“Mark Sargeant, LACA School Food Ambassador”
Mark Sargeant, former National Chef of the Year, has been named LACA’s School Food Ambassador.
The chef, who spent 13 years alongside Gordon Ramsay, joins the school catering association at a time characterized by significant price increases, staffing challenges and funding shortfalls in the industry.
She has taken up the role immediately and is actively involved in the ‘Levelling Up School Food’ campaign, with a flagship event to be held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole in July.
LACA National Chair Anita Brown said: “Mark is the ideal person to help us raise our profile and draw more attention to the incredible work being done by the incredible people working on school food in these difficult times.” His deep understanding of what great nutritional food looks like is both an inspiration to our members and a great support to the industry.
Sargeant said: “So many children qualify for a free school meal, which means they have financial backgrounds that many of us can’t even imagine. For some of them, this may be the only hot meal they have all day.
“We need to stand up for them and plead with our government to ensure there is enough funding going forward for schools to provide them with a healthy, nutritious and delicious two-course meal. I have joined the team at LACA to make this happen and get the funding we need in schools to feed our future.
Sargeant played a key role in launching Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s in 2001, where the restaurant earned a Michelin star during his time as head chef. His culinary prowess led to him winning the 2002 National Chef of the Year award.
Last year he began the re-opening of Restaurant MS in Folkestone, which had previously operated as Brasserie MS.
LACA was founded in 1990 and is the leading professional organization in the school food industry.
