As the United Kingdom—and the world—mourned the recent passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Aramark UK employees proudly played a part supporting the funeral arrangements from Edinburgh, Scotland, to London.
Working in partnership with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and the Ministry of Defence UK, 500 Aramark Defence Services colleagues worked around the clock preparing and serving approximately 50,000 meals and providing cleaning and waste removal, accommodation, retail, and other services to 12,000 members of the UK military, civil servants, police and emergency personnel, BBC media, and commonwealth troops all called to support the funeral proceedings.
In addition, the Aramark team performed tailoring duties for military personnel, cobbling support for the pall bearers, and equine services over the 12 days of preparation and ceremony.
“It's a great privilege that more than 500 of our Aramark UK and Aramark Defence Services colleagues served in support of the funeral arrangements for HM Queen Elizabeth II. I would like to thank our team who worked tirelessly over this challenging period, acting with dignity and professionalism,” said Helen Milligan-Smith, Managing Director at Aramark UK. “We are proud of our long-standing partnership with the DIO and feel honored for the trust they placed in us for this historic occasion.”
The Aramark team was in place to support the military and other personnel in Scotland from Edinburgh Castle and the Holyrood Palace to three military barracks.
In London, services were provided at Royal Air Force – Northolt, Wellington Barracks, the Royal Guardrooms at Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards, St. James’ Palace, Tower of London, Windsor Combermere, Windsor Victoria, and Windsor Castle Guardroom to name a few.
In April 2021, Aramark provided service during the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip’s funeral services and the team occasionally provides support to members of the Royal Family, as needed.
Partnership with Ministry of Defence (MOD)
Aramark has provided services to the MOD for more than 30 years at several sites within the UK.
In all, about 3,000 Aramark team members provide 10 million meals to 37,000 people each year, along with retail and leisure facilities, cleaning, laundry, tailoring, waste management, hotel and mess and many other services across approximately two million square meters
