ONE of Glasgow City Council's arm's-lenth organisations (Aleos) has won a multimillion-pound contract to provide catering services at the giant new City of Glasgow College.

Encore Hospitality Services saw off competition from 30 companies to win the £4.8 million four-year deal.

The company said the contract will involve catering for well in excess of 50,000 students and staff on a daily basis.

Encore will operate all catering outlets for students and staff in the buildings inherited from Central, Glasgow Metropolitan and the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, which merged to form the new supercollege,

A division of Cordia, it will also run outlets in the super campus that is about to be built for the college.

Cordia managing director David Melvin said: "Make no mistake about it, this is a significant contract on a UK scale that was firmly on the radar of the biggest catering companies in the business."

He added: "This competitive pitch has been good for us. It totally dispels the myth that we can only win in a protected market."

Aleos can source work from the private sector.

Encore Hospitality Services provides catering for organisations including Glasgow museums and Glasgow Caledonian University.

It has a £10m annual turnover and employs more than 500 staff.