An air of progress

Excitement is in the air at the head office of Charlton House Catering Services in the Oxfordshire village of Bix, near Henley-on-Thames. Operations manager Caroline Fry has just been told she has won a prestigious award, which cannot be named until after the presentation ceremony next month.

Managing director Robyn Jones, who nominated Caroline for the award, is over the moon. "It's just brilliant. She really deserves it. I nominated her because of what she's achieved in her career at the age of 26," says Robyn.

"Caroline is so good with all the staff, and has such a good manner. She made the switch from a big company, Sutcliffe, to Charlton House so easily and didn't worry about not having the resources and support services she was used to. She's flexible and hard-working, and just gets on with things."

Robyn's husband Tim, the firm's chairman and finance director, also has an extra spring in his step, according to Robyn. Charlton House has gained the contract it was bidding for at a new golf club in the home counties. As Tim has been playing golf since he was a young boy, he is taking great delight in the preparations for the contract, which is due to start in June.

Robyn is reluctant to pinpoint where the club is, such is the highly competitive nature of contract catering. She is only too aware that no contract is safe until Charlton House is up and running on site.

But she is happy to discuss her plans for the club, which will recruit members as well as being open to the public to pay and play.

Charlton House will look after the members' bar, a public bar, restaurant and a range of function rooms. "We're working with the client and architect, making recommendations on the catering facilities, equipment, layout, and so on," she says. "Tim is thoroughly enjoying getting involved and came up with a suggestion as to where to site the spike bar and bouncing off names for the restaurant, such as the Bunker or the Divot."

(For those less acquainted with golfing terms, the spike bar is where players can drink in their spiked shoes when they first come off the course, while a divot is the lump of turf hooked out of the grass when a player strikes the ball.)

Charlton House is also carrying out some consultancy work for a tea room sited in a high street bakery. The menu, decor and layout need completely updating, while a new entrance would make it more inviting to the public. "At the moment the owners are offering too wide a range of dishes, such as Welsh rarebit and roast dinners," says Robyn.

"We're suggesting they reposition the outlet as a traditional tea room, with good-quality pastries, cakes and sandwiches using products from the shop, with some hot dishes such as jacket potatoes or quiches with salad. So we're carrying out feasibility studies to look at the competition and potential clients, as well as talking to the present customers. They need to become focused instead of diversifying without bringing in the income."

In the meantime, she has been in discussion with the London Stock Exchange, where Charlton House started operating last December, to open a third outlet in addition to the two sandwich bars. The aim is to offer more substantial meals and drinking in what was once the public viewing gallery in the exchange before a bomb went off there.

Catrin Owen, the new assistant to operations manager Caroline Fry, has been assigned the duty of overseeing a new project for Charlton House: working towards Investors In People (IIP) accreditation. She and Robyn recently attended a one-day seminar on IIP and have their work cut out now to fill in all the paperwork in time for what is called the diagnostic stage. That entails agreeing objectives with the funding body, in this case Thames Valley Enterprise, and sending out questionnaires to all Charlton House staff on their views on training and advancement within the company.

Once they reach that deadline the firm will be eligible for funding, but their work is already being made easier with the help of a consultant for the diagnostic stage, 70% of whose costs will also be met by Thames Valley Enterprise.

"The reason we want to go for accreditation is that we've grown quickly and now have to develop some more structured practices to maintain communication and staff development," says Robyn. "It also shows what grants are available if you look for them. Tim was concerned about the extra workload, but once this first stage is over, we can work to our own timetable."

She has also taken on the services of a personnel advice firm, again because of the company's growth. Robyn looked at two firms, plumping for the Legal Protection Group, based in Sutton, Surrey. "What we're buying is very up-to-date professional advice, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So if we have any queries over grievances or transfer of undertakings regulations, I can pick up the phone and speak to a consultant at any time."

At £2,600 a year, Robyn believes it is a sound investment. The fee includes insurance to cover the cost of any legal or tribunal actions, including awards made against the company. "For the peace of mind, it's money well spent," she says.

Outside of work, Robyn was the after-dinner speaker at a meeting of the South Oxfordshire Business Bureau, where she discussed the company and what running a small business entails. During her research, she learnt that according to National Westminster Bank, Charlton House is no longer a small business. Having passed the £1m turnover mark, it is now classified as "mid-corporate". She also discovered that 15% of people who set up their own businesses do so after redundancy, as she herself did.

Robyn is pleased with developments so far in 1995 but is also feeling in need of a rest. Instead of their usual skiing holiday in their early part of the year, she and Tim have decided to plump for something rather more exotic. As you read this, they are sunning themselves in the Seychelles. Ten days on the beach is just what she needs, says Robyn. "I intend to just get there and collapse."