Marc's gospel

Hopefully, Marc Verstringhe won't be offended by this, but meeting him for the first time put me in mind of that old brain-teaser where you try to name 10 famous Belgians. Usually it's a struggle. The fact, therefore, that he has the double novelty factor of being a renowned Belgian and an inspirational contract caterer to boot somehow increases his appeal.

Verstringhe, of course, made his name in England as the man behind Catering & Allied (C&A). He came over from Belgium in 1957 and started the company in 1975, after stints at the Lygon Arms hotel and Sutcliffe Catering Group. Today, it is widely recognised as one of the ground-breaking contract caterers of its day. One rival, Don Davenport, now chief executive of Compass, has been quoted as saying the company "attracted people who were far more entrepreneurial… they came up with lots of good, innovative designs and offers to the clients."

It is with some interest, then, that I go to our lunch appointment at the Institute of Directors in London's Pall Mall. There he is, tall, distinguished, very charming - the rows of portraits on the walls behind him a fitting backdrop - to tell me about the new book that's been written about his company by two Cambridge professors, Managing to Serve - Learning from Catering & Allied.

"I don't want to go around with a big head but there was an opportunity [in contract catering] to give better service, and if we were not the first with that, we were in the forefront," he explains.

It isn't strictly what I have come to talk about. I want to know what he, as one of the founders of today's industry, sees as the main issues and areas of growth. But he's initially reticent. "I don't want to sit around here telling young people what to do," he says modestly.

To an extent, Verstringhe's right to want to talk about the book. It is his legacy, providing a history of contract catering and reminding the reader that C&A - which ultimately became part of Elior in 1999 - laid out valuable principles for today's industry.

One area he feels particularly strongly about is education and training. That's not to say he thinks there should be courses tailor-made for contract catering. Far from it. After all, one of the basic principles of C&A was taking competences from the restaurant and hotel businesses into the workplace.

"It should be a continuous-learning craft - hotel school, management, MBA, and then people should keep developing," he stresses.

Verstringhe himself pursued the advanced management programme at the Harvard Business School faculty at University College, Swansea in 1972, and he applauds those who invest in sending senior staff on similar corporate-strategy courses.

"Why shouldn't catering be run by financial people?" he asks. "Elior is. Don Davenport and I went to Harvard, but we are in a minority. Less than 1% of catering businesses [pursue such courses] yet they have got to communicate with the financial world and the press. We need to work with education and encourage people who are senior to go to Harvard or Insead, where there are different nationalities and ideas… "

He reckons it would also help some smaller companies to become international. His only advice is that they check out gaps in the market first and not "head in like an elephant".

"This country is ahead of the rest of Europe," he says. "It foxes France and others that people here walk away and start their own business. Germany is years behind. It's got old structures and no flexibility."

He's even more impassioned about the need to increase awareness among tutors that contract catering is a good career.

"Lecturers don't know about contract catering. Industrial placement leads them into hotels. They should be sending students into this sector," he says. "We need to campaign at colleges - find out how many placements go to contract caterers and why there are not more."

He adds that he thinks the sector should aim high. "Contract catering is better than ever. It's a people business, and we have got to attract the right people, for example, Gordon Ramsay's staff," he says, referring to publicity surrounding a chef who recently moved to BaxterSmith.

Under Verstringhe, C&A led the way in many areas - such as helping spearhead the move away from canteens to staff restaurants. So he knows where he would be looking for new opportunities today.

"The future is looking at hotels," he says, referring to the fact that Everson Hewett does staff catering in some London hotels and Aramark has a deal with Brian Turner at hotels in Birmingham and London. "These are strategic alliances, not just contract catering. Hotels have lousy restaurants."

But while C&A was one of the first caterers to provide hotel services to its business and industry clients, Verstringhe warns that some areas are not viable.

"The business is moving into wider fields [such as facilities management]. But it's just as important to know what not to take on - for instance cleaning, which requires a different type of staff."

He also stresses that caterers must develop close relationships with their clients and grow with them: "People make mistakes because they don't spend the time to see what the client company is doing with its business," he says. "You have to keep talking - we told [clients] what we were doing and grew together."

