The Yes man
When Margaret Thatcher abolished the Greater London Council in 1986, the capital was left without a city-wide government. Then, in May 2000, Londoners voted in Ken Livingstone as their new mayor, supported by a 25-strong London Assembly. Last July Livingstone, the London Assembly and 500 employees of the Greater London Authority (GLA) became tenants of one of London's most spectacular new buildings.
City Hall, designed by Sir Norman Foster, is on the south bank of the Thames, next to Tower Bridge. Nicknamed London's "egg", the steel and glass-clad building is a landmark for the capital, designed to express the transparency of the democratic process.
Members of the public are invited to share the building and watch the London Assembly at work as they walk along the ramps encircling the glass assembly chamber, leading from the ground floor to the viewing platform at the top of the building. And as well as watching assembly members work, the public can eat with them, too. Staff, Livingstone and the public all share the same City Hall Café.
Such a grandiose building might have been expected to employ a grandiose caterer, but the three-year contract was awarded to a relative newcomer. Yes Dining is a small independent firm in its fourth year of trading, run by managing director and co-founder John Wood.
He points to the company's openness as one of the major reasons for its successful bid: "The GLA liked the fact that we are extremely transparent. The tender focused on innovation and quality, emphasising two key points: food and service. In my experience, smaller companies can also offer clients a closer relationship and spend far more time on customer interaction."
Modern look In line with the modern look of the rest of the building, the café has lots of glass and stainless steel and is situated in an open space on the lower ground floor, with room for exhibitions and permanent displays. "It's very much in keeping with how the GLA sees things - as a public building with various functions," Wood says.
The café can hold up to 400 people for functions but its main role is one of a modern restaurant for the staff and public. Open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, it has a fully licensed bar and can seat 120. With 500 assembly staff on-site, plus their visitors and members of the public, Wood estimates that 2,000 people per day could be walking into the building. "There's plenty of competition down the road," Wood says, "so we are trying to keep ahead of expectations."
Continental-style breakfast is served from 8am to 10am and includes cereals from 55p, hot filled rolls from £1.85, and toast and butter for 35p.
The all-day brasserie menu is available until 7.30pm, offering dishes such as Goan chicken kebab with tomato and onion salad and raitha (£5.25) and seared tuna marinated in basil and lime with a mixed leaf salad (£6.95), as well as a range of sandwiches, boxed salads, panini and cakes. The lunch menu includes soup of the day (£1.35), jacket potatoes (from £1.90) and three daily specials from £3.25.
The rest of the menu will change seasonally, according to Wood, who describes the café as very cosmopolitan. "It's an all-day bar/brasserie but we're not wrapped up in the coffee-bar concept. You can get anything you like, from a coffee to a glass of wine. The style of the food is fresh, crisp and quick."
Although there's a Costa Coffee bar, Wood doesn't believe in pushing branded products. "We're not in the high street and we don't want to become inflexible, which tie-ins with brands can sometimes lead to. If clients want their own brand, we'll develop it with them."
City Hall staff have been given a 10% introductory discount in the café, and Wood says he would like to continue this, depending on how business progresses. Even the mayor himself gets a discount. "Ken comes down for a coffee every day and lunch most days. He likes to be consulted on the food and knows what he wants, as does any client, but he's fairly relaxed," Wood says.
As well as the challenge of catering for both staff and public, Wood and his team have had to design the menu around a kitchen with limited facilities. "We weren't involved in the design of the kitchen and neither was the GLA," Wood remarks. "The designer had one brief but the GLA had different expectations. The kitchen was designed more for a ‘grab'n'go' type of operation, but we need to give customers more choice than that."
The biggest limiting factor is ventilation, or lack of it, and space for more primary equipment. The company is installing a bratt pan, which will give it greater flexibility, but the menu has been designed to work mainly with a small cooking space. "In the winter, once the bratt pan is in, we'll be able to offer casseroles and cassoulets as well," Wood says. "You don't need a big kitchen any more to offer good fresh food. We are managing to create the offer we wanted."
Catering facilities are limited to weekdays, but that too may change. There are hospitality facilities on the fifth floor and a second kitchen on the ninth floor, serving London's Living Room, a function suite with spectacular views of the city. Planned uses include exhibitions, receptions and mayoral presentations, and the venue has already played host to the mayors of Paris and Berlin, as well as 1,200 people (housed on all three levels) for the royal opening, which took place on 23 July.
"We will open at weekends if a private function merits it," Wood says, "but it has to be big enough for it to be worth opening the whole building. The GLA has a lot of sponsors so there will be opportunities for corporate hospitality. But, like any public body, the GLA is very conscious of cost."
City Hall is a challenge the growing company is clearly enjoying. "It's early days", says Wood, "but so far we are beating our expectations."
Yes Dining (London)
178-181 Temple Chambers
Temple Avenue
London EC4Y ODB
Tel: 020 7353 8236
Established: 1999
Founders: Frank Bell (chairman) and John Wood (managing director), previously with Granada. Bell and Wood had known each other for 18 years before deciding to start their own business together
Mission statement: To offer large-company support while maintaining the exclusive service normally associated with a prestigious, privately owned company
Initial investment: £10,000
Contracts: 17 business and industry in total, almost all within the M25, including Simmons & Simmons, National Grid and Allied Irish Bank. Wood is closing on two new contracts: DHL and a national restaurant chain.
The company also runs one high-street outlet, Yes restaurant, in Glasgow. Cuisine is modern Scottish/ Mediterranean and serves up to 200 covers a day
Largest contract to date: JP Morgan (£2.5m per year)
Turnover to end 2002: £7m
Projected turnover to end 2003: £10m
Employees: 320
Managers: Gordon Thomson, finance director; Denise Maxfield, business development director; and David Spoors, operational support
Ken's Open House
City Hall opens its doors for the weekend of 21-22 September as part of the mayor's London Open House Weekend, a fundraising event for St Thomas' Hospital. Wood is expecting more than 11,000 people to visit City Hall, when London's Living Room will be open to the public free of charge.
