Out to Africa
New commercial director Alison Robinson has been finding her feet with Charlton House Catering Services. Managing director Robyn Jones is exploring the possibility of setting up a purchasing consortium with two other contract caterers, while awaiting news of bids at AT&T near Swindon and her first education contract.
FOR the first time in three years Robyn and Tim Jones are taking a fortnight's holiday. Since Robyn set up Charlton House Catering Services in 1991, she and Tim (the company's chairman and finance director) have been working flat out.
"We've not felt comfortable until now about taking off two full weeks - we've always convinced ourselves that a week can feel like a fortnight," says Robyn. Instead, the couple have tended to take two week-long holidays in any one year, plus one or two long weekends.
Now, though, they are off on safari in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, staying in tents and hotels and travelling in Land Rovers and small planes.
It's just what they need to give a complete break from the business - Robyn realises that much as she enjoys the excitement of running her own company, there are times when she has to force herself to take a break.
"What I've found is that home and business life become one; without noticing it the distinction has disappeared," she says.
For example, the concept of a quiet weekend has gone since Charlton House came into being, with Saturdays and Sundays being an ideal time to catch up on payroll, which has to be completed by Monday. "You can try to plan to take time off, but it's difficult - something else always lands on your desk, like a new tender."
On that matter, Robyn has yet to hear anything definite about her bid to cater at AT&T Network Systems (UK) near Swindon, for which Charlton House has been shortlisted.
But she has been delighted to gain her first contract in the education sector. In January Charlton House will take over a contract, operated for more than 30 years by Gardner Merchant, at St Benedict's Schools in Ealing, west London.
The company will serve morning refreshment and lunches at the two Roman Catholic private schools - one being pre-prep and junior, the other senior. A total of 900 pupils, mainly boys, are on site, and uptake stands at around 500 for lunch and 250 for morning break.
Robyn is pleased to have gained the contract because it should provide a foothold in the sector. "It was very close between us and Russell & Brand - we had to persuade the school we were up to it because we had no other education contracts, but now I'll definitely be trying for more," she says.
The possibility of gaining a foothold in the City is also on the cards but, as ever, Robyn is not counting her chickens.
As part of the tendering process, Robyn took potential clients on a site visit of her contracts at Sony UK in Weybridge, Surrey, and the nearby Brooklands Museum. "I wanted to show them we could adapt to a high-tech office environment and a 1930s club house building at the same time," she says.
Sony's gleaming new building has now had its official opening ceremony, and Charlton House was on hand to provide a sit-down lunch for 130 VIP guests, including Prince Michael of Kent.
There is no further news as yet of the purchasing consortium being planned by Robyn and Cheltenham-based Hunters Catering Partnership, although Robyn has decided to sit down with her own suppliers to look at reviewing the prices she pays.
She has also been talking to representatives from La Fornaia, a London-based Anglo-Italian bakery selling speciality breads. Robyn is keen to introduce some of the breads into her sandwich range, provided the company can produce loaves of the right size and shape.
Its offerings range from cobs, baguettes and ciabatta to pane con noci (traditional sultana and walnut bread), marbled cinammon loaves (ideal for toasting, according to the company) and segale scuro ("a black rye bread with carraway seeds from the Valtellina valley in the farthest reaches of Lombardy"). If all goes according to plan, sandwich time at Charlton House could prove altogether more exciting.
