Restaurants

Turn on, tune in, pig out: Sky's canteens feed 4,000 people every day

Sky
TV Dinners
Set behind the famous Gillette building on the A4 at Osterley in west London, Sky TV’s HQ is not so much an office as a campus, with several buildings and thousands of employees and visitors. Catering staff are all direct employees of Sky, and proudly so, but big contract catering company Harbour & Jones acts as consultant, offering help with sourcing, buying and new ideas.

This is a big operation – staff cater for 4,000 a day in three canteens, each in a separate building. The main canteen in Unit Six is open 24/7 and serves 2,000-2,500 people a day; there’s also a more limited operation in New Horizon Court, open 8am-5pm, that serves 1, 500 a day, plus a small bistro catering for 300-400 in the Sky News building. There is also a small takeaway kiosk at the West Cross property a little further down the A4. Feature continues

What’s it like? The atmosphere is buzzing, friendly, fun and creative. Themed weeks – such as Hollywood week when all the chefs wore Marilyn Monroe wigs – keep things interesting, and staff are supported by initiatives such as the occupational health department’s Feel Karma week, which included free smoothie tastings, educational information about healthy eating, and salsa classes (that’s how to dance, not how to make salsa).

In the main canteen there are a series of bars for staff to browse and select their food. In the dining area there’s a mix of large communal tables with bench seating and smaller round tables with modish chairs. A glass-walled quiet room with soft red armchairs and low tables provides a calmer eating experience for staff such as telephone receptionists, who want a break from listening to people all day.

Menu There are several daily-changing menus, as a choice of dishes is offered at each bar. Catering department general manager Gail Bennett describes the food as ‘fresh, modern, healthy, colourful, global and good value for money’. Food starts at 55p for vegetable soup of the day, and rises to £3 for a main course prepared to order at the Theatre Bar, which could be omelettes on Monday, grilled meats on Tuesday, stuffed pancakes on Wednesday, Thai curries on Thursday . Other bars feature salads, contemporary restaurant-style dishes (chermoula salmon with mint and olive couscous and saffron lemon-yogurt for example),or jacket potatoes, vegetarian main courses, and hot and cold puddings. And there’s still the option of a prepacked sandwich and a bag of crisps.

Most popular dish The Mongolian barbecue, where staff fill a bowl with their choice of ingredients – meats, vegetables and noodles – and the chef stir-fries it on the griddle in front of them. Fish and chips, available on Fridays, with a choice of battered, breaded or griddled fish, is a close second.

The staff verdict ‘I eat here most days,’ says Fiona from the Corporate Responsibility department. ‘Today I had steak fajitas, which were very nice, but I often go for the vegetarian counter. There’s such a wide range of salads and puddings, and they make great birthdays cakes for people in the department – that’s probably my favourite thing they do. And the environmental stuff they’re doing is brilliant, such as selling Life water and Fairtrade coffee with money off for people who bring their own cups.’

Jenni’s verdict The classic restaurant-style dishes, such as salmon en croute with spinach, wild mushrooms and lemon butter sauce, are better than you’d find in most gastropubs, and everything comes in huge portions. The choice of fresh, raw ingredients in the salad bar is impressive too.