EDUCATION catering specialist Aspens Services has won a place in the 19th annual Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table which ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales over three years.

The company headquartered at Hindlip, near Worcester, which provides catering services to schools in England and Wales, has seen sales grow by an average of 44 per cent a year over the last three years. It is ranked at 97 in the Fast Track 100 of the UK’s top 100 companies.

Managing director John Roe said: “As a privately owned company, we’re able to deliver a truly people-focused service which is entirely driven by the needs of our clients and customers. More than ten per cent of our shares are now owned by our employees and we are committed to increasing this in the future. When all in our business have a stake in the ownership of it, there is no limit to what we can achieve. This is a unique business model not just in education catering, but in contract catering in general.

“We build our approach on working closely with schools to give them the catering service that’s right for them, providing freshly prepared and ethically-produced meals using first-class ingredients sourced from local suppliers. It’s this customer-centred approach which has led to the company’s impressive and sustainable growth and I’m delighted to see everyone’s hard work recognised by our inclusion for the first time in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100.”

Aspens is owned and managed by Mr Roe, Martin Garland, Amanda Ashmore and Tim Wilson. It was set up in 2008 to provide schools with fresh, locally sourced food and is one of the very few – if not the only – privately owned education catering companies operating in the UK. The company now has 170 schools in its portfolio and is on target to gain many more in 2016. All perishable products are sourced from local farmers and producers within a 20 mile radius of each of its catering locations. Menus offer fresh, seasonal food with organic and Fairtrade ingredients incorporated as standard. Aspens now employs more than 800 people making it the sixth largest employer in the Fast Track 100 table.