Happy valley

READING and Swindon have taken full advantage of the M4 corridor - which links them with London, Heathrow, the M40, the M25 and the ports of Bristol and Southampton - to build up a steady development of high-quality business and industry, providing an attractive honeypot to contract caterers for more than 20 years.

Most companies have developed on greenfield sites, locating in some of the country's most innovative new buildings, with glamorous staff catering facilities. Employees at each unit can range from 100 to 2,500, with annual catering turnover ranging from £100,000 to more than £750,000.

The geographical spread of Swindon and the Thames Valley, of which Reading is the centre, extends from the Home Counties into the West and the Midlands, allowing smaller catering companies to compete with the giants without stretching their supply lines. Inevitably, organisations such as Sutcliffe and Eurest have a heavy presence, but this has not stopped some large corporations opting for the smaller independents.

Among Halliday Catering's clients are the prestigious Oracle site, in Reading Business Park, and Swindon Town Football Club, which includes public as well as staff catering.

Personal service

"Many companies want personal service, to be able to speak to people who can respond immediately, and caterers who can be a really integral part of the business," says Halliday's managing director Nigel Anker, who views the split between large and small contractors in the area as "quite fair". He adds: "Similarly, there are those who want the apparent comfort of larger organisations."

Halliday operates the catering at seven schools in Swindon and the Thames Valley, as well as 12 commercial contracts with an average turnover of £250,000.

Nelson Hind recently won Racal at Bracknell, with 1,500 staff on site and an annual catering turnover of £250,000. Executive chairman Chris Hind believes the giant contract caterers have a stronghold in both Swindon and Reading, but sees opportunities for smaller independents to prove that quality, rather than size, matters.

"We know it's not always easy to get that message through," he says, "particularly as brand loyalty in the contract catering industry is so high. People stay in their comfort zones, even though they may not always be 100% satisfied with the service and food."

Swindon, well placed for road and rail links and less than an hour from Heathrow, has become an important centre for distribution and logistics. Situated only minutes from Junctions 15 and 16 of the M4, it is served by more than 30 industrial estates. Redevelopment is particularly lively at Faraday Park, Dorcan, South Marston and Groundwell, where the striking Motorola premises, probably the largest single global service management factory in the world, was opened by the Queen in November - with a catering contract scooped by Gardner Merchant.

Swindon started its business success in the 1970s, when companies such as Burmah Castrol and Allied Dunbar were among the first to move into the area. Both are catered for by Sutcliffe, which has 22 contracts in Swindon, six gained in the past 12 months.

The town has maintained a consistently high level of growth, with the number of companies based there increasing by 76% over the past decade, compared with 28% for the whole of the UK. Many are global players linked to the USA and Europe, such as National Power, with 1,000 employees catered for by Baxter & Platts; Rover, where Sovereign holds the staff catering contract; and Raychem and Readers Digest, where Eurest is installed. The key industries are electronics, information technology, software development, car manufacture, automotive components and financial services.

The latest player to enter the business and industry market is Quadrant Catering, which traditionally focused on providing catering services for the Post Office and has its head office in Swindon. Since its joint venture with Granada Food Services earlier this year, it is actively pursuing business in the private and public sectors. "We see the future for Swindon as being very good, as national companies locate head offices and call centres away from London," says sales director Robert Davis. He sees Quadrant's experience of catering for workers on shifts and out-of-hours as particularly beneficial to clients.

Reading, the county town of Berkshire, is the centre of the Thames Valley region comprising Oxford, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Aylesbury and Slough, with a total population of 1.8 million. It has become the centre of the Silicon Valley of the South-east, attracting many hi-tech companies, such as Oracle, where Halliday does the catering, and Digital, catered for by Sutcliffe.

Reading's town centre is mature, but it has several flourishing out-of-town business parks including Arlington Business Park, Winnersh Triangle, Wokingham, and the still-developing Reading Business Park next to the M4. It has a population of 128,877, predicted to rise to 135,000 by 2001.

Thames Valley, which claims to have more new business start-ups than anywhere else in the country, expects its economy to grow by 3.5% between now and 2002, with the creation of 47,500 jobs. The predicted areas of expansion are transport and communications, professional services and banking/business services.

Increasing profits

A recent survey shows that 42% of companies increased their order books in 1997, compared with the national average of 31%, resulting in 23% of companies increasing profits and 25% recruiting more staff, against the national average of 12%. Growth is now faster than at any other time in the 1990s, and higher than the average in the South-east and the UK as a whole.

"The future for this region is excellent," says William Baxter, executive chairman of Baxter & Platts, part of Granada Food Services (GFS), and which has a strong presence in Reading. Clients include Microsoft, with 1,000 employees on site and an annual turnover of £750,000, and Prudential, with 1,000 staff and a £500,000 turnover.

"There is particular growth in the corporate side," says Baxter. "The only problem for contract caterers is finding staff of the right calibre to work in out-of-town sites."

Although Fairfield, also part of GFS, and Chartwells, part of Compass, run catering at a number of independent schools in Swindon and Reading, openings in the educational market are limited. Swindon's state schools are managed by Wiltshire's direct service organisation, while Initial operates 48 schools in Reading, including all state schools.

"Typically," says Initial sales director Peter Dobson, "the larger establishments tend to choose larger contractors, although there is a market for independent contractors to pick up business in smaller sites."

The general feeling is that there are fewer business openings in Swindon than in Reading, which is still developing. With ongoing relocation of companies, it offers more opportunities for smaller contractors. n