Driving force

The 1990s saw Cynthia Evans, a self-described "girl from the village", move from fish-and-chip van catering at an airfield in Leicestershire to supervising three kitchens and a turnover of more than £250,000.

Today, about 80% of the business done by Cynthia Evans Catering comes from one client - PalmerSport, a corporate motorsports event company run by former Formula 1 driver and commentator Dr Jonathan Palmer.

It was a case of Evans being in the right place at the right time. Palmer set up his company in 1991. When he opened the Bruntingthorpe race track, Evans was already on site catering to people using the airfield, so Palmer recruited her to do his catering.

As Palmer's business expanded, so too did Evans's. Last July, Palmer, whose business now turns over £7-£8m annually, opened another race track, the Bedford Autodrome, which, for lovers of fast cars, provides the ultimate day of corporate hospitality. The predominantly male guests get, among other things, a chance to drive a Honda Integra, Lotus Elise and Audi TT to their limits - under supervision.

There is also Formula Palmer Audi (FPA), set up by Palmer in 1998, which is a whole season of race meetings culminating in a championship.

Wherever Palmer goes, Evans is not far behind. She attends race weekends, catering for as many as 370 corporate guests including the drivers, the media and the sponsors.

Arriving at Bedford Autodrome, guests are met with bacon and sausage rolls, orange juice, and tea and coffee. By 9am they're on the racetrack, and Evans's team is preparing the purpose-built hospitality suite for lunch. Clients choose the main dish from a choice of 20 and Evans prepares seasonal vegetables to complement it. "We get lunch through as quickly as possible without making them feel rushed," she says, "because they're here for a day's racing, really."

To round off the day, guests finish with afternoon tea consisting of sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee. Tastes reflect the mainly male clientele - homemade puddings, such as bread-and-butter, are a favourite.

Balancing out

The prices for using the Autodrome are exclusive of catering, which is charged at £20 per person. Evans is reluctant to reveal her charge to PalmerSport but says: "If they choose salmon, I make less, but if they choose lasagne, I benefit - it balances out in a year."

Evans uses local butchers, bakeries, and fruit-and-vegetable suppliers for each operation and, because of the business she generates for them, she gets good service in return. She admits, however, that she sometimes struggles to make a 60% gross profit on her food, saying: "I just want it to be right, and sometimes that means paying for quality." She acknowledges that she's going to have to take a good look at her prices at the end of this season.

The catering team comprises 35 staff, including Barbara Warner, who is in charge of front of house and has also been with Evans from the beginning, and two other cooks, Josie Watling and Evans's daughter, Debbie Milne, who have been trained on "Jonathan's likes and dislikes". There is, in fact, a fair amount of family involvement. Evans's 78-year-old mother, Cath Talbot, bakes around 30 cakes, shortbreads and squares a week for the various operations, while her husband Ron is on hand at weekends to drive to race meetings and lend a hand moving supplies.

From an early age, Evans was keen on being in the kitchen, winning her first cooking competition at the age of 13. A City & Guilds certificate in Cake Decorating and Design from Leicester Southfields College followed, but it was not until she had raised her three daughters that Evans's talents were put to use for the public. Her husband was made redundant, so the pair bought a van and travelled around neighbouring villages selling fish and chips and lasagnes that Evans had made. The van was doing stints at the airfield when Palmer decided to set up.

Prime focus

From January to November 2000, Evans served 20,420 covers for Palmer's events at the two fixed-site venues and at various race meetings. While she also does the occasional wedding and caters for a dozen Masonic lodges, especially during the winter, her prime focus is on Palmer's needs. "I am concentrating on Jonathan's business - he has been very good to me - and since I am so involved here, I feel that standards might slip if I were expanding elsewhere, and I don't want that to happen," she says.

The race season at Bedford runs from early April until the end of November, while Bruntingthorpe is open from March to November. Bedford Autodrome is open all year round, and facilities manager Neil Austin says that only ice and fog can make him cancel a day's driving, and that is rare, happening only "half-a-dozen times in nine years".

Although the Autodrome is open on Saturdays, every third weekend Evans heads off to oversee catering at the FPA races. Inside a purpose-built 40ft trailer is a kitchen that Evans uses to finish off her prepped meals. The trailer carries everything necessary for the team's corporate hospitality, from an expanding covered structure to televisions, audio-visual cabling, and, of course, tables and chairs. While the trailer heads off to the race site three days ahead to set up, Evans leaves at the crack of dawn on the morning of the race with a refrigerated vehicle carrying all the fresh supplies.

Despite the number of celebrities traipsing through, Evans is usually in the kitchen. But she has, over the years, met Rowan Atkinson, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle and Raymond Blanc - Palmer didn't tell her until after lunch that Blanc was one of the guests. "You wouldn't have been able to peel me off the ceiling if he had," she says, shaking at the thought.

Now in her early 50s, Evans admits that she should have been able to retire by now, but she still has some way to go. And for the time being, that means feeding hungry hordes of would-be racing champions.

FACTS

Cynthia Evans Catering

Proprietor: Cynthia Evans

Clients: PalmerSport (80%), private weddings, functions, Masonic halls

Turnover, 1999: £250,000

Kitchens: prep kitchen at Lutterworth, Leicestershire; on-site at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire and at Bedford Autodrome

Price for a day's corporate hospitality with PalmerSport: £500 per person

Sample main dishes, served with vegetables and potatoes and speciality breads

Steak and mushroom pie

Homemade lasagne

Lamb steaks in orange and honey sauce

Fisherman's pie

Chicken fillet stuffed with Stilton and bacon

Beef Manzo alla Napoletano

Fillet of pork with a mushroom sauce

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 4-10 January 2001