RoyalMnandi is a specialist outsourced catering company operating in the food services sector within South Africa and Africa. The Company has been restructured to cater for the healthcare, mining and remote sites, commercial, public sector and Mozambique. Janice Johannes reports back on her conversation with Graham McGregor, CEO at RoyalMnandi.
RoyalMnandi is a food service solutions company previously known as RoyalServe. The rebrand was prompted by the decision of its holding company, Mvelaserve, to reconstitute the catering business as an independent operating unit separate from its sister company, RoyalServe Cleaning.
‘We immediately embarked on an extensive consultative exercise with our customers, suppliers and employees to provide us with valuable insights into the new entity and we were overwhelmed with the response and enthusiasm,’ says Graham McGregor, CEO of RoyalMnandi.
McGregor explains that the name, Royal, was preserved as the link to the company's proud history as a quality-driven organisation and still carried a lot of brand equity.
‘Mnandi is a Zulu word which means delicious, tasty, good and pleasant, specifically with reference to food. Made from the Heart is the new by-line, signifying the business' rejuvenation as an organisation with passion for its food and service delivery,’ says McGregor.
According to him, the rebrand is more than just a new name. ‘It's given us the ideal opportunity to refocus and re-energise our business. We are working in a highly competitive environment where the industry is becoming more fragmented and margins remain under significant pressure. We are also all feeling the impact of a definite skills shortage due to experienced project managers and catering managers now pursuing global opportunities.
Additional pressure is being felt from clients with higher expectations for aesthetic appeal, enhanced service levels and quality staff, all at a highly competitive price. RoyalMnandi is committed to meeting this challenge.’
McGregor says there was a need to reposition the business as a strong, niche operator with a unique service and seriously review in-house training programmes to address the skills shortage and assist in retaining talent.
‘We believe that superior service delivery and quality people interactions throughout the value chain are the two key differentiators for our business moving forward.’
On the service side, the business has been restructured to introduce a team of highly experienced operational executives who will be responsible for each of the individual divisions namely healthcare, mining and remote sites, commercial, public sector and Mozambique. They will manage the day-to-day operations and be responsible for consistency in service and product offerings as well as innovation.
An investment in people lies at the heart of this new business with training and development forming the cornerstone of the fresh approach. McGregor says over the next few months the company will be rolling out a number of new initiatives, one of which is a new FOOD! training programme based on the Disney Customer Service programme and the Seattle Fish philosophy.
‘Both programmes are based on the idea that a fun working environment encourages a more interesting, playful, profitable and energetic workplace. The programme impacts on the daily interactions of all RoyalMnandi employees which, in turn, has a profound influence on the brand impression.
Our employees are essentially our brand ambassadors with clients and consumers and we need to ensure everyone takes a vested interest in making RoyalMnandi a responsible organisation,’ says McGregor.
He is bullish about the success of the new entity and its ability to deliver and not just promise.
‘We now have a highly focused organisation committed to delivering quality food service solutions in all of the sectors in which we operate. We are backed by the right technology and the passion and energy of a team of qualified and enthusiastic employees. We look forward to embracing any challenges in the future’ he concludes.
Some of RoyalMnandi’s clients include:
· Medi Clinic
· Life Healthcare
· Liberty
· Sun International
· Transnet
