Telling tales
Operations manager Caroline Fry had been told that she had won a prestigious award. This can now be named as being one of the Caterer & Hotelkeeper Acorn Awards, sponsored by CPC Caterplan. Managing director Robyn Jones was preparing a new contract at a golf course, as well as some consultancy work at a high street tea room. She has taken on the services of a personnel and legal advice consultancy, and has decided to work towards Investors In People accreditation.
Fresh and tanned after their holiday in the Seychelles, the first task for Robyn and Tim Jones on their return was their adopted business open day, held at Charlton House's Brooklands Museum contract in Weybridge, Surrey.
Robyn was the first to speak and chose to relate the story of the company's early days, given that many in contract catering might be thinking of setting up their own businesses as well.
Readers of Caterer will be familiar with the story, but Robyn entertained delegates with her tale of how she established her business in July 1991 in her back bedroom, with a wallpaper pasting table as her desk, plus a telephone and a telephone directory. The other essentials were her cat for company, a poem on positive thinking stuck to the table and the book she calls her "bible", Selling to Win.
Operations manager Caroline Fry spoke next. A winner of one of the 1995 Caterer & Hotelkeeper Acorn Awards, Fry described how it had felt to leave Sutcliffe, one of the UK's biggest contract caterers, to join what is in comparison a tiddler of a company.
The first thing she made clear was that when she trained in catering management she was told everyone had to learn every job so that, as a manager, you could show staff how to carry out a task. "When you join a small company you quickly find out that this is not true - it is so you can actually do every job!"
Fry stressed that the reasons she enjoyed working for a small concern were that staff were names rather than numbers, everyone knew the managing director, and if you had an idea, a decision on it was never more than a phone-call away.
The most important reason for Fry, however, was the flexibility. "There is no rigid company way of doing things - you have to find the best way," she said.
Commercial director Alison Robinson then gave her perspective on the benefits of joining a small company. She summed these up with a range of "before and after" quotes. Before she left Sutcliffe, comments from colleagues ranged from "So there is a typist there then!" to "Well, you'll certainly find it… interesting. Plenty to do as well!"
Now she receives comments such as: "Hurry up and grow, so that I can join." And one new client told her: "Six months ago nobody would have noticed the catering department closing. Now there would be an uproar."
The task of explaining how to fund a fledgling company then fell to Tim Jones, who works part-time at Charlton House in his capacity as chairman and finance director. Despite what many people might think, Tim explained, funding doesn't get easier as the company grows. True, you gain more contracts but you have to take on more staff and buy extra cars and head office equipment. And, while new clients may take a while to pay the company, suppliers (of whom there are now more) still need to be paid on time. It all adds up to a potential cash-flow headache.
After a break for lunch and time for delegates to take a tour round the museum, Brooklands director Morag Barton outlined the ways in which Charlton House was helping to draw up a business plan in a bid to gain National Lottery funding for the museum.
Rounding up the day, the event's sponsor, Pritchitt Foods, gave the results of a survey highlighting the most popular meals in contract catering, while new Charlton House recruit Catrin Owen gave details of the company's plans to gain Investors in People accreditation.
Robyn was pleased with how the day went - so pleased that she intends to repeat the event as a half-day seminar. Several paid-up delegates were unable to attend on the day, but one couple from Ireland has offered to pay to spend a day with Robyn to learn how to go about expanding their event catering business.
Since the open day, Robyn has set about planning her annual clients' day, to be held in July at Bix Manor, the company headquarters in Oxfordshire. She has booked a steel band and will organise a barbecue for the 50 guests, plus activities such as a shooting range and croquet.
She has also taken on the services of a new telesales professional, based in nearby Henley. Robyn believes the investment will prove worthwhile, since the woman she has taken on has several years' experience, working across a variety of sectors.
One of Alison's tasks has been to work with suppliers to draw up a promotions calendar. Working with suppliers such as Van den Bergh Foodservice, Master Foods and Abbey Well water, Charlton House will be able to use the companies' marketing material to promote initiatives that tie in with events such as the Youth Olympics in July and Vegetarian Week next month.
On a similar theme, Robyn intends to join the CaterVeg logo scheme, under which the company will be able to display a logo signifying it provides meals suitable for vegetarians and vegans. She plans to send one chef to the Vegetarian Society's Cordon Vert cookery school in Cheshire so that he can pass on the information to other chefs and unit managers. Each unit will then apply for eligibility for the logo.
"We could apply for corporate eligibility, but I feel you need to know everyone understands exactly what they must do," she explains. And with more than eight million people in the UK no longer eating meat, she wants to make clear her commitment to vegetarians.
Finally, she is preparing to meet parents at Charlton House's contract at the two St Benedicts schools in west London. The aim is to encourage take-up of the company's packed lunch service, being launched next month. So as well as the usual array of teaching staff in attendance at two forthcoming parents evenings, Charlton House staff will also be on hand to answer any queries.
