sutcliffe blames staff cuts on IT
By Gaby Huddart
A spate of job cuts at Sutcliffe Catering were the result of investment in computers, not part of a cost-cutting exercise designed to attract a buyer, the company said this week.
In the past few weeks, a total of 16 staff have been made redundant from various divisions of the business, 50% from sales departments and 50% from the operations side.
"About 95% of the reason for the redundancies is our investment in information technology. In the past two years we have invested £3m in computers and we are now starting to see improved efficiency from that and increased productivity," group sales and marketing director Frank Whittaker told Caterer.
Four of the employees who lost their jobs were front-line sales staff, four were sales support, while the others were operations staff from supervisors to area managers, and one was an operations director, Mr Whittaker explained.
"We are leading the way with information technology and it is now installed throughout our 2,000 units with everyone from managers to chefs using it," he said.
He added: "With the market tight anyway, no business can afford to cover excess costs."
Mr Whittaker dismissed any suggestions that the company was cutting costs in order to attract a buyer and said it was still firmly on the acquisition trail. "Catering and television are now the two core businesses of the Granada Group. Any rumour on the disposal front goes against everything the group stands for," he said.
"There have been lots of rumours about takeovers recently. We were disappointed about Eurest but we are still looking for other acquisitions in the UK, Europe and America. Granada is ready for us to do that and the money is there for us to do that," he added.
The company held talks recently with a number of firms about acquisitions and Mr Whittaker said he was hopeful Sutcliffe would be able to make an announcement within months. "The number one slot in contract catering is still our clear vision," he said.