Although C&A introduced restaurant standards in works canteens, Verstringhe cautions against ignoring the client's needs. At Ford, for instance, C&A initially resisted the demand from workers for basic dishes such as egg and chips. Gradually, however, they appreciated that it wouldn't be detracting from the quality, merely increasing the customers' choice.

Asked whom he admires, he says he has respect for Compass. "It's number one in the world. People grow with them. They don't ditch who they buy. They know where to use what brand."

Of the smaller players, he singles out William Baxter of BaxterSmith: "I say you can't have the view unless you climb the mountain. William Baxter has climbed to the top and he has seen what not to take with him."

He also acknowledges his contemporaries - Don Davenport and Garry Hawkes - who were equally involved in what he describes as the big movement from industrial catering. "And it's still moving," he says, "so we have been involved in a revolution. Now, younger people are carrying it forward, such as William Baxter and [the team at] Holroyd Howe." n

Managing to Serve - Learning from Catering & Allied, by Sally Heavens and John Childs with Marc Verstringhe, is available from RH Heavens on 01223 262839, price £15 (50% discount for schools).

Potted Marc
Verstringhe learnt English while working at his father's hotel in Knokke, Belgium, perhaps little guessing he would end up living here. In 1957 he took up an opportunity to work in the UK at the Lygon Arms in Broadway, Worcestershire.

He's polite enough not to want to make too many comparisons between Blighty and his native Belgium or neighbouring France, but observes: "Once you moved away from the Savoy, the catering was not that hot."

But he liked the fact that London was cosmopolitan, and by 1960 was working at Sutcliffe Catering Group, leaving in 1975.

By now Verstringhe was in his 40s and decided to go it alone. He was joined by his former colleagues from Sutcliffe, Jop Koops and Kit Cuthbert. Together they started two companies: Catering & Allied in the UK and Holland Catering in the Netherlands.

"People asked what difference there was between us, but titles were irrelevant," he shrugs. "We had to get five contracts each or cut our losses. Then we grew by five a year. We got big contracts - our turnover for C&A by the endwas £34m."

In 1999 the company joined forces with French-owned Elior. "It was Kit who wanted out - she was the oldest of the three," says Verstringhe. "All the money was locked in, and we needed them to put equity in for us to take it out."

It wasn't long before Elior absorbed the brand totally. Verstringhe is circumspect, but the expression on his face when asked indicates how sorry he is the name's been lost.

So what does he do now? "I wouldn't say I do consultancy, but I lock in with people… I'm involved in government projects to encourage 15- to 16-year-olds. I chair meetings and get people like William Baxter to go into local schools. I am a fellow of the HCIMA and a board member of the European Catering Association. I get money."

Talkback

Catering & Allied -The Principles

Many of the principles that Verstringhe developed with partners Jop Koops and Kit Cuthbert live on in today's most successful contract caterers.

What drove Catering & Allied?
We addressed five key points:

* Why would clients consider us for their catering rather than go to the well-known, larger, established companies - what have we got that is different?

* Why will people want to come and work with us rather than go again to the well-established companies that have clearly laid down career paths and manuals?

* To be a restaurant first and foremost rather than administrators running large groups of canteens - to bring colour and style and make them restaurants at work.

* To be everything or do everything for everybody - therefore it was decided to concentrate on the business and industry segment of the market only.

* Nor could we be everywhere, so it was decided to stay within a radius of 35 miles of London to stay close to the team.

How did you revolutionise productivity?
C&A achieved 42.9% greater productivity than its peers among the smaller caterers through three policies: modular management, whereby levels of management were flattened so managers remained restaurateurs rather than administrators; outsourcing, where experts were brought in to advise on design, computerisation and so on; and link manning.

This last policy called for better-calibre people to enable us to replace canteens with restaurants at work. The norm in the sector was for just three out of 10 workers to be skilled. We felt it was better to have just seven people (rather than 10), of whom 60% were skilled. So we paid more but had fewer people. We also ensured they were multiskilled.