The Great British Burger Scam? MayFair gets Un-Fair as Campus Kitchen is accused of exploiting event for profit

Last Friday saw the first annual “Mayfair” event run by student charity UEA DigDeep.

Intended to be a student festival raising money in a traditional summer-fete setting, it has been marred by student allegations against the university caterer “Campus Kitchen” – with some students accusing the caterer of profiteering and exploiting a charitable event for their own gain.

The Tab has discovered that:

–       DigDeep asked to run their own BBQ at the event, but were blocked from doing this by Campus Kitchen’s university “exclusivity” contract, which prevents any non-Campus Kitchen provider from selling food “in competition” with the products they provide on campus.

–       The same contract also blocked commercial food retailers which DigDeep had invited to the event, including Ronaldo’s Ice Cream, CherryLeaf Coffee (who were offering hand-squeezed lemonade) and a doughnut, popcorn and candyfloss stand from running charity stalls at the Mayfair.

–       The Campus Kitchen then proceeded to run their own BBQ and ice-cream stand, and sell their own food at-profit throughout the event – but did not give ANY money to the charity.

Some students showed their anger on social media

Student anger mostly focused on the fact that the Campus Kitchen did not make it clear on the day that they were not a charity stall, and that the money they were making from their food stands did not go to DigDeep in any way.

There were allegedly no signs or obvious indication that the Campus Kitchen BBQ was not fundraising as part of the charity event, but was instead a commercial business selling for profit.

Confusion was heightened by the fact that Campus Kitchen’s non-charity affiliated burger stall, donut stand and ice-cream cart were situated next to official DigDeep stalls in the Square – stalls that actually were selling products for charity.

The scene on the day, with Campus Kitchen’s BBQ placed directly across from charity stands.

“People were going up to them, buying £4 burgers and saying ‘ah, that’s my bit for the charity’,” said Charles Unsworth, co-organiser of the event. “But DigDeep’s not getting a single penny of that. We’re not seeing anything that’s coming through the Campus Kitchen. And it’s pretty much directly affecting further, charitable sales – cake sales in the Hive, for example.”

DigDeep asked to place collection tins on the BBQ stall, but these proved unsuccessful. According to Charles “the tin – singular – was hidden out of the way. People couldn’t even see it, and as a result of this, it was empty at the end of the day. We raised 2p in total from that donation box.”

The Campus Kitchen in happier times

The Campus Kitchen also did not pay any stallholders fees to the charity, as non-contract food vendors would have done. The burger stall and ice-cream stand run by Campus Kitchen also took up prime retail space in the Square, the most highly-trafficked area on the day – space which could have gone to DigDeep’s charity-affiliated stalls. DigDeep’s flat rate for generic stallholders on the day was £30 per person. (For food stallholders, rents are traditionally higher – the charity estimated it would have charged them around £50.)

By blocking DigDeep from hiring out stalls to non-contract food vendors, the charity estimates that they lost at least £210 in pitch fees which they could have raised by hiring out stalls to other food vendors. The Mayfair event raised £1008 in total.

Other actions by Campus Kitchen staff on the day also raised eyebrows. Roaming members of catering staff, selling trays of donuts and plastic cups of orange juice, priced at £2.50 each, circulated around DigDeep’s charity stalls throughout the day. Students stated they had never seen the vendor do this before, even at non-charity events. Again, these sellers apparently failed to make clear that they were not DigDeep affiliates, and that the money raised from their doughnut and juice sales did not go to charity. In the process, they diverted people away from legitimate charity cake sales in the Hive.

Campus Kitchen are accused of diverting students from genuine charity sales

“They were completely within their legal rights to do what they did,” said Harry Sparkes, one of the Mayfair event organisers. “It’s more the fact that, by doing it, they directly took money away, from what could have all been going to charity.”

This was not the only action to earn them student opprobrium. Shockingly, some student workers reported being blocked from handing out free samples by Campus Kitchen staff – in spite of the fact that their employer was an official Mayfair corporate sponsor, and that they were not selling any food.

One student employee described being “kicked out” of the Square by Campus Kitchen staff as she handed out miniature cups of lemonade and biscotti, along with leaflets offering student deals. The server was told by the staff that she was not allowed to hand out free samples.

The free lemonade and biscotti samples the student attempted to hand out on the day.

The employer which provided the samples, Raffles Restaurants, was a corporate sponsor of the event and had offered a selection of raffle prizes as well as a sizeable financial donation in support of DigDeep.

Asked for comment, the company said: “While we were asked to avoid handing out our homemade biscotti and Sicilian lemonade in the UEA Square, the Raffles Team had a great day at the Mayfair, and a very positive response from the students and visitors. It’s a shame this news about the Campus Kitchen has come to light.”

A DigDeep volunteer added: “They’re a very student-focused company, and were keen to support the event as much as they could – despite the fact they’d been blocked from selling food, they still wanted to show up and give their support.”

In spite of these accusations, however, when The Tab approached the DigDeep team for comment, they were at pains not to appoint any sole blame for the day’s events. They also did not wish to attack the Campus Kitchen.

“Realistically, there are several issues at play here,” said Harry Sparkes. “One, is that the exclusivity contracts make it difficult for this sort of event to take place. Two, was the questionable ethics of Campus Kitchen, as I have heard through word of mouth that several people were led to believe they were donating to the cause by buying a burger, when in fact they weren’t. And three, the total ban on the sale of hot foods outdoors. I’m not sure who is to blame for that one or why it’s in place. At least two of those are not the fault of Campus Kitchen.

“Equally, we’re not attacking or going after a company for money. That’s not what DigDeep is about.

“I think the main issue is that there are just so many restrictions on campus as to what students can and can’t do, and this was what was revealed by the Mayfair.”

The event raised over £1000, all of which will go to support DigDeep.

The Mayfair organisers were also keen to emphasise the positive stories and outcomes of the day.

“We raised over £1000 for DigDeep – that’s a fantastic amount. The money raised will go to support sanitation projects in East Africa, and help these communities to access clean water.

“A trained paramedic called Alex came down from Colchester for the whole day unpaid, just to volunteer.

“We would also like to thank the 40-strong team of volunteers who gave up their time to help run the Mayfair. Without them, the day wouldn’t have gone ahead.”

They also praised the generosity of Showtime Amusements. This company provided a bouncy castle, giant slide and other fairground amusements on the day free of charge, and also donated a portion of the money they made to charity.

When asked to comment on the story, a campus spokesperson replied:

“Campus Kitchen was asked by event organisers to provide a BBQ for the athletics club’s run event on Friday evening. They were recently asked to extend the BBQ to run throughout the Mayfair daytime fete event. The BBQ was held on the day in place of the main hot meal service in campus catering outlets. At no time did the event organisers ask Campus Kitchen to donate any of the day’s takings to charity. They did ask if they could place collection tins on the BBQ, ice cream and doughnut stalls, which was agreed to.

“It is university policy that external outside catering suppliers are generally not permitted on campus and the event organisers were made aware of this by Campus Services when first enquiring about holding the event in January. They were reminded of this at subsequent planning meetings in March.

“Campus Kitchen regularly sells ice creams on campus on appropriate days, usually determined by the weather. BBQs are held occasionally for special events. The university is already in discussion with the Union of UEA Students about catering provision and bringing in external suppliers for future events to ensure clear processes are in place.”