seven-year contract to provide catering services to Army training facilities across the UK.

ESS behaves as a subcontractor to Landmarc Support Services, which was awarded the training estate support contract for the Army by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation for the third time, this time at a value of £560m.

Landmarc and ESS have worked on the 156,000-hectare estate for the past 20 years and will continue to offer catering and retail services to those training, often in remote locations.

ESS will deliver services at 32 camps across the UK, which will involve preparing upwards of four million meals a year, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and packed meals for those on training ranges.

The foodservice provider will also offer a retail service across 29 sites to give trainees access to high street products when they are on a break.

In recent months, these sites have supported the UK-based training of Ukrainian volunteers, as well as service personnel in training for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and King Charles III's coronation.

Bob Gray, managing director at ESS Defence, Marine & Aerospace, said: "We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with Landmarc and our role on the UK Defence Training Estate with the award of this new contract.

"I'm extremely proud of our teams who operate on these sites across the UK, working in remote locations and dealing with regular high volume feeding requirements. We look forward to continuing to enhance the training experience for troops over the next seven years."