A memorable year sets high standards

some years seem to pass by in a flash yet remain memorable, and I feel sure 1998 will be one such year.

As members of the Corporate Hospitality and Event Association (CHA) we have undertaken to service the event industry within certain guidelines that ensure a well-defined and consistent product is offered to the customer.

The CHA operates an annual awards ceremony. The awards are based on case studies presented to corporate buyers and fellow CHA members and we were delighted to be awarded Caterer of the Year in 1998.

We now have a position to defend and thoughts throughout the year have included the prospect of retaining our award and reinforcing the message that we can, as a small, independent caterer, offer a service that matches or even exceeds that offered by the larger groups.

Part of our review of how we achieve those aims has included consideration of our image and advertising. One area of advertising that creates a great deal of interest is the livery on our vehicles, which was revised in 1998.

We have provided catering as far afield as Paris and North Yorkshire, and vehicles provide a highly visible advertising hoarding.

One of our kitchens is a 40ft articulated lorry, the back doors of which are emblazoned with a photograph taken at a recent event, showing a marquee laid for 700, and we frequently hear the comment that guests have seen "one of our lorries" - it is difficult not to take some pleasure from this virtually free advertising.

We have also set up a series of freephone numbers so that we can further monitor the responses we are getting and where the enquiries are coming from. We hope these numbers will create additional business and we have every faith that we will cope with the anticipated influx of work.

To assist with the calls, we have been using a message-taking service, similar to the one detailed by Tammy Mariaux at Spaggo's, and have found it to be first class.

With Christmas come and gone there are lessons to be learnt, and we shall sit down with a bottle of wine for a no-holds-barred debriefing. We are planning for the forthcoming year, including next Christmas, and enquiries are already in the diary for June 2000. n

ROBERT ALVAREZ is proprietor of Phoenix Catering event caterers in Towcester, Northamptonshire

Next diary from Robert Alvarez: 11 February