Le Bistro expands horizons

Elizabeth McAreavey, owner and managing director of corporate hospitality specialist Le Bistro Caterers, is to expand into event management and contract catering.

Earlier this month, in the Cosmopolitan/Wallis Entrepreneurs Programme, she was one of 20 women to win a place at a London Business School course in September.

Ms McAreavey started Edinburgh-based Le Bistro Caterers in 1987 as a delicatessen, but since then it has grown into a corporate hospitality business with a turnover this year of more than £650,000.

"This has proved a successful year so far with the award, and a new departure for us catering for 400 staff at the construction site of the new Scottish Office," Ms McAreavey told Caterer.

"We were on a learning curve in catering for that number of workers on a daily basis, but I am looking to develop that side of the business now," she said.

This month Le Bistro Caterers fed more than 6,500 people on the 10 ships in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race, beating off five rival firms for the work.