David Griffiths, operations director at Bury St Edmunds-based facilities management company Servest, has received a Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to the UK’s contract catering sector.

David Griffiths, operations director at Bury St Edmunds-based facilities management company Servest, has received a Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to the UK’s contract catering sector.

Mr Griffiths, who began his career as a trainee chef more than 30 years ago, received the honour at the FSM Awards, organised by FSM magazine and held at the Lancaster Hotel in London.

His career in the foodservice industry saw him become a director of 7 Day Catering, which was acquired by Servest in January 2013.

“I’m really delighted and honoured to be recognised by the FSM Awards and would like to thank FSM for the award and my peers for such a wonderful reception,” said Mr Griffiths.

“Since I started out in the industry more than 30 years ago, food and catering has been my passion. I plan to continue to work hard to exceed customer expectations, to develop the people around me and to have a lot of fun in the process.”

Rob Legge, group chief executive UK and Europe at Servest, said: ““This FSM Lifetime Achievement Award is testament to David’s dedication and commitment to the business and to the catering industry.

“Not only is David a phenomenal leader and genuinely dedicated to the customer and to his teams, but he is a really good guy and more than deserving of this award.”

This year’s FSM Awards, attended by more than 400 people from the contract catering sector, also saw Servest’s managing director of catering, Henry Watts, nominated for the Senior Executive award and Yvonne Adams, catering manager, was nominated for the Business and Industry award.

Servest, a member of the EADT/EDP Top100 listing of the 100 largest companies in Suffolk and Norfolk, employs more than 16,000 people at more than 6,000 sites across the UK, operating in sectors including retail, leisure, public, commercial, construction, transport and logistics.

The UK business is 73% owned by Servest South Africa with the remainder owned by the UK management team. Besides its HQ in Suffolk, it has major bases in London, Harrogate, Rickmansworth, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.