Catering at Catz

Who is in the department?

The Catering & Conferencing Department is headed up by Robert Jonas. The conferencing team will handle all internal and external bookings. The main office is in the Bull building, with office hours between 9.00am and 4.30pm. Function room bookings can be made online through the College website.

The front of house department will be on hand overseeing formal halls, society dinners, cafeteria services and special events. They will likely be your first point of contact in the dining hall and will seek to help you with any questions.

The kitchen team prepares and creates meals for dinners, lunches and service times. Ranging from breakfast to the most exquisite of fine dining, they will strive to create memorable experiences for you.

Key staff:

•             Head Chef – Alan Smith (head.chef@caths.cam.ac.uk)

•             Head of Dining & Beverage services manager – Ana Goodchild (dbs.manager@caths.cam.ac.uk)

The College bar is underneath the McGrath centre and is your space to study, unwind or party. Serving coffee all day and becoming a bar as the sun goes down, this is the place to meet with friends, socialise and relax to get the perfect study/life balance. You will be able to chat with friendly staff to voice ideas you may have or just enjoy the atmosphere. Any special events, such as bops may take place here. Requests for extensions to bar serving hours must be submitted to the College Dean and the Catering Director in the first instance.

Please see latest emails or the screen in the Bar lobby for the latest information and opening times.

What do we do?

The Catering Team is there to provide you with day-to-day food and beverage services and also to help you, Fellows and external guests plan, organise and cater for special events held in College.

During the day, the College Bar becomes Catz Coffee Bar. It is a great place to drop in, for a coffee, for breakfast, a chat over a sweet treat, to gorge on a toasted panini, nibble on a sandwich or devour a fresh salad. Open from 9.00am until 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, the Coffee Bar is the communal hub of the College. The bar is a space for you to use and enjoy, open from 5.00pm to 10.00pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday and 5.00pm to 10.30pm Thursday to Saturday (closed on Monday nights). A multitude of events have been run in conjunction with the JCR and MCR including bops, comedy nights, quiz nights and karaoke nights. If you have an idea or suggestions for other events, please contact your JCR/MCR entertainment reps or the Conference office.

The Cafeteria and Cafe Bar price list is available here.

The servery in the Hall provides a wide range of dishes for lunch and dinner every day. In addition to the hot main dishes you will find a fresh salad bar, homemade soup and bread, fruit, soft drinks and sweet treats available. If you have any special dietary requirements (e.g. gluten-free, lactose intolerance, vegan, nut allergies, Kosher, Halal etc.) please make yourself known to a supervisor on duty in the hall.

Cashless Environment

The catering department operates a cashless environment; meaning that all transactions are completed using either an electronic payment card (bank/debit) or a student card, providing UPAY has been set up. If you are worried about how this may affect you, please speak to the conference office and/or the finance department as soon as possible.

Meal payments/UPAY

This summer you should receive an e-mail from Upay about how to use the cashless catering system the College uses. You will need to pre-load your University student card with credit and this will enable you to swipe your card as payment rather than carry cash to pay for meals or drinks. The link to the Upay site is found on the College Life webpage under Current Students:

In addition, you can download a handy smartphone app, Upay – Payments & Loyalty, which will allow you to manage your credit, make top ups to your account and book into Formal Halls.

PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR UPAY ACCOUNT IS SET UP
PRIOR TO YOUR ARRIVAL.

The catering department operates a cashless environment; meaning that all transactions will need to be completed electronically using either an electronic payment card (bank/debit) or a student card in the hall or in the coffee bar or bar.

Please note that there is a 25% surcharge on Cafeteria meals for all non-Catz members.  Members of St Catharine's are requested to produce their University Card at the till in order not to incur this surcharge.

Meal times

Meals will be served at the following times during term time:-

Any changes to the regular opening times will be communicated as quickly and suitably as possible to members.

Special Events

If you are involved with any Societies and wish to hold dinners, receptions or other events, please contact the Conference Office for assistance. For such events we offer student priced menus and wine lists.

Feedback

This year we look forward to meeting with your student reps on a regular basis each term in order to try to meet your suggestions for menu ideas, changes to service or any improvements or innovations that we can make.

Please don’t hesitate to make duty managers aware of any issues you might have, or send an e-mail directly to the Conference office so that we can respond to your comments quickly. 

We hope that you enjoy your dining experience here at St Catharine’s.

Useful Email addresses and Links

Conference office – conference@caths.cam.ac.uk

Catering – catering@caths.cam.ac.uk

Front of House – foh@caths.cam.ac.uk

Bar – bar@caths.cam.ac.uk

Room bookings - https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/students/college-operations/requests-and-bookings/room-bookings

Upay - https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/students/hall-and-dining/upay-cashless-payments