The University of Birmingham is a red brick university which received its royal charter in 1900. The student population includes around 19,000 undergraduate and 9,000 postgraduate students, while the annual income of the institution is almost £500million.
Russell Partnership Collection worked with both the University and the Student Union to build an overarching catering strategy; with modern catering and hospitality services and facilities for staff, students and visitors to the University, ensuring that key stakeholders were engaged and complimentary offerings were delivered to the diverse customer base. The new 800m² facilities with 430 seats, were designed to create a retail style environment that give an excellent student experience and assist in attracting and retaining high calibre staff to the University.
The drivers behind the engagement of Russell Partnership Collection were initially high levels of customer complaints regarding the catering services and a substantial annual financial loss. Both of these factors were transformed to a high level of customer satisfaction and a large financial contribution. Russell Partnership Collection have subsequently been requested to sit on the board of the Vice Chancellor’s review panel to review internal auditing of performance across auxiliary services, catering, and accommodation. In addition the team continues to mentor key personnel for Birmingham and have recruited the new head of hospitality services working closely with the HR team.