What to Expect When Catering in the Mining Industry

It’s no secret that the mining industry is one of the most demanding, dangerous and work intensive industries in the world.

Because of this demanding nature, mining towns seek the services of high quality catering providers to account for a wealth of operations that go beyond the mere supply, preparation and serving of food. 

In today’s blog, we look at what catering companies should expect to face if they ever decide to get involved in providing their services to the mines.

What to expect

Catering in the mining industry can become a far more extensive operation than simply providing food to those on site. Unlike catering at other events, many of the bigger Australian catering companies that get involved in the mining sector expand their catering services to cover a number of bases.

For example, catering services within the mines may handle areas including:

• Food preparation and serving
• Maintenance of living quarters
• Laundry
• Gardening and site maintenance
• Security services
• Pest control
• Retail services
• Tavern services

To able to achieve this, however, your catering business would have to be fairly large to offer such a diverse range of services. However, it does give you an idea of just how broad and all encompassing catering is in the world of mining, often times going beyond the mere supply and preparation of food and beverages.

But even if you can’t offer all these types of services, mining towns are happy to hire strictly food-focused catering companies providing they can keep up with demand. The growth of the mining industry in Queensland is going from the strength, appealing to a diverse range of individuals, whether they’re from the town or are non-resident workers that take part in fly in, fly out (FIFO) agreements.

Those involved in the mining industry can make a lot of money, but that attractive salary is also offered due to the long hours and inherent dangers that such an industry faces. Given the amount of exertion required and the number of people on-site at any one time, any catering company located in a mining town needs to be prepared for high food and beverage demands day in and day out, 24/7.

This means you’ll need a strong number of employees stationed in the town and a constant, reliable flow of goods making their way to your location. In terms of good deliveries, this can be accounted for with a quality freight service provider.

Think of it as a restaurant that’s opened all day and all night and has a constant stream of customers, with some notable peaks during breakfast, lunch and dinner hours. There’s no point where you’ll necessarily have a reprieve, so you need to ensure you’re equipped to handle such a constant stream of miners who’ll potentially keep you busy the entire time.

Preparation is key, and so is not running out of food. Remember, any miner you come across will have been working his/her hardest for the entire day, so they’ll need a good feed to keep going.

If you run a catering business that provides it services to a mining town, be sure to share your experiences with us in the comments below. 

At Cannon Logistics, we provide refrigerated road freight services throughout regional Queensland and Northern NSW, including deliveries to mining towns. If you would like to find out more about our services, give us a call on (07) 3217 9211.