22 May 2025 • Erudus

Erudus User Forum June 2025: Everything you need to know

The time has nearly come…

We’re now just 3 weeks out from the upcoming Erudus User Forum, and the excitement is amping up. Why? Because we’ve got an action-packed agenda, some heavyweight guest speakers and a fabulous new venue.

And the good news is that there are still a few places left. So read on and find out why you should make 12 June a red letter day...

What’s on the agenda?

The entire day aims to raise awareness and understanding of the challenges that Public Sector Caterers face - such as the sometimes disconnect between Caterers' requirements and that of the Manufacturers' legal responsibilities. We’ll be looking at the direction in which this area is headed, and how Erudus can help everyone involved manage these challenges.

So the Erudus team is kicking the day off by framing the theme via a light but informative exploration of:

The Independent Review into Public Sector Food Procurement
The NHS Review of Hospital Food
Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF)
DEFRA’s 2022 Consultation into Public sector food and catering policy for England

Following this we’ll share insight into how Erudus is responding to new needs and requirements, and how this is changing the data requirements and data ask for our Wholesale and Manufacturer users - such as an increase in requests for additional data and product information.

These updates come as a direct result of our goal to help our users, and the wider industry at every level of the supply chain, and we’ll be explaining how they do that too.

We’ll be joined by 2 very exciting guest speakers - more on them below - and to round things out we’ll also be covering:

Updates to the Erudus Data Pool
Updates to the Erudus platform
What’s going on with Erudus API
A Q&A session for attendees

Who is speaking at the event?

In addition to the Erudus team, we’re welcoming 2 very special guest speakers to the event. Here’s a little more about them and what they do...

Philip Shelley - NHS England

Former National Chair of the Hospital Catering Association Philip Shelley will be sharing expertise gleaned from a career dedicated to improving hospital food nationwide.

The winner of a Public Sector Catering Award, the Hospital Catering Association’s Outstanding Service Award, and this year’s Public Sector Alliance Chairs Award, Philip chaired the NHS Food Review commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care after the 2019 Listeria outbreak.

In addition to leading Soft FM operations at NHS England, driving policy and service improvements across healthcare facilities, he also works in collaboration with the Department of Health & Social Care and serves as an ambassador for Sophie’s Legacy, Love British Food and WRAP’s Guardians of Grub.

User Forum June 2025 - Guest speaker Philip Shelley of NHS England

Ben Peel - Equilibrium Markets

As Supply Chain Director of celebrated dynamic food procurement and supply chain solutions specialists Equilibrium Markets Ltd, Ben Peel leads the development of SME-inclusive, sustainable food procurement system AgileChain and focuses on bridging technology and operations together to create efficient, transparent food supply chains.

He’ll be pulling from his deep understanding of food systems, logistics, and consumer behaviour, and experience with operations management in food production and hospitality, and delivering market insights for major brands to deliver his talk “Helping Wholesalers bring Short Supply Chains and Transparency to the Public Sector”.

This will explore the role of data in tracking provenance and measuring environmental impact - all while maintaining regulatory standards and operating in an efficient and profitable way, as well as outlining practical steps for adopting data-led procurement strategies and showcasing how technology can bridge the gap between local producers and public sector buyers to build a fairer, more sustainable food economy.