Since 2014, Westminster School and gather by Cater Care have been learning, developing, and growing alongside one another. In that time, we’ve seen team members come and go, rebuilt dining rooms, and even weathered a pandemic, but our dedication to supporting the school community remains unchanged.
Over our decade of partnership, gather and Westminster School have built a community founded on our shared goal: nourishing students to achieve more than they thought possible.
“gather employees really understand boarding and they understand the students… the catering team work really well with the rest of our community.”—Simon Shepherd, Westminster School Principal.
Early growth
When Westminster went to tender, they were clear about needing a team that was detail-focussed, always improving, and would deliver the same quality of service on day four hundred that they did on day one. gather’s school catering delivered that quality throughout the first four-year contract, and we’ve kept delivering for each of the six years since.
During our term of service the school’s cadre of boarders has nearly doubled, day students have grown more numerous, and Westminster’s fearsome sporting reputation has come to span 200 teams and clubs. gather’s operations have scaled to keep pace, ensuring the school community is always well-fed and ready to perform.
“The number of boarding students has doubled from 80 to 160 in recent years, which in part comes from the word of mouth in our communities… gather have no doubt enhanced the school’s brand in the community space.”—Neal Makotek, Director of Business Operations
Supporting the community
Our partnership currently tends to a thriving community of more than 1,200 students from Early Learning to Year Twelve. However, Westminster’s community doesn’t stop at the dining halls doors, and so the gather team works hard to support the student body in all areas.
gather’s team members are a regular sight at inter-school sporting events to cater for young athletes (and to cheer!). Our in-house dietitians deliver nutrition education tailored to boarder’s needs, and our Operations team even work with the school’s farm to serve locally grown produce and provide agricultural students with real-world supplier experience.
“gather didn’t just service our boarding house and the school’s tuckshops though, they also catered for the many schools, functions, and events, showing flexibility and menu variety to suit the needs of the school’s Events Team.”—Neal Matotek
School catering as a service
Growing communities requires an active touch, and we’ll continue making adjustments throughout 2024 to keep Westminster’s school catering fresh and engaging.
This year will see the inclusion of new live experiences such as our Carvery and Paella Nights, as well as new exciting Major Themes to whisk students away to faraway times and places. The boarding community will continue to be supported with the installation of new dining equipment, new educational material, and more!
“We’re so well supported by the gather team here at Westminster that allow us to come together in our dining room to eat, to share stories, to have laughs, to celebrate birthdays, to have special themed dinners, to do all those wonderful things.”—Andrew Junge, Head of Boarding
Cleaning up
Everything we’ve done for Westminster’s school catering in the past decade has been with the aim of helping the school community flourish, but no two schools or communities are the same. Each needs their own tailored approach that considers their unique situation to support their growth, and you can click here to hear from other clients about gather’s work to support their school community.
“I would highly recommend gather to any schools contemplating their future catering needs.”—Neal Matotek
To find out more, get in touch with David O’Brien to have a quick chat about how gather can provide your students and residents with a well-rounded and connecting mealtime experience.
- 0424 190 566
